Apple, during its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) keynote, announced its next generation of software platforms introducing Siri AI alongside iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27, visionOS 27 and tvOS 27.
Siri AI
Siri AI is a ground-up rebuild of Siri, powered by the next generation of Apple Intelligence. It draws on personal context understanding to search across a user’s messages, emails, and photos, uses onscreen awareness to answer questions about what is currently on screen, and pulls up-to-date information from the web using broad world knowledge.
A dedicated Siri app syncs conversation history across devices via iCloud, letting users start a session on Mac and continue it on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, or Apple Vision Pro. On iPhone, a new Siri mode in the Camera app lets users point at objects to get information, split a bill via Apple Cash, or retrieve nutritional details from a photo of food. Visual Intelligence with Siri expands for the first time to iPad and Mac, accessible via screenshot integration on iPad and a dedicated keyboard shortcut on Mac.
For devices running Apple’s most advanced on-device model — iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, iPad with M4 or later (12GB unified memory), and Mac with M3 or later (12GB unified memory) — Siri AI gains more expressive, customisable voices and improved systemwide dictation accuracy.
Siri AI will not be available in the EU on iOS or iPadOS at launch, due to regulatory constraints under the Digital Markets Act. It will also be unavailable in China while Apple works through local regulatory requirements.
Apple Intelligence and app updates
The next generation of Apple Intelligence powers new features across the system. In Photos, Spatial Reframing lets users recompose a shot after it is taken. Safari gains a Notify Me feature that monitors web pages for changes such as price drops or product restocks. Messages surfaces one-tap suggestions based on conversation context, such as creating a reminder or a note. Image Playground adds a photorealistic image generation style.
Parental controls
iOS 27 introduces a child account setup that activates age-appropriate protections across the system. Setup Assistant lets parents choose which apps a child can access from the outset. Communication Safety, which already blurs nudity in Messages and FaceTime, expands to cover gore and violent content in shared images and videos. Parents can set daily time allowances across Entertainment, Games, and Social Media categories, and create time-based schedules controlling which apps are available at different points in the day.
Performance
Apple says iPhone and iPad apps launch up to 30 percent faster, photos load up to 70 percent faster after being taken, and AirDrop transfers are up to 80 percent faster. On iPad, browsing and transferring files to external drives is up to 5x faster, on par with Finder on Mac. A new Liquid Glass slider in Settings lets users adjust the transparency of the UI overlay from ultra-clear to fully tinted.
Additional platform updates include cross-platform iCloud Shared Albums with full-resolution support, perimenopause and menopause tracking in the Health app’s Cycle Tracking, custom EQ for AirPods, heart rate sync via iPhone for AirPods Pro 3 during workouts, panorama-to-spatial-scene conversion on Apple Vision Pro, and an AI-enhanced Flyover experience in Maps.
iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27, visionOS 27, and tvOS 27 are available for developer testing from today. A public beta follows next month. The full release ships as a free update this fall. Apple Intelligence and Siri AI are supported on iPhone 15 Pro and later, iPhone 16 and later, iPad mini (A17 Pro), iPad with M1 or later, Mac with M1 or later, Apple Vision Pro, Apple Watch Series 10 or later, Apple Watch Ultra 2 or later, and Apple Watch SE 3 when paired with a compatible iPhone.
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