The Complete Guide to Every iOS 27 Feature

Wednesday September 16, 2026 9:05 am EAT by Kevin Hollington

Apple tends to release operating system changes as a two-beat sequence, like our heart going LUB-dub: The LUB beat is a major flex, like the introduction of Liquid Glass across all their operating systems in 2025. This year is a “dub,” a building-or-rebuilding year, in which Apple largely tweaks the previous cycle and offers incremental improvements, though some may feel quite large.

The 2026 set of releases, numbered 27—like car models are numbered in fall for the following year—is a “dub.” We see the rollout of the long-promised Siri upgrade, called Siri AI. Along with its improved performance, Siri AI and Apple Intelligence both extend much more deeply into apps and system functions across nearly all platforms. That’s the flagship feature.

Our iOS 27 guide follows the order you will actually meet those changes: the upgrade itself, then Siri AI, then Apple Intelligence inside the apps, then the interface that changed under you, and so on through to the apps and Apple Pay. Two further sections cover what comes after — keeping the phone safe, and finding it again if it goes missing.

This is a comprehensive guide with all of our coverage, and it’s a useful resource for iPhone and iPad users new to iOS 27 or those who might want a recap on what’s new.

Before you upgrade

Upgrading your device should be a cinch. But iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 have minimum hardware requirements. You won’t be able to upgrade any iPhone or iPad that isn’t a supported model. There are further limitations to using Apple Intelligence, which requires certain processor features and applies only to a subset of iPhones and iPads that can install iOS 27 and iPadOS 27.

The Siri AI guide

Siri spent years seeming like it didn’t quite fit the level of quality Apple aspires to. Worse, the company announced capabilities it wasn’t able to release, and features that have disappointed. You can tell this wasn’t just users carping: more than one head of the Siri effort has left the company altogether.

Apple Intelligence was more of a success, if limited. The company, making use of mostly on-device computation, focused their use of Apple Intelligence on specific tasks within apps or systemwide. I think many of these attempts were boring or unnecessary: generating custom emojis, Image Playground for slightly icky picture generation, and the global Writing Tools, which were worse than many previous generations of non-AI-based assistants.

Apple Intelligence inside the apps

In the iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 updates, Apple expanded the use of Apple Intelligence across more apps and added features to apps that already had some Apple Intelligence support. Apple Intelligence is designed to synthesize information, like creating summaries, as well as generate stuff, such as text or images. Some of the elements are distinctly more useful than others.

The interface changed under you

Few interface changes Apple has made have been more criticized than their introduction of Liquid Glass in their version 26 operating system releases; few have been more praised than bringing a full-featured windowing environment to iPadOS 26.

Apple has learned from both changes and added maturity to them. Liquid Glass can now be practically disabled—almost turned off with Reduce Transparency—while the iPad received many more minor changes that are welcome, but not critical.

Setting it up for children

Over the last few years, Apple has released a number of features that parents can use for children that are aimed at reducing two categories of risk: use of apps parents disapprove of, activities parents want to discourage or limit, and spending money online; and exposure to unwanted contact, images, and videos, as well as preventing children from being able to make unfettered connections or send material to arbitrary people.

Accessibility

Accessibility is a catch-all term for a large number of features, apps, and adjustments that Apple designs to improve access to kinds of things that may be harder for some people, whether due to motor limitations, eyesight or hearing, or the language they speak.

Many of these features can benefit a much larger group of people than any narrowly defined as “disabled”; automatic, high-quality captioning of video content is a great example, as is having a voice read text aloud from webpages or describe images.

Communications

Following significant overhauls to their three communications apps in iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26—FaceTime, Messages, and Phone—Apple has relaxed a bit with changes in the 27 series of releases. Here’s what you should pay attention to.

The apps, one by one

Beyond the big changes, many apps in iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 received smaller tweaks or modest new features.

Apple Pay and Wallet

Apple also made one systemwide change so far that I can tell you about, with big updates to Apple Pay and point-of-sale payments.

Keeping it safe

An upgrade is a good moment to check the settings you set once and then forget. These come from a separate guide to securing Apple devices rather than from the iOS 27 release notes, so they apply whichever version you are running.

Finding your things

Find My changed in iOS 27, and the AirTag hardware changed with it. This section covers the whole system: devices, people, and the trackers you attach to your things.

Tags: iOS 27, iPadOS 27

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