The Top New Features in Apple’s iOS 27 and iPadOS 27

iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 focus largely on stability improvements that you’ll notice in your everyday use. There are several quality-of-life improvements, like how Shortcuts are significantly easier to set up, but the big highlight is the Siri AI upgrade. Here's everything you need to know. Updated September 14, 2026: We've refreshed this story to reflect the latest updates and that iOS and iPadOS 27 are rolling out today. Top New iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 Features Here's a top-line view of some of the biggest changes coming to iOS and iPadOS 27. The updates are largely the same across both operating systems. Siri AI and a New Siri App Siri is finally becoming “a more capable assistant,” or so Apple claims. The company says this is largely thanks to its third-generation foundation models, developed from the ground up with Google's Gemini models. However, Apple says it isn't using Google's infrastructure to power Siri interactions and that no user data from Siri actions gets shared with Google. Siri AI has an all-new look when you activate the assistant. It now resembles a glass orb. You can type or talk naturally to Siri, and there's even a dedicated Siri app where you can revisit previous conversations or pick up where you left off on a different device. Siri is also now in the camera app, giving you a more direct way to start a visual search, much like Google Lens. You can even point the camera at a restaurant bill, and Siri can split the tab between you and your friends. The assistant understands your personal context, so it can comb through your emails, messages, and photos to find relevant information based on your query. It can then take action on your behalf, whether that's drafting an email in a specific tone or getting wine recommendations for a particular dish. Siri's voice is more expressive, but you can also customize the assistant's voice, its expressiveness, and its pace. We've collated all the new things you can do with Siri AI if you want to try the revamped assistant. Platform Stability Improvements Apple has focused on making iOS run faster in this update. The company says app launches are up to 30 percent faster, newly captured photos in your Photo Library load up to 70 percent faster, and AirDrop transfers are up to 80 percent faster. The iPhone will do a better job switching between Wi-Fi and cellular, so you hopefully won't have that awkward minute with no service while you wait for your device to switch networks as you leave the house. Many of these upgrades will affect older iPhone models, like the iPhone 11, thanks to a better-optimized CPU Scheduler. Liquid Glass Refinements Hate Liquid Glass? Love Liquid Glass? You have some options to make it work for your tastes in iOS 27. Apple says it has generally updated the design language to improve readability and contrast. App icons are sharper, for example. But you now finally have a slider in the Settings menu that lets you adjust the intensity of the Liquid Glass look, from super clear to more opaque. You can customize this in Settings > Appearance > Liquid Glass. Child Safety Features Apple spent a lot of time in the WWDC keynote talking up child safety features in iOS 27 and iPadOS 27. A new Setup Assistant lets parents choose system apps and other essential apps for the child when first setting up an Apple device. An Ask to Browse feature means any new websites the kids encounter in Safari get sent to a parent for approval, and a feature called Communication Safety prevents children from seeing nudity or violence in the Messages or FaceTime apps; those are blurred by default. Also new are Time Allowances and Schedules. Time Allowances let parents set an allotted amount of time kids can enjoy specific app categories (like Entertainment)—Apple has guidance on how much time makes sense based on the child's age. Schedules let parents choose what apps are available during different times of the week. All of this is also easier to view in a redesigned parental dashboard. AI Features in the Photos App The Photos app is getting a small infusion of Apple Intelligence AI features, though remember that these features only work on iPhones that support Apple Intelligence (iPhone 15 Pro and newer). The existing “Clean Up" feature—which lets you select objects in photos to remove (like a trash bag or people in the background)—now performs better thanks to Apple's upgraded foundation models. If the object you want to remove is larger, it will likely run through Apple's Private Cloud Compute servers for processing, but for smaller jobs, it will still handle the task on-device. Extend is a new feature in the Photos app. This lets you expand a photo to add a little more to the edges—maybe you accidentally snapped a pic too close to a subject and want to give them some visual breathing room. It will generate what it thinks should be there based on the photo's context. (This feature works with Apple's diffusion model in the cloud.) Finally, there's Spatial Reframing. This lets you alter a photo's perspective. Maybe you shot a little too high up and want to reframe the photo to make it look like you were crouching down further. The software will use generative AI to fill in the gaps after you change the perspective in the image (though Apple preserves faces and pets as much as possible to avoid altering them with fake pixels). You can read more about these features here. Tap the Edit button on a photo and go to Tools to access the features in the Photos app. They're free features, but Apple sets usage limits, so you'll have to pay up for a higher-tier iCloud subscription if you want to use them more regularly. Image Playground Upgrades Want to create AI slop? Apple has a more powerful image-generation model for its Image Playground app, meaning you can create higher-quality AI images in virtually any style—even photorealistic. The new version of Image Playground defaults to that photorealistic style if you don't specify a style in your prompt. These features have daily usage limits based on your iCloud subscription. More Contextual Actions Similar to Google's Magic Cue on its Pixel phones, Apple is adding one-tap actions to Messages and Mail apps. If someone messages you about grabbing milk on the way home, you'll see a button to add it as a reminder. Or if someone asks about hanging out on a specific date, you'll see a Calendar button to create an event with one tap. These features were removed from the final version of iOS 27 but will be added in a future update. Similarly, the Phone app now has a feature called Call Context. If you're on a call with Delta, for example, you'll see relevant flight information on the dialer screen, so you don't have to hunt in your email for a confirmation number during the call. Easier Shortcuts If you've ever tried to make a shortcut in Apple's Shortcuts app, you'll know it can be a little complicated. Now it’s getting easier. Instead of plugging in various rules and triggers, you can type what you want, and the Shortcuts app will understand your intent and set up an automated task for you. So you can naturally say, “Text my wife my ETA when I leave work,” and the Shortcuts app will set up an action that uses location services, Maps, traffic data, and Messages to automate a text message that fires off when you’re headed home. Safari Updates Got a lot of tabs? Safari will now organize your many tabs into topics. Safari can also “notify” you when a web page changes, like a price drop or a restock. Then there's Custom Extensions. This lets you describe a feature you want in Safari, and it will generate an extension. (It will first suggest existing third-party extensions that may be similar to what you're looking for.) For example, you can say, “When I hit the toolbar button on a recipe website, give me a button to save the recipe, add a star rating, and let me make comments; make the interface look nice.” Safari will generate the extension, and that's it. Extensions you make on one platform, like your iPhone, will carry over to your other devices, like your Mac. You can read more about these Safari features here. Other Smaller Updates

Better search in Apple Mail: Apple says a new ranking system will filter more relevant emails to the top of your search. Easier Calendar event creation: You can use natural language to create a calendar event instead of filling out a bunch of fields. Type at the top, “Every Friday, make an event to water the plants,” and it'll make the event in a jiffy. Dual Capture in FaceTime: You can now share video from your front and rear cameras at the same time during one-on-one calls. Accessibility improvements: Apple’s VoiceOver accessibility mode has richer image descriptions, and there’s a new captioning feature that generates subtitles for any video you watch (kind of like Google's Live Transcribe), even translating them into other languages. Maps upgrades: Flyover mode in Apple Maps lets you view a 3D map. Now, in iOS 27, Apple is combining aerial imagery with its Visual Intelligence models to render 3D models with far more detail. That means more detailed 3D buildings and trees. Custom EQ with AirPods: AirPods are finally getting a custom equalizer, letting you customize the mids, lows, and highs in the AirPods settings menu. Better iCloud Shared Albums: Android and Windows users can now more easily join iCloud Shared Albums and contribute their own photos. These albums also now support full-resolution images. You can now also create slideshows in the Photos app, save a video frame as a photo, and add star ratings to photos and videos to filter them. Apple Health updates: The Health app now supports perimenopause and menopause, meaning the cycle-tracking feature can notify you when patterns suggest perimenopause. Home app updates: If you have security cameras in your Apple Home app, you'll now receive smarter notifications that better describe what is happening around your home, much like Google and Amazon's richer notifications on their respective smart-home platforms. Password fixes: If the Passwords app warns you about weak or compromised passwords, it can now automatically fix them for you. Message syncing improvements: Apple says notifications for missed messages and unread count sync more quickly when you return to your iPad after some time.

Source: Wired