Apple is reportedly readying a Google Now competitor codenamed Proactive

Apple has been hard at work developing a more intelligent personal assistant in iOS to answer the goodness of Google’s popular Now app.

A 9to5Mac report today said Apple has been working on the new initiative — codenamed “Proactive” — for several years now, and the work may appear in iOS 9.

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Proactive will pull personalized data from Siri, Contacts, Calendar, Passbook, and third-party apps to create a smart personal assistant, the report said.

Proactive, the report said, will be similar to Google Now in that it will provide personalized recommendations based on the user’s tastes and usage habits.

The tool will also use an augmented reality presentation in Maps to identify or suggest personal points of interest. It will also integrate a third-party Siri API codenamed “Breadcrumbs,” the report claimed, although it’s unclear how the API will be used by Proactive.

Proactive will become a new layer within the iOS operating system, 9to5Mac said, and will replace the pulldown Spotlight menu on the iOS home screen. But instead of acting as a pulldown, the new function will reside to the left of the home screen, the report said.