Apple Adds AI Shopping Assistant to Your iPhone

Apple has quietly slipped an AI shopping assistant into its Store app for a small group of iPhone users. Think of it like a friendly store employee who knows everything about products, trade-in values, and monthly payment plans — but lives in your phone. You can type your own questions or pick from suggested ones, like comparing iPads or checking the value of your old phone.

The assistant can also dig into your past orders and hand you off to a real Apple specialist if needed. But Apple is warning users that the AI might get things wrong, especially when it comes to pricing or trade-in offers. That’s a big deal because Apple recently updated trade-in prices across several products, so outdated info could cost you real money.

Behind the scenes, Apple is collecting details like your account info, device type, and location to personalize your shopping help. It saves chat transcripts so you can return to them later and even uses them to improve the AI — but only if you opt in. In some cases, Apple shares anonymized chat data with outside partners to craft responses, though it claims these partners can’t see who you are.

This experiment is just the beginning. Apple hasn’t said when or if this feature will roll out widely — or whether it will let users actually complete a purchase through the chat. It’s another sign that AI is creeping deeper into how we buy things, raising questions about who really controls your shopping experience and your data.