Apple has released the iPadOS 27 Public Beta, giving iPad users an early look at the next major software update before its official launch this fall. While Apple Intelligence powers many of the headline additions, iPadOS 27 also introduces meaningful improvements to search, multitasking, writing tools, Safari, and system performance that make the iPad even more capable for work, school, and everyday use.
Rather than reinventing the iPad experience, Apple has focused on making existing features smarter and faster. From a completely redesigned Siri experience to more powerful productivity tools and thoughtful interface refinements, these are the best iPadOS 27 Public Beta features you should try first.
Learn how to install iPadOS 27 Public Beta here.
1. Siri AI transforms how you use your iPad
Apple has rebuilt Siri around Apple Intelligence, turning it into a conversational assistant that understands natural language, remembers previous conversations, and can complete tasks across your apps using everyday requests.
Instead of launching Siri through the familiar floating orb, iPadOS 27 introduces a dedicated Siri app that stores your conversation history. You can start chatting on your iPad, then continue the same conversation later on your iPhone, Mac, Apple Watch, or Apple Vision Pro without losing context.
Accessing Siri is also much more intuitive. A simple pull-down gesture from the top of the display opens a unified Search or Ask interface that combines Spotlight and Siri into one place. Whether you’re looking for a file, launching an app, searching the web, or asking a question, everything now starts from the same interface.
Where Siri AI really shines is its understanding of your personal content. With your permission, it can securely search through emails, Messages, Notes, Photos, Calendar events, Files, and other Apple apps to help find exactly what you’re looking for.
Forgot where someone sent you an address? Need the PDF your coworker emailed last month? Looking for notes from a specific meeting? Instead of manually opening multiple apps, Siri can find the information in seconds.
It can also summarize documents, brainstorm ideas, rewrite text, answer questions about your files, create reminders, schedule events, and perform actions across supported apps using natural language.
For many users, Siri AI will become the fastest way to navigate the iPad.
2. Spotlight becomes one of the biggest upgrades in iPadOS 27
Spotlight receives one of its biggest upgrades in years, making search across iPadOS faster, smarter, and far more useful than before. Search results now appear more quickly thanks to improved indexing, and recently added files, photos, emails, and notes become searchable much sooner after they’re created.
Instead of acting as a simple app launcher, Spotlight has become a central hub for everything on your iPad. You can search for documents stored in Files, locate messages, open notes, browse photos, launch apps, perform web searches, or switch directly into Siri AI without leaving the search interface.
Because Spotlight and Siri now work together, you no longer have to decide whether you’re searching your iPad or asking an AI assistant. You simply start typing or speaking, and iPadOS determines the best way to find the information you need.
It’s one of those changes that doesn’t immediately stand out, but after using the beta for a few days, going back to the previous version of Spotlight feels surprisingly limiting.
3. Visual Intelligence makes the iPad even better for work and school
Visual Intelligence is one of the standout Apple Intelligence features in iPadOS 27, and it feels perfectly suited to the iPad’s larger display. You can capture a screenshot of virtually anything on your screen, including a PDF, webpage, presentation, textbook, chart, spreadsheet, or image, then ask Siri questions about what you’re viewing.
Need a lengthy article summarized? Want a graph explained? Looking at a complex presentation or research paper? Visual Intelligence can break down the content, explain unfamiliar concepts, identify objects, translate text, search for more information online, or help perform related tasks without requiring you to switch apps.
Students can use it to better understand lecture slides and digital textbooks, while professionals can quickly analyze reports, presentations, and business documents.
Because so much work already happens on an iPad, Visual Intelligence feels less like a novelty and more like a practical productivity tool you’ll likely use every day.
4. Apple Intelligence improves the apps you already use
Beyond Siri, Apple Intelligence is woven throughout iPadOS 27, making many of Apple’s built-in apps smarter without dramatically changing how they work.
Writing Tools are more capable than ever. You can generate text from scratch, rewrite emails, improve grammar, summarize long passages, or adjust the tone of your writing directly within supported apps. Siri can even adapt suggestions to better match your writing style, making edits feel more natural.
The Photos app also receives major upgrades. New AI-powered editing tools let you intelligently expand images beyond their original borders, improve photo composition with Spatial Reframing, and remove unwanted objects more effectively using the enhanced Clean Up tool.
Image Playground now supports photorealistic image generation alongside artistic styles, making it easier to create illustrations, wallpapers, presentation graphics, and other creative content using simple text prompts.
Apple has also brought intelligence to many of its everyday apps. Calendar can create events from natural language, Messages and Mail can suggest reminders or calendar entries based on conversations, while Notes, Reminders, and Maps all benefit from deeper Siri integration and smarter search.
Even the keyboard gets an upgrade with more advanced writing suggestions that help improve grammar, clarity, and sentence structure as you type.
5. Safari gets its biggest productivity upgrade in years
Safari receives several Apple Intelligence-powered features that make browsing on the iPad far more productive.
One of the most useful additions is Automatic Tab Organization, which groups related tabs together based on what you’re doing. Whether you’re researching a topic, planning a trip, comparing products, or working on a project, Safari keeps your tabs organized without any manual effort.
Another standout feature is Safari Notify Me, which monitors supported webpages and alerts you when something changes. Instead of repeatedly checking the same website, you can receive notifications when a product comes back in stock, a ticket becomes available, a reservation opens, or new content is published.
Apple is also introducing Describe an Extension, a feature that lets you create custom Safari extensions simply by describing what you want them to do. Rather than searching for an existing extension or writing code yourself, Apple Intelligence generates one based on your request.
Combined with the faster Safari engine in iPadOS 27, these upgrades make Apple’s browser one of the biggest highlights of the update.
6. Multitasking feels faster and more capable
While iPadOS 27 doesn’t completely rethink multitasking, it includes several quality-of-life improvements that make using multiple apps feel more seamless.
Performance has been improved across the operating system, with faster AirDrop transfers, quicker file browsing in the Files app, smoother window switching, faster app closing animations, and more responsive menu bar interactions.
Apple has also introduced an optional persistent menu bar, giving supported apps quicker access to commonly used commands without interrupting your workflow.
Another welcome addition is support for resizable iPhone apps. Instead of being locked to their original dimensions, compatible iPhone apps can now be resized to better fit your workspace, making them much more practical to use alongside native iPad apps.
The Today View has also been updated with support for extra-large widgets, allowing you to see more information at a glance, while the active app’s name now appears in the status bar to make multitasking easier when several windows are open.
None of these changes are revolutionary on their own, but together they make the iPad feel more polished and efficient throughout the day.
7. Liquid Glass gives you more control over the interface
Apple has refined the Liquid Glass design introduced last year instead of redesigning the interface from scratch. The biggest addition is a new customization slider that lets you control how transparent the interface appears. If you enjoy the layered glass effect, you can keep it looking clear and vibrant. If you prefer better readability, you can reduce the transparency for a more solid appearance.
Apple has also improved contrast throughout the system, refined window shapes, updated toolbars, redesigned menu icons, and polished animations to make the interface easier to read without losing its distinctive look.
These refinements may seem subtle, but they help iPadOS feel cleaner and more consistent during everyday use.
8. Screen Time and accessibility continue to improve
Apple is also expanding parental controls and accessibility features in iPadOS 27. Screen Time offers more flexible controls for families, while updated parental features make it easier to manage how children use their devices. Communication Safety has also been expanded to help protect younger users from additional types of sensitive content.
On the accessibility side, VoiceOver provides richer image descriptions and a better understanding of onscreen content, making navigation easier for users with visual impairments.
Apple has also introduced automatic caption generation for videos, along with the ability to translate captions into other languages, helping make more content accessible to a wider audience.
Should you install the iPadOS 27 Public Beta?
The iPadOS 27 Public Beta doesn’t radically change how the iPad works, but it makes the experience noticeably smarter and more capable. Siri AI is finally useful for everyday tasks, Spotlight has evolved into a powerful search hub, Visual Intelligence adds practical tools for work and study, and Apple Intelligence improves many of the apps people already rely on.
Combined with better multitasking, smarter Safari features, AI-powered writing and photo editing tools, and system-wide performance improvements, iPadOS 27 is one of the most polished iPad updates Apple has released in recent years.
As with any beta software, bugs and app compatibility issues are still possible. If you decide to install the public beta, it’s best to use a secondary iPad or make a full backup beforehand so you can restore your device if needed.
