Apple has published the full release notes for iOS 27 ahead of its public release on September 14. The update brings major changes to Siri and Apple Intelligence, along with new accessibility tools, child safety controls, performance improvements, Health features, gaming support, and fixes across iPhone.
The release notes also reveal several smaller changes that are easy to miss in Apple’s larger iOS 27 announcements. Here are the most important user-facing additions, fixes, and known issues documented for the update.
Siri Gets A Major Upgrade
Siri receives its biggest update in years with new capabilities for understanding personal context, taking actions across apps, and recognizing information displayed on the screen.
Apple describes the updated assistant as more capable and conversational, with personal context allowing Siri to use relevant information from across a user’s device to provide more useful answers.
A more capable and conversational version of Siri is rolling out to users. Siri can understand personal context to provide more helpful answers, take action across your apps, and understand what’s on your screen.
Apple is also adding a dedicated Siri app. Users can start new conversations, return to previous conversations, and sync their Siri history across Apple devices through iCloud.
The dedicated Siri app provides an easy way to revisit an existing conversation or kick off a new one. Conversations sync privately with iCloud across your Apple devices.
Siri also gains a new Camera experience that works with Visual Intelligence. Users can point their iPhone at something and ask Siri questions about what is in front of them, with the assistant able to provide information or help perform actions based on the captured content.
Apple says Siri can also help with tasks involving information shown on the screen, while new expressive voice options allow users to adjust the assistant’s expressivity and speaking pace.
Apple Intelligence Expands Across iOS 27
Apple Intelligence gains new capabilities across Photos, Safari, Image Playground, Shortcuts, Mail, Calendar, Home, and other parts of iOS.
Photos adds Spatial Reframing, which lets users adjust the apparent camera position and composition of an image after it was captured. The Photos app also gets Extend for expanding an image beyond its original edges, while Clean Up gains Fast and High Quality modes.
Spatial Reframing lets you adjust the composition of a photo after it was taken by virtually changing the camera position. Extend uses generative AI to expand the canvas of a photo beyond its original edges.
Image Playground gets a new image-generation model that produces higher-quality results and adds more realistic styles. Users can modify generated images using touch or natural-language instructions, as well as use them for Lock Screen wallpapers and Contact Posters.
The new Image Playground model produces higher-quality images with more detailed and expressive results. You can also modify images using natural language or by interacting directly with the image.
Safari gains several Apple Intelligence features. Organize by Topic can group related tabs, while Notify Me can monitor webpages and alert users when relevant information changes.
Safari also adds Describe an Extension, which lets users create a custom extension by describing what they want it to do.
Describe an Extension lets you create a custom extension using natural language. Safari uses Apple Intelligence to generate the extension based on your description.
Shortcuts gets a similar natural-language experience. Describe a Shortcut can create a new shortcut or modify an existing one based on a user’s instructions.
Describe a Shortcut lets you use natural language to create a shortcut or refine an existing one. You can describe what you want the shortcut to do and Apple Intelligence helps build it.
AI Reaches More Everyday Apps
Apple Intelligence is also being integrated into several everyday iPhone experiences.
Calendar can create events from natural-language descriptions, with Apple Intelligence filling in information such as the event title, time, location, and invitees.
Mail can provide suggestions based on the context of an email, while the Phone app adds Call Context to surface useful information from other apps during calls.
The Home app can summarize activity notifications and generate descriptions of video recorded by compatible HomeKit Secure Video cameras. Eligible iCloud+ users can also search camera clips using natural-language descriptions.
Camera clip search lets you find specific moments from your HomeKit Secure Video cameras using natural language.
Genmoji can now be created and modified with more flexibility, while Writing Tools gains automatic proofreading improvements. Dictation also receives a new on-device model designed to improve accuracy on supported iPhones.
Apple says the new dictation model is available on iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro models and later.
Accessibility Gets New AI Features
iOS 27 expands Apple Intelligence into accessibility features, giving VoiceOver, Magnifier, and Accessibility Reader new ways to understand and process information.
VoiceOver can provide contextual descriptions of images, while its conversational screen and surroundings features can help users understand visual information around them.
Magnifier also gains conversational assistance, while Accessibility Reader can automatically clean up and format content, understand images and tables, generate summaries, and translate text.
Voice Control receives more flexible natural-language commands. Instead of needing to know an exact command, users can describe an action such as tapping a particular control.
New Child Safety Controls
Apple is adding several parental controls designed to give parents more precise control over how children use their iPhones.
Parents can choose which apps children can access during account setup. Ask to Browse can require approval before a child opens a new website, while Communication Safety expands protections against graphic and violent content.
Ask to Browse gives parents the option to approve each new website before their child can view it.
Time Allowances let parents set limits for categories including Entertainment, Games, and Social Media. Parents can also create schedules that control app access based on specific days and times.
Apple has also redesigned Screen Time for child accounts, making it easier to review usage and manage restrictions.
iOS 27 Improves Performance And Connectivity
The release notes include several performance improvements designed to make everyday iPhone use faster.
Apple says app launches, Photos loading, and AirDrop transfers are faster. Search also improves in Spotlight, Photos, and Mail.
Connectivity Assist is designed to make switching between Wi-Fi and cellular networks smoother.
Connectivity Assist enables more seamless transitions between Wi-Fi and cellular networks, helping maintain a reliable connection as you move between networks.
iCloud Shared Albums also receive improvements, while AirPods gain Custom EQ controls that allow users to adjust the balance of different audio frequencies.
iOS 27 also separates Alarms and Timers volume controls, allowing users to adjust the two independently.
Dictation Gets A New On-Device Model
Apple is introducing a new on-device Dictation model in iOS 27 that improves transcription accuracy without requiring processing to take place entirely in the cloud.
Dictation can now be powered by a new on-device model that boosts accuracy and provides a more consistent transcription experience.
The feature can be enabled through Keyboard settings under Dictation by turning on Advanced Dictation Preview.
Apple also lists fixes for several Dictation problems involving punctuation, contact names, formatting commands, and unwanted text appearing after dictation ends.
Health App Adds More Tracking Options
HealthKit gains support for heart rate and cycling power zones in iOS 27, giving compatible apps more detailed information for fitness tracking.
HealthKit now supports heart rate and cycling power zones, allowing apps to provide more detailed workout and training information.
The Health app also expands reproductive health tracking with support for menopausal state and bleeding after menopause.
HealthKit adds support for tracking menopausal state and bleeding after menopause.
Apple is also changing health-data permissions so apps can request access to either a limited period of health history or a user’s full available history.
Gaming Support Expands
iOS 27 adds support for the PlayStation Access controller on iPhone and iPad.
The PlayStation Access controller is now supported on iOS and iPadOS, allowing users to connect the controller and customize input profiles.
Users can create custom input profiles for supported games and configure controller inputs through the system’s game controller settings.
Notable Fixes In iOS 27
Apple’s release notes contain a long list of fixes covering core iPhone features, apps, and system behavior.
The update fixes an issue that could prevent users from stopping an alarm from the Lock Screen without unlocking the iPhone. It also addresses Home Screen problems that could make customization feel sluggish or prevent changes from being saved.
Find My receives fixes for Siri searches involving people and location sharing. Siri also gets fixes for incorrect contact matching, reminders, calls, messages, emails, Maps, CarPlay, and interaction history.
iPhone Mirroring receives fixes for resizing problems and instances where the feature could freeze. Screen Time restrictions for child accounts are also addressed.
Photos receives several fixes, including problems with Portrait mode blur, Spatial Reframing color shifts, Live Photo sharing, Extend crashes, and an issue that could display a white line in certain images.
Safari fixes include an issue that could cause the tab bar to disappear and another involving Safari Intelligence assets.
Messages receives fixes for sticker and GIF rendering, as well as problems affecting HDR screenshots.
CarPlay also receives multiple fixes covering navigation sessions, track controls, and audio behavior.
Apple has fixed several Shortcuts issues involving Focus automations, Writing Tools, the Use Model action, and Send Message.
iOS 27 Still Has Known Issues
Apple’s Release Candidate notes still list several known Siri issues that users may encounter after installing iOS 27.
Siri’s photo search can sometimes fail to correctly detect selected photos. Siri also cannot currently use voice commands to reference specific photos by their number.
Maps responses generated through Siri may occasionally have incomplete snippets or formatting problems. Siri can also display too many photos when confirming an action to add images to an album.
Apple notes that Siri may read the wrong last message when dealing with an unknown sender. The company recommends naming the sender when asking Siri to read the message.
Siri can also be slower in CarPlay when the iPhone is hot or has a poor network connection. Another known issue can cause Siri to cut off the endings of words during navigation, with Apple recommending reduced expressivity or pace as a workaround.
iOS 27 Arrives September 14
Apple will release iOS 27 publicly on September 14 alongside iPadOS 27, watchOS 27, tvOS 27, and visionOS 27.
The full release notes show that iOS 27 goes beyond its headline Siri and Apple Intelligence features, with changes spanning accessibility, child safety, Health, gaming, connectivity, performance, and dozens of system fixes.
