Your iPhone’s next big software update just arrived. Apple released iOS 27 on Monday, fixing many of the annoyances that iOS 26 inadvertently introduced last year, while also tweaking Liquid Glass to improve readability.
Alongside iOS 27, Siri AI also launches in beta today, finally bringing Apple’s AI assistant on par with Google, ChatGPT and others.
Performance improvements and Liquid Glass tweaks
Setting the new AI features aside, iOS 27 focuses on improving the user experience. Apple does this by promising up to 30% faster app launch times, faster and more reliable NFC reading, 70% faster image load times and up to 80% faster AirDrop transfers.
A rebuilt search foundation should make the search experience in Spotlight, Photos and Mail faster, more reliable and more efficient.
Those are some impressive claims, which you should notice even on your old iPhone.
As for Liquid Glass, iOS 27 makes further tweaks to Apple’s design language to improve readability and fix some oddities. More importantly, it adds a new slider, so you can control the Liquid Glass transparency, adding a more tinted effect if you like.
Siri AI finally arrives
Photo: Apple
The main highlight of iOS 27 is Siri AI. After the initial fumble with Apple Intelligence and an AI-powered Siri, Apple appears to have gotten its act together, with help from Google’s Gemini.
Siri AI turns the old Siri into a much more capable, conversational tool. It can understand natural requests, pull information from the web and across your iPhone, and even take actions in apps.
A dedicated Siri app makes continuing old conversations easier, with history synced across all linked Apple devices.
Siri AI launches as part of iOS 27 today, but it’s still in beta. It only works in English for now. Unfortunately, Siri AI won’t launch in the European Union due to Apple’s ongoing legal battle with the European Commission.
Photos and Safari get AI upgrades, too
Siri is not the only one getting AI upgrades. iOS 27 brings new Apple Intelligence tools to the Photos app, giving you more ways to fix a shot after taking it. Spatial Reframing lets you adjust its composition, while Extend expands the image beyond its original edges. Apple also improves Clean Up so it can remove larger unwanted objects.
Shared Albums gets a useful upgrade, too, with full-resolution photo sharing and easier contributions from friends and family using Android or Windows through iCloud.com.
Safari can use AI to organize related tabs automatically. A new Notify Me feature can watch a page for changes and notify you when they happen.
iOS 27 runs on iPhone 11 and newer models. However, Siri AI and other Apple Intelligence features require an iPhone 15 Pro or later. And some features, like the customizable Siri voice and faster on-device typing, require an iPhone 17 Pro or newer model.
Alongside iOS 27, Apple also released iPadOS 27, watchOS 27 and visionOS 27 on Monday. You can download them from Settings > General > Software Update. Since this is a big update, make sure to create a backup first.
Rajesh has been writing about consumer technology for over a decade, with a strong focus on iPhones, Macs and Apple’s ecosystem. He enjoys digging into Apple software updates, hardware changes, and discovering new Mac apps that make work faster and more enjoyable.
You can reach out to him at mail[at]rajeshpandey.me.
