Like iOS 27, iPadOS 27 benefits from a smarter, more capable version of Siri, the Siri app, and new Apple Intelligence features in apps, but there are some iPad-only highlights.
Siri AI on iPad has all the same features as Siri AI on iPhone, so it can access your personal data, search the web for answers, perform tasks in apps, and answer questions about what’s on your screen. For people who write with Apple Pencil on iPad, it can index your handwritten notes so you can browse them. You can use Siri to act on your notes, whether they’re typed or handwritten.
Siri can summarize, rewrite, give you writing tips, check grammar, generate new text for you, and much more. There’s a system-wide Write to Siri feature for help, no matter what app you’re using.
There’s a new Image Playground app that can generate images in any style, including photorealistic, and that powers the Image Wand in the Notes app. You can quickly draw a sketch of something in Notes, then use Image Wand to turn it into a photorealistic visual aid.
Visual Intelligence was previously an iPhone-only feature, but in iPadOS 27 it expands to the iPad. You can take a screenshot, then circle what you want to know more about with a finger or the Apple Pencil. The iPad supports the same Visual Intelligence features, like telling you the nutritional value of foods and identifying plants and animals.
The Shortcuts app can use AI to automatically generate shortcuts for you, which can be especially useful on the iPad. If you want a quick way to change how iPad windowing works when you connect a keyboard or when using it without a keyboard, you can describe it in a sentence or two and get a working shortcut just a minute later.
Safari supports automatic tab grouping and has AI functionality to generate your own extensions. Like iOS 27, iPadOS 27 is also more responsive thanks to performance improvements. Browsing and transferring files is faster, AirDrop is faster, apps launch faster, and multitasking on iPad is faster.
There’s a Liquid Glass slider to adjust the opacity to your liking, and Apple has also made other improvements to Liquid Glass to improve readability. You can also resize iPhone apps running on the iPad.
Siri AI and Apple Intelligence in iPadOS 27 require an iPad with an M series chip or the iPad mini A17 Pro. EU users won’t get Siri AI on iPad when iPadOS 27 launches, and it’s not available in China either.
Older iPads won’t benefit from Siri AI or Apple Intelligence features, but they will benefit from performance improvements Apple has added. Older iPads will feel faster on iPadOS 27 than on iPadOS 26.
