Apple released the public beta of iOS 27 today, and if you’re curious about the new software, now is the time to try it. iOS 27 brings Siri AI, performance improvements, and many new Apple Intelligence features. With public betas, you don’t have to wait until September to see what’s new.
iOS 27 is one of Apple’s most stable beta releases compared to previous years. We never recommend installing a beta on a primary device, especially if you rely on important health apps, but if you have a secondary device or can live with a few bugs, the software is worth a look.
Performance Improvements
Apple has accelerated a long list of features in iOS 27, and this is immediately visible when you download the software.
Everything looks snappier than in iOS 26. Animations are faster, apps launch faster, and AirDrop transfers complete faster. You’ll see improvements when taking photos, opening the keyboard, using the App Library, and swapping Home screen pages. Your iMessages between devices sync more accurately, messages won’t fail to send and will be automatically retried, and your iPhone can switch from Wi-Fi to cellular more easily.
The majority of new features in iOS 27 require Apple Intelligence and an iPhone 15 Pro or later, but the under-the-hood improvements are available on all iPhones, and even older iPhones will feel faster.
Siri AI
Siri received a total overhaul in iOS 27, and it is now “Siri AI”. It’s more like ChatGPT or Claude than the previous version of Siri, with support for back-and-forth conversations. Siri AI can do a lot of what other AI chatbots can do, but unlike other AI options, Siri has private access to your messages, emails, photos, apps, and other personal data so it can perform a wider range of tasks. Siri can also search the web, allowing it to answer all kinds of queries.
You can activate Siri with a wake word, swipe down from the middle of your screen to type a question to Siri, chat with Siri in the Siri app, or press the side button to activate Siri.
Some examples of what Siri is now capable of:
- Create home automation with a command like lock all doors at midnight.
- Search for specific emails, messages, photos, images, links, files, and other documents that people have sent to you. You can ask based on person, time, location, etc.
- Delete files, emails, photos or messages.
- Add all items from a recipe on a website to a shopping list.
- Recommend activities, places and restaurants you might like based on what he knows about you.
- Look at something on your screen, like a website, and answer questions about it.
- Answer the general knowledge questions.
- Add people’s information to the People app when asked, like birthdays or additional phone numbers.
- Find website and app passwords stored in the Passwords app.
To learn more about some of the commands you can use with Siri, we have a dedicated Siri AI guide.
Visual intelligence
Visual intelligence is accessible through the Camera app with a new Siri mode that you can choose as an alternative to photo and video modes. It works the same as before, but it’s easier to access.
There are new Visual Intelligence features, and Siri can do things like tell you the nutritional value of something you’re about to eat, or calculate what everyone owes from a picture of a receipt. We have more examples in our iOS 27 Visual Intelligence guide.
Write with Siri
Siri can generate text from scratch in iOS 27, and there is a system-wide Write with Siri feature that you can access from the keyboard. Siri can help you write, give you feedback on what you’ve written, change the tone or wording of your writing, and even write in your style by analyzing your emails and messages.
Your iPhone also automatically suggests grammar fixes in addition to spelling fixes.
Cleaning up photos
The cleanup tool that removes unwanted objects from images in the Photos app is much improved in iOS 27, and it does a better job of cleanly removing what you don’t want and filling in what’s missing more convincingly.
There are also new image tools for extending the borders of a photo using AI and changing the perspective or composition of an image.
Our complete iOS 27 Photos guide goes over all the new features.
Passwords
If you use the Passwords app, there is a new feature that uses Safari to automatically change weak and compromised passwords for you. This requires a device that supports Apple Intelligence.
Safari
You can create custom extensions with natural language commands in Safari, which is useful when you want to do something specific but there isn’t a good extension available. Some examples of suggestions from Apple:
- Create a quote for the current web page and copy it to my clipboard
- Create a 3 minute focus timer for the page
- Set the minimum font size to 14 pt
- Turn the page into pirate speech
- Style websites like 90s websites with bold colors and typefaces
- Every time I open a new tab, draw me a different flower
- Highlight and show dimensions of web page elements when I tap on them
- Enter the design mode of a website so I can edit the content
Safari can also automatically organize your tabs into categories, watch a web page, and notify you if there are any changes. To learn more, read our Safari iOS 27 guide.
Home application
Use HomeKit secure video cameras? They now support 2K and 4K recording. There’s also a new AI feature that gives you text descriptions of what’s happening in your home, and there’s an option to search through natural language videos to find something you’re looking for.
AI features will require a 2TB iCloud+ plan at launch, but not 4K streaming.
To learn more about what’s new in the Home app, check out our iOS 27 Home guide.
AirPods Equalizer
If you’ve ever wanted to adjust the sound on your AirPods, you can do so with new AirPods customization options that let you change the mids, highs, and bass. Custom EQ is available for AirPods 4, AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3, and AirPods Max 2.
Shortcuts
If you find the Shortcuts app intimidating, it’s easier to use in iOS 27. You can tell the Shortcuts app what you want to be able to accomplish with a shortcut, and it will do it using AI. You can then refine it with other natural language queries or modify it manually.
How to install the beta version
You can sign up for the iOS 27 beta (and any other beta) using Apple’s public beta website. Once registered, you can go to Settings > General > Software Update, then choose iOS 27 Public Beta to install the update.
Make sure to create a backup before installing the beta in case you want to revert to iOS 26 later.
Beta reminders
iOS 27 is still largely a beta, and it’s not the final version of the software we’ll see in September. Apple continues to refine the Siri AI and Apple Intelligence features, as well as fixing bugs and tweaking features.
iOS 27 Discussion and App Information
The iOS Woozad The forums are a good place to discuss iOS 27 features and take a look at what people are saying about the software’s stability.
There’s a list of working and non-working apps on the forums if you want to see what you might be missing, as well as a useful discussion on how people use the Siri AI.
We also have a full preview of iOS 27 with more details on what’s new in the update.
