Everything we learned about iOS 27 at WWDC 2026

Apple finally showed what’s in store for iOS 27.

At WWDC 2026, Apple officially released iOS 27 after months of rumors. To no one’s surprise, the AI-enhanced version of Siri (along with other Apple intelligence bonuses) was the star of the show.

Siri AI Coming to iOS 27

The big thing everyone was looking forward to heading into WWDC was Apple’s long-awaited Siri upgrade, known as Siri AI, and Apple delivered a lot of news on that front. Powered by Gemini, the new version of Siri excels at natural language conversations and can be invoked by pressing the power button (as always), swiping down from the Dynamic Island, or through a brand new dedicated Siri app with a chatbot-like interface.

It can be seen on the screen and use your personal environment to answer queries or create reminders for the user. In general, it sounds similar to what AI assistants like the Gemini can already do in competing smartphones, but we’ll have to see if that’s true for ourselves later this year… in the US, anyway. The introduction of Siri AI in the EU and China has been delayed by regulatory procedures in those two regions.

Some other AI features

Use spatial reframing to make images look exactly how you want without reshooting them.
Credit: Screenshot: Apple

Apple Intelligence seems to permeate iOS 27, even if you don’t use Siri. For example, AI will give you the same ability to generate suggested responses once in messages or quickly generate notes or reminders for you based on context. Image Playground has been updated with additional image creation tools, including the ability to create photorealistic AI images. However, there are limits to how much you can do this depending on the iCloud storage tier you pay for.

One of the most useful AI features here is the ability to use natural language to describe and create shortcuts for you. The Photos app has received an update with features including improved image cleaning so you can erase unwanted elements from photos, a new extension feature that uses AI to create more photos around the subject, or a new Spatial Reframe tool to create better framing in photos without taking another photo.

Other goodies coming to iOS 27

Parental controls seemed to be a major focus at WWDC. Apple is adding improved tools for parents to its software suite, including additional screen time controls and app permission requests. Also, in what may be exciting news for some, Apple confirmed that every iPhone starting with the iPhone 11 will support iOS 27. Earlier rumors indicated that the iPhone 11 family would be phased out of software support this year.

Apple showed off a new customization slider for Liquid Glass, allowing users to slide between ultra clear on one end and tinted glass on the other. Other nuggets include menopause and perimenopause cycle tracking in the Health app, custom balance controls for AirPods, and a major visual makeover for Flyover mode in Apple Maps.

Liquid glass is here to stay, folks.
Credit: Apple

Aside from Siri AI and the other AI bonuses described above, iOS 27 isn’t quite as bold and striking as it was when iOS 26 introduced Liquid Glass. But a year from now, we’ll all be using Siri AI on a daily basis, and I’ll be funny to say that.

For more WWDC 2026 newsFollow our live blog See all the latest announcements and surprises from the annual Apple event.