Everything new in iOS 27.2 beta 1

Apple surprised us today with the first beta of iOS 27.2 instead of releasing a beta of iOS 27.1. Apple likely jumped straight to iOS 27.2 to keep the iPhone Duo code under wraps for now, as we already know that the ‌iPhone Duo‌ will ship with iOS 27.1 when it releases in October.

This beta includes Apple’s revamped Health app, new languages ​​for Siri AI, and a handful of other useful tweaks.

Redesigned Health app

The iOS 27.2 beta includes the redesigned Health app that Apple introduced at its September iPhone event. The new app is organized into three main tabs: Insights, Longevity and Browse.

Insights includes your most recent and relevant health information, such as vital signs, sleep score, heart rate, and activity rings. Longevity displays your health data over time, providing a healthy age calculated from activity level, VO2 max, sleep time and other metrics.

The Health Age feature uses in-app assessments that take advantage of the iPhone’s camera. You can measure flexibility, strength, balance and VO2 max. The revamped Health app is only available in US English.

The Health app also has a new icon.

Call context

Apple has added birthday alerts to the Apple Intelligence Call Context feature. If you call someone and you set a birthday for them in the People app, you’ll see a reminder in the Phone app.

CarPlay

There are themes for CarPlay Ultra that include wallpaper, gauge style, and color options. The code suggests that ambient lighting in supported vehicles will also match the color of the selected theme.

AI Siri Languages

‌Siri‌ AI is available in French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish in the iOS 27.2 beta.

Apple TV app

Apple extended Apple TV app profiles to iPhone and iPad in iOS 27.2. Users of the ‌Apple TV‌ app can create profiles in the account settings section and then switch between those profiles. Profiles only require a name, a profile rating, and information whether the user is a child.

Creating an account for a child limits content to a PG rating by default, but there is a customization option for more granular control. Users can select age ratings for child-friendly TV shows and movies based on their age. Profiles are useful for parents who want to hand a child an iPhone or ‌iPad‌ to watch TV content while restricting content that is not age-appropriate.

There is also a new option to enable sign language interpretation when available. It can be enabled in the TV app settings.

FaceTime ASL API

Last May, Apple announced that it would add a new API to FaceTime allowing developers who create sign language interpreting apps to add a human interpreter to an ongoing video call.

This feature appears to be available in iOS 27.2.

Clock

Apple has changed the way alarms appear in the Clock app. The morning and afternoon readings are now smaller than the hour.

Music

In the Music app, some red accents have been removed. The Play and Shuffle buttons in the Library are black instead of red, as are all the icons next to the Library sections.

Siri

Access to apps in the ‌Siri‌ section of the Settings app is now named “Excluded apps”. Tapping “Add apps” displays a list so that multiple apps can be excluded at once. Previously, apps had to be excluded one by one.

Adding an app to the Exclude list prevents it from appearing in ‌Siri‌, search, and suggestions.

Podcasts

Apple has renamed Up Next to New Episodes, with a Continue Reading option just below.

Application tracking transparency

According to Apple’s release notes for the update, App Tracking Transparency supports an alternative extended prompt for EU users as well as a new prompt on an annual basis. The alternate prompt is required for users in France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Romania.