12 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 27

Apple will release iOS 27 in September, and despite the company’s focus this year on refining its flagship operating system and squashing bugs, many additional features are still on the way, including Apple’s new context-aware Siri, revamped for the generative AI era.

This year’s major iPhone software update isn’t just about AI, as evidenced by the following list of features. iOS 27 remains in developer beta, while a public beta is expected to arrive this month.

Extend your photos and lock wallpaper

A new Wallpaper Expansion feature in iOS 27 uses Apple Intelligence to automatically enlarge a photo beyond its original bounds so that it fills the entire lock screen more naturally. If a photo is cropped too much, doesn’t fit your iPhone’s aspect ratio, or leaves empty space when positioned on the lock screen, iOS 27 can generate additional image content around the edges with the “Extend” option. It will analyze the existing image and create matching background details that blend with the original photo, so there is no need for aggressive cropping. The Extend option can also be found in the Photos app.

Organize your Safari tabs

Safari uses Apple Intelligence to automatically organize your open tabs into related topics, making them easier to navigate and manage. For example, if you buy a new refrigerator while planning a vacation, Safari groups tabs for each activity into separate themed collections. You can enable this feature by opening the tab view, tapping the three-line icon in the upper right corner, and enabling Automatically create topics.

Use natural language for reminder and calendar entries

In the Reminders app, you can now create natural language reminders, and Apple Intelligence will automatically fill in details like date, time, and location. For example, if you type “Pick up dad at 6 p.m. tonight” or “Send photos to Eric tomorrow at 3 p.m.,” Reminders extracts the relevant information and automatically adds it to the reminder.

The Calendar app also supports natural language typing, identifying people, dates, and places as you type. You can then tap the suggested information to quickly add it to your event.

Online reply to messages from Android users

In the Messages app, you can now long-press on a specific message from an Android user (a green chat bubble) and get an option to reply to it. This contrasts with iOS 26, where inline replies are limited to blue bubbles sent via Apple’s iMessage platform.

Upgrade your wallet passes

Apple expanded the redesigned pass experience in the Wallet app with iOS 27, bringing the improved design introduced for airline boarding passes in iOS 26 to additional pass types. Membership, Gift, Loyalty and Rewards cards can now use a new generic poster layout with a background image, logo, customizable header and footer fields, main information and an optional barcode. Passes can also include up to two quick actions at the bottom, like getting directions to a location or checking a rewards point balance.

Describe your next shortcut

Apple Intelligence makes creating shortcuts much more accessible by allowing you to create them in natural language. Tapping New Shortcut in the Shortcuts app opens a Describe Shortcut interface, where you simply explain what you want the shortcut to do. You can describe a single action or a more complex automation, and Apple Intelligence selects the appropriate actions and automatically assembles the shortcut.

For example, you can create a shortcut that sets tomorrow’s alarm based on your first calendar event, activates Sleep Focus, and dims the bedroom lights each evening, or a shortcut that displays your first meeting, the weather, and today’s reminders each morning. Like existing shortcuts, these automations can be triggered by factors like time of day, your location, app activity, system events like taking a screenshot, incoming notifications, and more.

Get a better overview of your city

Apple is improving the Flyover feature in Maps with iOS 27, using Apple Intelligence models to enhance aerial images with greater texture and sharper detail. Trees, buildings and other landmarks appear more realistic, with more accurate geometry and improved lighting effects.

According to Apple, the update makes some cities around the world more realistic, from the shape of individual trees to the way light reflects off glass skyscrapers. Flyover already offers detailed 3D views of monuments, roads, parks and buildings in more than 350 cities. iOS 27 therefore essentially uses AI to further improve the quality of these visualizations.

Ask Siri what your camera sees

The iOS 27 Camera app has a new “Siri” mode available in addition to video, photo, and other camera modes. The new mode uses visual intelligence to identify objects in the frame and provide information about them. It can be used to identify plants, animals, foods, etc. If you want information about a food, for example, it can tell you what it is and how many calories it contains.

Other examples of ‌Siri‌ mode that can be used include capturing a photo of an event flyer and adding a date to the Calendar app, translating text, splitting a bill, and more.

Make your lock screen clock more compact

A new compact clock mode is available as a new lock screen layout option in iOS 27. Located in the upper-right corner of the Font & Color panel, the option moves the time from its traditional large and centered position to a much smaller format next to the date and widgets at the top of the screen. It’s a nice option if you like a cleaner lock screen look that highlights your wallpaper more completely, and it’s the completely opposite effect introduced in iOS 26 which stretches the clock across the screen.

Generate photorealistic images with Image Playground

Apple’s Image Playground has been a bit awkward so far, limited to cutesy renderings of real photos and sketched illustrations. But the app is getting a major update in iOS 27. Powered by a new generative model that runs on Private Cloud Compute, it can produce high-quality images in virtually any style, including photorealistic output for the first time. All generated images automatically carry a hidden SynthID watermark to identify them as AI-generated. The app now also supports photo editing in addition to creating.

Adjust Liquid Glass Opacity

If adopting Apple’s Liquid Glass UI in iOS 26 wasn’t your thing, there’s a way to mitigate it. In iOS 27, Apple added a full Liquid Glass slider under Settings ➝ Appearance ➝ Liquid Glass. This changes the translucency of Liquid Glass elements, and you can choose a clear version of Liquid Glass that lets some of the background show through, select a more opaque, tinted version that improves text readability, or choose something in between.

Create a slideshow from any album

In iOS 27, you can create a slideshow from any album, collection, or selection of photos in the Photos app, rather than just Memories. Open an album or select multiple photos, tap the menu button in the upper right corner and choose Start Slideshow. Slideshows can be customized with different transition styles, slide durations and background music, then saved as a video or shared directly to social media.