Apple has developed more for iOS 27 than it revealed at WWDC last week, with three features already present in internal builds deliberately hidden from the public announcement, Bloomberg» reports Mark Gurman.
In the latest edition of his “Power On” newsletter, Gurman says that all three missing features are active today in internal versions of Apple’s operating systems on employee devices, and that each is expected to appear publicly at a later date.
Modular Watch Face
A new modular watch face for Apple Watch was among the items Gurman reported as planned at WWDC but did not appear. Gurman’s previous claim that watchOS 27 would introduce new faces centered around a simplified version of the Modular Ultra design currently exclusive to the Apple Watch Ultra.
Gurman now expects the new face to debut alongside new Apple Watch models this fall.
Customizable camera app
A customizable camera app for iPhone, first reported by Gurman in May, also didn’t appear at WWDC. The feature would allow users to rearrange camera controls as widgets at the top of the interface, choosing from options like flash, exposure, timer, depth of field, photo styles, and resolution.
Gurman thinks Apple is holding it back specifically for the iPhone 18 Pro, which is expected to bring the most significant camera hardware upgrade in several years.
Siri Extensions
The most notable omission is Extensions, a framework that would allow third-party AI chatbots beyond ChatGPT to integrate with Siri, Apple Intelligence, and features like Writing Tools and Image Playground. Gurman says underlying support for extensions is already present and visible in the first iOS 27 developer beta, with both a dedicated Settings panel and App Store section built and waiting to be activated.
Apple has reportedly already held discussions with OpenAI, Anthropic and Google about the framework, including details of a fee for which these companies would have to apply. Gurman says he has “no doubt” the feature will eventually arrive.
As for why the Extensions feature was excluded from WWDC, Gurman offers four theories. First, demonstrating strong AI interoperability could weaken Apple’s current argument against European regulators. Second, the announcement of robust support for third-party chatbots could have overshadowed Apple’s Siri overhaul. Third, the threat of litigation from OpenAI may have persuaded Apple to avoid publicly stripping ChatGPT of its exclusive status at its developers conference. Finally, adding a range of external AI options would have further complicated Apple’s messaging at a time when it already needed to explain its use of Google’s AI models in Siri AI.
Anyone running early beta versions of iOS 27 or macOS Golden Gate can already see a chatbot switcher allowing users to switch between Siri and ChatGPT; Gurman says this list is expected to grow thanks to the new development framework and the App Store section. The feature has reportedly been actively used at Apple for months.
