What to Know
- The new iOS 27 features will be revealed on June 8 at the keynote of the annual WWDC event.
- iPhones will likely finally get the much-anticipated smarter Siri that will be able to communicate like AI chatbots.
- If we get a foldable iPhone, it will come with new multitasking features.
iOS 26 will soon be a thing of the past, and we'll learn about all the exciting iOS 27 features during the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) keynote event on June 8. There have been whispers about a Siri chatbot, a foldable iPhone, new satellite features, and so much more.
Lots of New & Improved iOS 27 AI Features
Although it doesn't sound the most exciting, most Apple leakers are under the impression that this update will be more focused on improving existing features rather than announcing brand new ones. One of the most anticipated changes is the smarter Siri we've been promised since Apple Intelligence came out in the fall of 2024. Apple announced earlier next year that Siri will be powered by Google's Gemini AI in the future, but what will that look like?
According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple plans on turning Siri into a chatbot that will have its own app. Gurman's January 2026 tweet states that the Siri chatbot is called Campos internally, and reassured Apple users that it will run on Apple's internal servers to protect everyone's data and privacy. His original prediction was that this would come out this spring, which no longer seems likely, but it will hopefully happen this fall with the release of iOS 27.
With a more powerful AI your iPhone will be capable of so much more, including on-screen awareness and personalized requests. This means that your phone will know which apps you have open and you'll be able to make more complicated requests that Siri will understand intuitively. For example, "Hey Siri, find a text where (boss's name) mentions a project deadline and add it to my calendar."
MacRumors claims that Nicolás Alvarez discovered new Visual Intelligence features in the "backend code" that will make it possible to scan nutrition labels for easier food tracking. It might also be possible to quickly turn physical passes into virtual Apple Wallet passes that are harder to lose, but the success of that will depend on which vendors will accept the digital versions.
We might also finally get better answers to those random nagging questions that keep us up at night. Gurman mentioned a Siri search feature called "World Knowledge" that will summarize answers to such questions. Personally, I'm super excited to never hear Siri's current, "open this article to learn more about this topic" response again. Gurman also says that Apple will start allowing Siri to hand off requests to third-party apps including Claude and Gemini. Users will be able to pick their favorite AI app under the Extensions section in the App Store. Oh, and Gurman claims that Siri will interact with the Dynamic Island.
Some more improvements to existing features include an easier way to use the Shortcuts app and an improved keyboard. The idea is that you'll be able to use Siri's improved AI features to describe what you want a shortcut to do, and it will be automatically created for you just like that. With iOS 27, the keyboard will not only be better at autocorrect, but it will also suggest alternative words to use so that your writing sounds better without you opening a thesaurus.
Finally, there's also whispers about a new AI Safari feature that will automatically organize your tabs based on their content that will simultaneously reduce clutter while improving productivity. We may also see an easier way to add contact information, letting your phone's camera scan printed out phone numbers or addresses (like on a business card) and automatically adding them to existing contacts or as new ones.
New Satellite Capabilities
Yet another one of Gurman's predictions is a handful of new satellite features. Emergency SOS via satellite came to iPhones at the end of 2022 and every year since we've gotten more and more ways to use the iPhone's ability to connect to satellites for peace of mind. iOS 27 is expected to let users use Apple Maps via satellite, send photos via the Messages app, connect your phone to a satellite without awkwardly holding it upwards, and third-party apps will have the option to integrate these features. MacRumors reports that Gurman also believes that the Pro models of the iPhone 18 might even be able to use 5 via satellite.
A Way to Undo Mistakes on the Home Screen
We've gotten used to iPads getting more Mac features, but the iPhone might be getting some too. When you move a file on your desktop and realize that you put it in the wrong place or deleted it, you can simply press the Command and Z keys to undo your previous action. Gurman believes that both iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 might get these too. He's predicting that users will be able to undo and redo when customizing your Home Pages and Wallpaper, which is a long-overdue feature in my opinion.
More iOS 27 Improvements
It is likely that we'll get even more controls allowing users to customize the Liquid Glass settings. Of course, every year we expect to not only get new features, but we expect them to not drain our battery as quickly. So hopefully Apple will make the necessary upgrades to improve performance and keep the battery life as good as it is while adding features, or adding battery life hours alongside new features. To stay in the loop on the latest Apple operating system releases, sign up for our free Tip of the Day newsletter.
What If We Get a Folding iPhone?
We might not find out if we're getting a folding iPhone until this Fall, but we might get some hints during WDDC. For a foldable iPhone to run well, we may need more productivity features. Perhaps Apple will borrow from the iPad to implement side-by-side apps use and other features that make use of the larger display. Hopefully we'll get some unexpected new features that go beyond the basics and make the folding model a must have! Some leakers believe that we won't get the folding iPhone until early 2027 so it is possible that the new features won't be out until a few months after iOS 27 comes out to the public. Don't forget that we cover every iOS update and what it means for users in our Release Radar newsletter!
We are so excited about iOS 27! If you have an older iPhone, however, it's possible that you might not be able to download it. According to a leaker on Wiebo, the iPhone 11 line up and the iPhone SE (2nd generation) won't be able to get the update. Next, explore the rumors about the other operating systems that will be presented at the 2026 WWDC keynote event.
