iOS 27 Explained: Every New Feature, Which iPhones Get It, and What Needs Apple Intelligence

What’s new in iOS 27, at a glance

Three separate things ship in one release. Siri AI replaces the old assistant and gets an app of its own. Apple Intelligence moves further into Photos, Safari, Phone, Shortcuts and Passwords. A performance and design pass runs across the whole system, and it reaches iPhones far too old for any of the AI. Apple lists all three together on its iOS 27 page, so which group a feature falls into is what decides whether your iPhone gets it.

Roughly half of these features run on any iPhone that takes the update. The rest need Siri AI or Apple Intelligence hardware.

Every feature, its app and its AI tier

Which iPhones get iOS 27, and which get the AI features

iOS 27 reaches back much further than the AI does. It installs on iPhone 11 and on iPhone SE from the 2nd generation onward. Those phones get the design and performance work and none of the assistant.

Apple Intelligence starts at iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. The standard iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are not on that list, and every iPhone 16 model and later is. A third tier sits above it, named in a footnote: iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, iPhone Duo, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max and iPhone Air, written for iPad and Mac as M4 or M3 silicon with at least 12GB of unified memory. Apple attaches that footnote to Siri’s voice customization and to the new on-device Dictation model.

The tiers nest. A phone in the 12GB group has everything in the two below it, and the iPhone 15 Pro pair stops at the middle one.

Three hardware tiers and the models in each

Two requirements sit under all of it. Apple Intelligence downloads its on-device models after you update, and that needs 7GB of storage on the device. Your device language and your Siri language have to be set to the same supported language, and Apple says changing the Siri language may make Apple Intelligence unavailable until the new one finishes downloading and the two match.

Siri AI: what the new Siri actually does

Siri AI is built around conversation instead of commands. You ask open-ended questions, brainstorm out loud, and hold a back-and-forth instead of restarting with every request. Apple ships it as a beta, and names it first among the features that rely on server-side models and carry daily usage limits.

Personal context works from a description rather than a filename, so a photo from years ago or a note you saved comes back without you remembering what you called it. World knowledge runs the other way, with Siri AI referencing information online for answers on virtually any topic, from important facts to recipes and restaurant recommendations. Actions happen inside apps like Messages, Music and Reminders, based on what you are doing at that moment.

The Siri app keeps the conversations. They sync between devices, so a question asked on iPhone is waiting on iPad, and you can pin the ones you keep coming back to. Siri mode in Camera puts the same assistant behind the viewfinder, and Apple lists it as iPhone only.

Write with Siri works virtually anywhere you type, and in Messages and Mail it matches your writing style, punctuation and tone. Expressive voices are narrower than the rest of Siri AI, at English (United Kingdom) and English (United States) only. Dictation runs on a new on-device model and is available in English.

Languages on each device today and in October

Siri AI will not be initially available in the EU on iOS, iPadOS and watchOS, and it is not available in China mainland. Mac and Apple Vision Pro users in the EU can reach it with the device set to a supported language. There is an age floor as well: Siri AI is not available to users under 13.

The fine print on Apple Intelligence usage limits

Some of Apple Intelligence is metered. Features that rely on server-side models carry daily usage limits, and Apple names Siri AI, the intelligent photo editing tools, Image Playground and the AFM 3 Cloud models in Shortcuts as examples rather than as the full list. The limits themselves move: Apple says they vary by feature, request complexity, system demand and system policies.

Apple’s footnote on what comes next reads: “Expanded access to such features will be available for a fee in the future.” No price and no date are attached to it.

The Apple Intelligence Usage Terms, published September 9, 2026, put the rest in legal form. Apple reserves the right to change which features are limited, and the limits themselves, at any time. Reach a limit and that feature may become unavailable, or work with reduced functionality, until the limit resets. Excessive, abusive, automated, fraudulent, illegal or otherwise unreasonable use may be restricted, throttled, suspended or given extra limits. Some features may carry age restrictions, and those may vary by region.

Apple Intelligence beyond Siri

Five of the features here carry Apple’s “usage limits may apply” note: Spatial Reframing, Extend, Clean Up, Image Playground and Describe a shortcut. That note is the daily server-side metering. Clean Up also has its own region rule, listed as available worldwide except in China mainland.

Not all of this lands on September 14. Suggestions ships in English, and the Messages half of it is coming in a future software update. Live Translation and Image Wand have already shipped and carry over.

What each tool does, app by app

Most of these features share one list of 35 language and region combinations. Order Tracking in Wallet is the narrowest of them, at English (United Kingdom) and English (United States) only. Apple keeps the full breakdown on its iOS feature availability page.

Liquid Glass and the everyday changes

The Liquid Glass work is mostly readability. Refraction is more uniform, contrast is improved, and app icons are sharper and more detailed. Apple also names an optimized CPU scheduler among the changes at the core of the system.

Ten updates, from Safari tabs to GymKit

Two of those come with conditions. The Passwords fix is coming in a future software update rather than on September 14. The Home app’s camera descriptions and clip search need a home hub, Apple Intelligence turned on in the Home app, and an eligible iCloud+ plan.

Faster, and how Apple measured it

Apple’s three speed gains are all up to figures, from tests it ran in July and August 2026. Each one compared iOS 26.6 against prerelease iOS 27, on a different iPhone.

Only the AirDrop figure involved a second device. The other two measured one iPhone against itself on the older release.

The three claims, their iPhones and conditions

The same caveat sits under all three: performance varies with configuration, settings, content, usage, software versions and environmental conditions. They are ceilings, not averages.

iPhone Handoff, Wi-Fi switching and calls

iPhone Handoff is a carrier feature as much as a software one. It moves a single phone number back and forth between two iPhones, and both ends need a supported carrier. At launch that means T-Mobile in the US and Telekom Germany in Germany.

Network selection changed underneath. iPhone now picks the best available Wi-Fi or cellular connection on its own, and Apple’s two examples are getting directions as you leave home and taking a FaceTime call as you step off a plane.

Call Context needs Apple Intelligence, and Apple says it runs entirely on device, so nothing is shared with Apple or anyone else. It looks at who you are calling rather than what you are saying, then pulls up the confirmation code or reservation number sitting in another app.

Screen Time and the new child safety controls

Parental controls in Settings have an all-new design. Parents get an at-a-glance view of how a child has been using their iPhone, and can adjust access in the moment with a tap.

Time Allowances sets limits per category, across Entertainment, Games and Social Media. Apple supplies age-based guidance for those limits, developed with clinical and child development experts, and parents can adjust them. Schedules decides which apps are available at which times or on which days of the week.

In Setup Assistant, parents pick which system apps a child can use, choosing a few essentials, a recommended set or a specific list, and Ask to Buy adds more over time. Ask to Browse makes a child request permission for a new website, and the request arrives in Messages so a parent can look at it before approving. It works in Safari and other WebKit browsers on iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and macOS 27 once Screen Time has been updated.

Communication Safety already protects children from viewing or sharing nudity in Messages, FaceTime and elsewhere. It now also intervenes before a child sees gore or violence in shared images and videos.

Apple previewed this set on June 8, 2026. A Child Account is required for children under 13 and available for children up to 18, and Apple is working with the American Academy of Pediatrics to adapt its Family Media Plan into a guide parents can reference. Developers got matching tools, including a Declared Age Range API that shares an age band without sharing a child’s birthday.

Health app: what arrives later this year

The Health app redesign does not land on September 14. It arrives later this year on Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone and iPad models, starting in US English with more languages to follow, and some of it is iPhone only. One Health change does ship on day one: Cycle Tracking adds perimenopause and menopause support, and users aged 40 and over get a notification when their logged cycle patterns suggest perimenopause.

Seven new features, their devices and dates

Those notifications rest only on your own logged cycle history, and Apple says they are not meant to replace traditional methods of diagnosis, monitoring or treatment. Cycle Tracking should not be used for birth control or to diagnose a health condition.

watchOS 27 ships on September 14 for Apple Watch Series 9 or later, Apple Watch SE 3 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 or later, and it needs an iPhone 11 or later, or an iPhone SE 3, running iOS 27. The higher-frequency heart rate and HRV sensing that readiness is built on is limited to Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4.

iOS 27 on iPhone Duo

iOS 27 is tailored for iPhone Duo. Lock Screen controls, the Dock on the Home Screen and in-app controls sit on the side to maximize vertical space for content, and the open phone shows two Home Screen pages with Today View scrolling vertically on the left. The Dynamic Island is redesigned to fit vertically on the side of the outer and inner displays, and expands to show Live Activities and alerts. Content reacts as the phone folds, reorients when it is turned to the side, and switches to the appropriate display when it is flipped over. Our iPhone Duo hub covers the hardware all of that is built around.

FAQs

When exactly does iOS 27 come out?

Monday, September 14, 2026. The new Apple Intelligence features arrive on the same day.

Is my iPhone supported?

If it is an iPhone 11 or newer, or an iPhone SE (2nd generation and later), yes. Apple Intelligence also reaches Apple Watch Series 9 and later, Apple Watch Ultra 2 and later and Apple Watch SE 3, but only when they are paired with an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone nearby.

Does Apple Intelligence cost money?

Apple names no price for it in iOS 27. The Usage Terms add that the features may require compatible devices, compatible operating systems, internet access and certain software, and that fees may apply to those.

Is Siri AI available in my country?

Not everywhere. Apple says Apple Intelligence features do not currently work on supported devices bought in China mainland, wherever you take them, and Siri AI is held back in the EU on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. Everywhere else it is English first.

How much storage do I need?

7GB on the device, for the on-device models. Apple Watch is the exception: Apple says the space is not required for it.

Can I turn Apple Intelligence off?

Yes. The controls sit in Settings under Apple Intelligence & Siri. Apple also reserves the right to change, suspend, remove or disable access to any part of Apple Intelligence at any time and without notice.