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.
iOS 27 release date
iOS 27 will run on the same set of iPhones as iOS 26. Apple is not dropping support for any of the old iPhones this year. And that means, as long as you own an iPhone 11 or later, you can install iOS 27 starting on September 14, Monday.
iOS 27 will be available for the following iPhones on September 14:
- iPhone 11
- iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max
- iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini
- iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max
- iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini
- iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max
- iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus
- iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max
- iPhone SE (2nd and 3rd gen)
- iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 Plus
- iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max
- iPhone 16, iPhone 16e, and iPhone 16 Plus
- iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max
- iPhone 17 and iPhone 17e
- iPhone Air
- iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max
As always, not all iOS 27 features will come to older iPhones. The new Siri and enhanced Apple Intelligence features will only work on iPhone 15 Pro and newer devices.
Even worse, the new Siri voices and customization features are only coming to iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone Air and later models.
iPadOS 27 release date
Unlike iPhones, iPadOS 27 drops support for several older models. But on the bright side, it’s coming out to the public on the same day as iOS 27.
The following iPads will get iPadOS 27 on September 14:
- iPad Air 4, M2 iPad Air and newer
- iPad (9th generation or later)
- iPad Pro 11-inch (second generation or later)
- iPad Pro 12.9-inch (fourth generation and newer)
- iPad Pro (M4 and later)
- iPad mini 6 and newer
Note that new Apple Intelligence features will only work on iPads with an M4 chip and packing 12GB or more system memory.
watchOS 27 release date
Photo: Apple
watchOS 27 releases on the same day as iOS 27 and iPadOS 27. However, unlike those updates, it drops support for several older Apple Watch models this year.
watchOS 27 supports the following Apple Watch models:
- Apple Watch Series 9
- Apple Watch SE (third generation)
- Apple Watch Ultra 2
macOS 27 Golden Gate release date
Image: Apple/D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
macOS 27 Golden Gate releases alongside iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and watchOS 27 on September 14. The latest macOS release only works with Apple Silicon Macs, marking the end of the road for Intel Macs.
macOS Golden Gate supports the following Macs:
- MacBook Air (M1 and newer)
- MacBook Pro (M1 and newer)
- Mac mini (M1 and newer)
- Mac Studio (all models)
- iMac (2020 and later)
- MacBook Neo (2026)
While Apple Intelligence works on all Apple Silicon Macs, the most powerful Apple Intelligence on-device model and its features will only work on M3 or newer Macs with 12GB or more RAM.
No Siri AI
Do note that due to Apple’s spat with the European Commission and the DMA, iPhone users in the EU won’t gain access to the new Siri AI.
If you are in the European Union, you can still access Siri AI on macOS 27, watchOS 27 and visionOS 27.
What if you are running iOS 27 or macOS 27 beta?
For users on the public beta program, a Release Candidate update is rolling out for the above operating systems. It will upgrade your devices to the same public build that’s due next week.
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.
