iOS 27

There are iOS updates that change a few icons, move a button somewhere nobody asked it to be moved, add seventeen new emoji and quietly disappear into history.

This feels more like the point where Apple’s ideas about design, photography, intelligence, privacy and the wider Apple ecosystem finally begin clicking together.

Liquid Glass arrived previously and dramatically changed the visual character of the iPhone. iOS 27 takes that foundation, polishes it and concentrates on something considerably more interesting:

And sitting right in the middle of it is something Apple users have been waiting years for.

Siri has finally gone back to school.

This is unquestionably the headline feature.

Apple is introducing Siri AI, powered by the next generation of Apple Intelligence. Apple describes it as a genuinely conversational assistant capable of understanding personal context, recognising what is happening on your screen and using broader knowledge when answering questions. ([Apple][1])

That sounds suspiciously like Siri has finally stopped being the assistant who can set a timer perfectly but occasionally needs emotional support when asked anything more complicated.

With iOS 27, Apple says you'll be able to speak or type naturally, ask follow-up questions and have Siri use information scattered around your iPhone.

Messages.

Emails.

Photographs.

Notes.

Information displayed on the screen.

Instead of hunting through Mail for the campsite confirmation, scrolling through Messages looking for the date somebody mentioned, then opening Maps to find the place, Siri AI is designed to understand the context and help pull the pieces together. ([Apple][2])

That is potentially enormous.

Because the best AI isn't necessarily the one capable of writing an essay about quantum physics.

Sometimes the best AI is simply the one that knows where the bloody booking confirmation went.

This is possibly my favourite part of iOS 27.

Siri AI is being integrated directly into the Camera through Siri mode, combining the camera with Visual Intelligence.

Point your iPhone at something and you'll be able to ask questions about what you're looking at.

A landmark.

A plant.

Something mechanical.

Food.

An object you don't recognise.

Something you're considering buying.

Instead of taking a photograph, leaving Camera, opening another app and explaining what you're looking at, the intelligence begins right in the viewfinder. ([Apple][2])

For somebody who uses an iPhone as a genuine camera rather than merely a device for photographing parking spaces and receipts, this is fascinating.

The camera is beginning to understand the photograph while you're still looking at the subject.

That changes the relationship between photography and information.

Apple is also pushing intelligence further into Photos.

One of the headline tools is Spatial Reframing, alongside an upgraded Clean Up system.

Spatial Reframing can intelligently alter the framing of an image, while Clean Up continues Apple's move toward removing distracting elements from photographs. ([Apple][2])

There is a delicate balance here.

I don't particularly want the iPhone turning every photograph into something that never existed.

Photography should still begin with light, timing, composition and somebody pressing the shutter.

But tools capable of rescuing a slightly awkward crop, removing a distracting object or intelligently reframing an otherwise great photograph?

That's different.

That's the digital equivalent of spending a few minutes in the darkroom rather than replacing reality entirely.

And I rather like that.

Apple isn't abandoning the Liquid Glass design introduced with iOS 26.

Instead, iOS 27 refines it.

Apple says readability has been improved with more consistent refraction and stronger contrast, icons have become sharper and users get a new control allowing the Liquid Glass appearance to be adjusted from very clear through to heavily tinted. ([Apple][2])

That last bit is important.

Liquid Glass looks spectacular when it works.

When it doesn't, it can sometimes feel as though somebody has placed the interface behind the bottom of a pint glass.

Giving users some control over the effect feels like the sensible second-generation move.

Apple gets to keep the visual identity while allowing people to decide how much glass they actually want in their Glass.

This is the less glamorous bit that could end up being one of the best improvements.

Apple says iOS 27 includes significant optimisation underneath the interface.

Its own testing claims:

AirDrop transfers up to 80% faster. ([Apple][2])

Those are Apple's figures, of course, and real-world performance will vary.

But this is exactly the sort of update I like.

Because an operating system shouldn't only gain things.

Occasionally somebody needs to get underneath it with a socket set and tighten everything up.

If my existing iPhone feels noticeably quicker after installing new software, that is arguably more valuable than another page of novelty features I'll use twice.

One tiny feature caught my attention because it demonstrates what iOS 27 seems to be about.

Apple says the iPhone will switch more intelligently between Wi-Fi and mobile networks.

So if you're leaving home while using Maps, streaming something or making a FaceTime call, the transition should happen more seamlessly. ([Apple][2])

Nobody is going to put that feature on a billboard.

Nobody is buying an iPhone because of it.

But it's exactly the sort of technology you appreciate because you stop noticing it.

Good operating systems eventually disappear.

They stop asking for attention and simply get on with the job.

Mail also gets improved search ranking designed to push the most relevant results higher.

Again, not exactly fireworks over Cupertino.

But anyone who has ever searched their inbox for something they know exists while Mail confidently presents seventeen emails from 2019 will understand why this matters. ([Apple][2])

Siri's personal-context capabilities could make this even more powerful.

The destination Apple appears to be heading toward is obvious:

you shouldn't need to know whether information is inside Messages, Mail, Photos or Notes.

You should just be able to ask for it.

There are loads of smaller improvements scattered around iOS 27.

iCloud Shared Albums are becoming friendlier to Android and Windows users, including easier contribution through iCloud.com and full-resolution sharing.

Maps gets dramatically improved Flyover imagery using aerial photography combined with Visual Intelligence models.

AirPods gain Custom EQ controls for lows, mids and highs.

The Home app gains Apple Intelligence features capable of grouping camera notifications, describing recorded events and searching HomeKit Secure Video footage by asking what happened. Compatible cameras can also support 4K recording. ([Apple][2])

Individually these aren't revolutionary.

Collectively they're Apple doing what Apple traditionally does very well.

The devices stop behaving like separate gadgets and increasingly behave like parts of one machine.

And once you're living inside that machine with iPhone, Mac, Watch, AirPods, iPad and everything else, it becomes enormously compelling.

Also enormously difficult to escape.

Clever, Apple. Very clever. 🍏

And this year iOS has another job.

Apple's newly announced iPhone Duo means iOS 27 has to work across a folding device.

Apple has adapted the interface so controls, navigation, the Dock, Dynamic Island and Home Screen can intelligently reposition themselves depending on whether the Duo is closed, opened or rotated.

Open it and iOS can show two Home Screen pages with Today View alongside them. Content can react as the device folds and move appropriately between displays. ([Apple][3])

This matters even if you never buy a Duo.

Because it means iOS is evolving away from being an operating system designed around one fixed rectangle.

It is becoming adaptive.

That could shape the iPhone for the next decade.

For me, this is where things get interesting.

I'm already deep inside Apple's ecosystem, and my iPhone 17 Pro Max has become far more than a telephone.

It's a camera.

Navigation.

Music player.

Editing device.

Internet connection.

Notebook.

Remote control.

Photo viewer.

Communications hub.

And occasionally, if absolutely unavoidable, I even make a phone call on it.

iOS 27 doesn't fundamentally change what the iPhone is.

Instead, it looks as though Apple is trying to connect all those roles together.

And my iPhone 17 Pro Max is among the devices supporting Apple's new-generation Intelligence features. Apple currently lists the iPhone 16 generation and later, plus the iPhone 15 Pro models, among the supported iPhones. ([Apple][4])

That's rather nice news.

There is one important detail surrounding Siri AI.

Apple says Siri AI will arrive in English later this year, initially in beta. Apple has separately confirmed that the launch is delayed on iPhone and iPad in the European Union because of its dispute over the Digital Markets Act. ([Apple][5])

For us in the UK, Apple's UK material continues to advertise Siri AI as coming in English later this year. ([Apple][5])

So the really transformative part of iOS 27 may arrive slightly after the operating system itself.

And frankly, I'd rather Apple took the time to make Siri AI genuinely good.

We've waited long enough already.

Another few weeks isn't going to kill us.

Not because it has the flashiest Home Screen.

Not because Apple has redesigned every icon.

Not because there is one feature that makes everybody immediately throw their current iPhone into a drawer.

iOS 27 feels important because Apple's iPhone is beginning to cross a threshold.

For years we've operated our phones.

Tap this.

Open that.

Search there.

Copy this.

Paste that.

Find the app.

Find the information.

Switch apps.

Repeat.

The promise of iOS 27 is that some of that relationship begins to reverse.

That sounds obvious.

But it's actually a profound change.

Apple has spent nearly twenty years perfecting the touchscreen smartphone.

Now it is beginning to build the layer that sits above the touchscreen.

Intelligence.

Context.

Conversation.

Understanding.

And if Siri AI works anything like Apple is promising, we may eventually look back at the old Siri, the one that triumphantly told us what the weather was when we asked an entirely different question, with the same affection we now reserve for dial-up internet.

It worked.

Sort of.

But this?

And that could be far more exciting. 🍏📱✨