Spoiler: it’s more Siri stuff.
Apple is moving forward with preparations for the launch of iOS 27 this fall. Today the company showed developers the second beta version of its upcoming operating systems. The latest version expands on some of the features discussed at WWDC 2026, including those centered around the new (hopefully) improved Siri. The same new features appear to be present in the beta 2 versions of iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27 that dropped today, echoing the more holistic approach to new features Apple took during this keynote presentation.
Testers will likely discover additional details as they spend more time with the latest beta, but 9to5Mac has published an overview of the main updates. Write with Siri has been rolled out as a replacement for the old AI-based writing tools prompt on iPhone and iPad running the latest operating system. A large prompt with the words “Write with Siri” will appear above the keyboard before you start typing anything, and it will shrink to the Siri icon if you start typing without help from the chatbot. Other Siri features in this beta appear to be incremental changes, like faster performance and labeling items in the Expressive Voice preview as “coming soon.”
9to5Mac also highlighted some welcome updates for RCS communications in the Messages app. We’ve seen more and more synergy and security between text on Apple and non-Apple devices in recent months, and the new beta continues that trend. The latest version of iOS 27 introduces support for message reactions and inline replies for RCS.
Other changes include improved iPhone mirroring in macOS Golden Gate that fixed some issues in beta 1, as well as an update that allows AirPods Max 2 to update firmware. We’ll keep an eye out for any other interesting changes as the official operating systems launch window gets closer.
