iOS 27 is packed with changes, but you don’t need to explore every new feature to understand what’s different. The best place to start is with the features you can actually interact with, from Apple’s next-generation Siri and smarter photo search to new Apple Music controls, Safari automation, and AI-powered tools.
Some of these features are designed to save time, while others change how you use familiar apps. If you’ve just installed iOS 27, these are 15 features worth trying first.
1. Try The New Siri AI
The biggest change to Siri is Apple’s move toward a more conversational assistant. Siri AI is designed to understand follow-up questions, maintain context between requests, and handle more complicated conversations instead of treating every command as a separate interaction.
If Siri AI is available on your supported iPhone and in your region, try asking a follow-up question without repeating the context from your first request. It’s one of the clearest ways to see how much Siri has changed.
2. Ask Siri About What’s On Your Screen
Siri can understand more of what’s happening on your iPhone’s display. Instead of explaining what you’re looking at, you can ask Siri about onscreen content and get help based on what is currently visible.
Try this with a webpage, message, photo, or another piece of content. The feature is particularly useful when you want information about something without copying and pasting it into another app.
3. Search Your Photos With Natural Language
The Photos app gets a much more flexible way to find pictures. Instead of relying only on dates, albums, or manually tagged people, you can describe what you’re looking for using natural language.
Try searches such as a specific person, place, activity, clothing, or combination of details. The more descriptive the search, the more useful this feature becomes.
4. Edit A Photo Using AI
iOS 27 expands Apple’s AI-powered photo editing tools, making it easier to make changes without manually working through every editing control.
Try removing unwanted objects, making an adjustment with a natural-language request, or experimenting with the newer AI editing capabilities. This is one of the easiest ways to see Apple Intelligence working directly with your personal content.
5. Turn A Sketch Into An Image
Image Playground gets more flexible in iOS 27, giving you new ways to create images from your ideas.
Start with a simple concept or sketch and experiment with different styles and descriptions. You don’t need to be good at drawing to see what the feature can produce.
6. Try Visual Intelligence
Visual Intelligence can use your iPhone’s camera and Apple Intelligence to help you understand what’s in front of you.
Point your camera at something you’re curious about and see what information or actions are available. You can also use visual intelligence with content on your screen, making it useful beyond traditional camera searches.
7. Let Siri Help With Personal Information
One of the more ambitious Siri changes is its ability to work with information across your Apple apps and personal context.
Once the feature is available to you, try asking Siri for information that would normally require checking multiple places, such as something from your messages, calendar, or other personal data. This gives you a better idea of where Apple wants Siri to go next.
8. Let Safari Organize Your Tabs
If you regularly end up with dozens of Safari tabs open, iOS 27 can make that easier to manage. Safari can automatically organize tabs based on their content, reducing the need to manually sort everything yourself.
Open a collection of related tabs and try the automatic organization feature. It is especially useful if you use Safari for work, shopping, travel planning, or research.
9. Try Safari’s Notify Me Feature
Safari also gains a more proactive way to keep you informed about changes on webpages.
Notify Me can be useful when you’re waiting for something to change, such as updated information on a webpage. Instead of repeatedly checking the site yourself, Safari can help keep an eye on it for you.
10. Turn On AutoMix In Apple Music
Apple Music’s AutoMix gets a major refresh in iOS 27. Rather than simply playing one song after another, it can create smoother transitions between tracks for a more continuous listening experience.
Put on a playlist and let AutoMix handle the transitions. It’s particularly noticeable when listening to several songs in a row rather than individual tracks.
11. Create A Wallet Pass With Your Camera
iOS 27 makes it easier to turn certain physical passes and cards into digital Wallet passes.
Instead of manually entering information, you can use your iPhone’s camera to capture supported passes. Try it with a compatible physical pass and see how quickly it can be added to Apple Wallet.
12. Try Custom Emoji Reactions In Messages
Messages gets more expressive in iOS 27 with custom emoji reactions and new message effects.
Instead of being limited to Apple’s standard Tapback reactions, you can use emoji to respond in a way that better matches the conversation. Try combining different reactions with the new effects to see what’s available.
13. Try The New AirPods Equalizer
If you have a supported AirPods model, iOS 27 adds more control over audio with a custom three-band equalizer.
Play a song you know well and adjust the audio to your preference. Because the changes can affect the overall listening experience, this is a feature that’s easy to test and immediately notice.
14. Explore The New Health Features
The Health app gets more useful for tracking and understanding personal health information, with new features including expanded support for reproductive health and improved ways to view your data.
Even if you don’t plan to use every new tracking feature, spend a few minutes exploring the redesigned Health experience and see what information you can now record or view.
15. Try The New CarPlay Experience
If your vehicle supports CarPlay, iOS 27 brings several changes worth exploring, including new interface options and smarter Siri capabilities.
Try using Siri for a conversational request while driving, explore the updated CarPlay interface, and check out the new controls available for supported vehicles.
