macOS 27

Beta testing for iOS 27.3, macOS 27.3 and more began on Tuesday, and a highlight is Apple allowing all developers to experiment with connecting their apps to its much more capable Siri AI. This has the potential to revolutionize the iPhone. 

Beyond that, the betas bring a collection of other new features to the iPhone, Apple Watch and other devices. The update includes support for two new AI-powered features that let the latest Apple Watch models listen to nearby conversations. And Apple’s redesigned Health app returns to iPhone.

Just be aware, with the betas so new, many of the features in these upcoming OS upgrades are still being found.

Apple released iOS 27.1 on Thursday, but most iPhone owners won’t be able to install it. The update is specifically for the foldable iPhone Duo, which went on sale on Friday.

But don’t feel frustrated: iOS 27.2 is expected as early as Monday.

Apple seeded the iOS 27.2 Release Candidate to beta testers on Monday, signaling that eager iPhone users should circle October 26 on their calendars. The update improves Group FaceTime calls, adds more languages to Siri AI and more.

The macOS Golden Gate 27.2 Release Candidate was also released, as have equivalents for iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV and more.

Safari is apparently learning to play nice with fingers in the latest macOS beta. The reason could be the touchscreen MacBook. The tweaks are pretty small, but they do show Apple moving away from the app’s cursor-only interface and adding touch support.

For years, Apple has resisted touch on the Mac, but its first touch-enabled laptop is reportedly on the way later this month.

A new open-source tool lets Mac users remove Apple Intelligence from macOS 27 and regain 12GB of storage or more. Named RemoveMacAI, the tool runs from Terminal.

Apple took away the Apple Intelligence master switch in macOS 27. Now, if you turn off individual features, the AI models still sit on your drive. On a Mac with a small SSD, that’s a lot of dead weight.

With many users unknowingly granting AI agents Full Disk Access on their Macs, Apple is stepping in and introducing additional security measures. 

“Some developers are using Full Disk Access in ways that could put users at risk, exposing everything on their systems — including files, mail, messages, and even browsing history — without users’ full knowledge and understanding,” Apple says in a post on its developer website.

Apple released iOS 27.0.1 on Monday, a patch that fixes several bugs discovered after the company’s major iOS 27 update arrived earlier this month.

Several of these bugs made headlines, including one that could freeze the screen on any iPhone with merely a couple of finger swipes. So the update is recommended for all users.

Bug patches for macOS, iPadOS and watchOS also arrived Monday.

After upgrading your Mac to macOS 27 Golden Gate, you might easily overlook some of the new software’s useful additions, like recording your screen with audio, Liquid Glass customization and more.

While the new Mac software looks mostly the same as macOS 26 Tahoe, it adds plenty of new features and improvements that make it a worthy upgrade. Here are eight things you should do immediately after installing macOS Golden Gate.

If you want to monitor a website for changes, you can do it for free with Apple’s Safari web browser. The new Notify Me feature in iOS 27 and macOS 27 makes it easy to watch a webpage for updates — and receive an alert if and when the content is altered.

Let’s say you want to make sure you never miss an update to your favorite band’s tour schedule. Safari’s new capability lets you watch the group’s website so you don’t need to check it yourself every day. Same goes for a city council website you’re monitoring, a local group you want to keep in touch with, etc. Or you could use it to track price drops on a product you want to buy.

Don’t rely on other people to send you an email update. Here’s how to use Safari’s Notify Me feature to monitor the websites that matter to you.

Apple wasted no time moving beyond iOS 27 and macOS 27. Just two days after releasing its major new operating systems, the company began beta testing iOS 27.2 and macOS 27.2 with developers.

No, you didn’t somehow miss beta testing iOS 27.1 and macOS 27.1. Apple made the unusual move of not putting these through public beta testing, and for good reason.

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.

UPDATE: This article is now moot because the wait is over! iOS 27 is now out for everyone:

• iOS 27 arrives with a smarter Siri and fixes you’ll actually notice

iOS 27, iPadOS 27, watchOS 27 and macOS Golden Gate are ready for public release. After previewing the updates at WWDC26 in June, Apple will release them on Monday, September 14.

But when exactly does iOS 27 land on your iPhone on September 14? Here’s when you can expect Apple’s latest updates to go live in your region. (Though you have the option to skip the wait and get iOS 27 now.)

UPDATE: This article is now moot because the wait is over! iOS 27 is now out for everyone:

• iOS 27 arrives with a smarter Siri and fixes you’ll actually notice

After months of beta testing, Apple will release iOS 27, iPadOS 27, watchOS 27 and macOS Golden Gate to the public this month. And at its “Surprise and Shine” event, the company finally provided a release date.

The new operating systems will be released publicly in less than a week, on September 14.

Persistent rumors leave little room for doubt that Apple will finally build a touchscreen into a MacBook, burt that’s only one of the significant changes we can look forward to. It could launch as early as this fall as the biggest revamp to macOS notebooks since 2020.

It’s important enough that there’s speculation the device could be the first MacBook Ultra, not simply another MacBook Pro version.

Here’s what the latest rumors say about the touchscreen MacBook.

Apple Intelligence-powered features in Apple’s Home app will require a 2TB iCloud+ plan, according to a footnote in macOS 27 developer beta 3. As part of the upgrade, the Home app uses AI to generate summaries of motion alerts from compatible HomeKit Secure Video cameras.

In the United States, the required 2TB iCloud+ plan costs $10 per month. Alternatively, it is a part of the Apple One Premier bundle, which costs $37.95 per month.

iOS 27 and macOS Golden Gate add a handful of Notes features that will supercharge your note-taking. There are new options for formatting, working with Markdown and even drawing on a Mac for the first time.

It’s not a big year for the popular note-taking app, but the changes Apple added will please plenty of power users. Here’s what’s new.

macOS 27 Golden Gate marks the end of the road for Intel Macs. If you’re still using one, this is the strongest reason yet to consider upgrading to an Apple silicon Mac.

While your Intel Mac will continue receiving security updates for a while, it has effectively reached the end of its journey. And that’s not a disaster, considering the newer Apple silicon Macs are not only faster and more efficient, but they’re also the ones getting access to all the new AI features. Here are eight reasons it’s finally time to upgrade.

You can get the new Siri AI right now on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Vision Pro. All you have to do is update to the iOS 27 developer beta release.

You’ll get access to the smarter, conversational and agentic Siri. It really does seem to be everything Apple promised.

You’ll also get the other Apple Intelligence features: generating Shortcuts and Safari extensions, extensive photo editing tools, realistic generation in Image Playground, systemwide proofreading and much more.

Be warned — to get the hottest feature, Siri AI, there’s another waitlist. You should hop on as early as you can. You might even be able to skip the long wait time — there’s an unconfirmed method people are trying out. Here’s how.

The hack that some Mac users were using to try out the new Siri AI, skipping the waitlist, no longer works.

Apple released the second developer beta of all its OS 27 updates yesterday. In macOS 27 developer beta 2, the hidden Terminal command no longer enables Siri AI. After you update, you’ll find yourself back on Apple’s waitlist. If you previously enabled it on your Mac, your access will be revoked.

But no worries — some users on Reddit may have found a way to get yourself accepted fast.

macOS 27 comes packed with features that will make your daily life on the Mac all the better. From an enhanced user interface to super-charged search, the new operating system delivers upgrades that should please every Mac user.

While Apple Intelligence and Siri AI dominated Apple’s WWDC26 keynote last week, and much of the fervor focused on improvements coming to iOS 27, the Mac is getting some great new features as well.

Here are the 10 best “hidden” features coming to macOS Golden Gate 27.

Did Apple finally get it right — is the new Siri AI useful? In my early Siri AI testing, I think the answer to that question is a resounding “yes.” I took the three biggest demos from Apple’s keynote and replicated them with my own questions based on my own personal context. In nearly all the tests, it performed just as well as Apple’s examples.

I’ve been throwing Siri AI, now available in the first developer beta of iOS 27, all kinds of other questions, too. Foolishly, I put the beta on my main iPhone, so I’ve been using it as my one and only voice assistant for a week now.

While its smarts aren’t going to shock you if you’ve used a chatbot before, its private, secure access to your entire digital life is something nothing else can offer. (And, some would say, an anticompetitive advantage.)

Siri AI is the real deal.

iPhone Mirroring, which lets you view and control your iPhone from your Mac, finally gets some features it deserved from day one in macOS 27 Golden Gate. The three notable improvements are resizable windows, Control Center access and DRM video playback.

Forget what you know about Apple’s Image Playground — the app is no longer terrible. There’s a new version on the way, and it finally fulfills the promise Apple made two years ago.

Later this year, your iPhone is getting an AI tool that’s truly capable of generating images based on your descriptions. And the software can avoid many of the usual problems that cause some people to reject artificial intelligence tools.

This week on the Cult of Mac podcast: For once, Siri doesn’t leave us exasperated! After a week of WWDC26 surprises, we’re genuinely stoked about the promise of Siri AI.

Also on the Cult of Mac podcast:

• The good news doesn’t stop with Siri. Loads of new Apple Intelligence features look useful and thoughtfully implemented.
• Apple faces off against the European Union, and it looks like EU iPhone and iPad users will pay the price.
• We talk about the new features coming in iOS 27, macOS 27 and watchOS 27.
• And finally we wrap up with the results of our WWDC26 predictions game.

Listen to this week’s episode of the Cult of Mac podcast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.

Even after updating all your devices to the OS 27 betas, you can’t get the new Siri AI right away. There’s a waitlist, and users are reporting that it can take days to get accepted. But on macOS Golden Gate, you can skip the waitlist with a little Terminal command.

First, you’ll need to install macOS Golden Gate. If you want to play it safe by installing it on an external volume, you’ll be disappointed — Apple Intelligence only works when macOS is running from your internal storage. So playing it safe is a little harder, unless you have enough free internal space to make a partition.

Whatever your approach, here’s how you can try out the new Siri on your Mac right now.

Update: In macOS 27 developer beta 2, this method no longer works, but there may be another solution.