Apple's new iOS 27 brings major AI-powered Siri upgrades, smarter apps, visual intelligence, safety controls, and performance improvements.
As previously announced, Apple will officially start rolling out iOS 27 today (September 14, 2026), bringing a major set of new features and improvements to compatible iPhones, some of which have leaked ahead of schedule.
If you are wondering, iOS 27 is supported on iPhone 11 and newer models, as well as iPhone SE (2nd generation and later). However, Apple Intelligence and Siri AI require newer hardware, with Apple listing iPhone 15 Pro / 15 Pro Max and iPhone 16 models or later among the supported iPhones.
Here are some of the major features you can expect after installing the update:
Siri gets a major AI upgrade: Apple is expanding Siri with more natural conversations and the ability to understand personal context, use information from across apps, and perform actions for you. Siri can also understand what's currently on your screen, allowing you to ask questions about content without manually copying it elsewhere.
Overall, Apple Intelligence should no longer be limited to a handful of features, as iOS 27 expands it across Messages, Mail, Safari, Shortcuts, Photos, and other parts of the system. Developers can also use Apple's new Foundation Models framework to build AI features using the same on-device models that power Apple Intelligence. Apple's developer documentation says apps can even combine these models with images and Vision capabilities such as OCR and barcode recognition. Note however that Sir AI will only be available on iPhone 15 Pro, Pro Max, and iPhone 16 models and later. Also, currently it's only in English.
Performance and interface refinements: iOS 27 continues to improve Apple's Liquid Glass design language while refining various interface elements. Apple is also making broader performance improvements to areas such as app launching, networking, AirDrop and overall system responsiveness.
Visual Intelligence gets more useful: Siri mode in Camera brings Visual Intelligence directly into the camera viewfinder, allowing users to search, ask questions and take actions based on what they're seeing. You can point your iPhone at an object and ask questions, search for information, or perform related actions.
Photos gets new AI editing tools: Similar to the camera improvements highlighted above, the Cupertino giant is also enhancing its AI editing tools. That's because Apple is adding Spatial Reframing, which lets you change the composition of an image after it has already been taken. The Extend feature can expand an image beyond its original boundaries, while Clean Up gets improvements for removing unwanted objects.
Safari becomes smarter: Safari gains the ability to organize tabs by topic and can monitor webpages for changes. This could be particularly useful for users who regularly keep large numbers of tabs open or need to monitor frequently changing information.
New child-safety controls: Parents get more granular controls in iOS 27 with new features. As an example, Ask to Browse can require approval before children visit certain websites, while Time Allowances provide more flexible control over when particular apps can be used. Apple is also expanding Communication Safety protections.
Messages gets several upgrades: iOS 27 adds more ways to personalize conversations and makes it easier to manage information shared through chats. The company is bringing more Apple Intelligence-powered capabilities to the app like context-based suggestions that helps you take "quick actions".
Phone and communication improvements: Apple is introducing new features designed to make calls more useful, including Call Context, which can bring up relevant, useful information from other apps while you're on a call.
For developers, iOS 27 is a pretty big release. Apple has introduced the Foundation Models framework, Core AI for running custom models on-device, expanded App Intents integration for Siri, and new tools for building AI-powered apps. The Foundation Models framework can also work with cloud models such as Claude and Gemini alongside Apple's own models.
That said, as mentioned up top, not every feature will appear on every supported iPhone. Apple Intelligence capabilities remain dependent on hardware, language, and region, so owners of older iPhones will get iOS 27 but will sadly miss out on some of the update's biggest additions.
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