Apple has officially started rolling out iOS 27 to iPhone users, bringing the software out of beta more than three months after its WWDC 2026 debut. The developer beta arrived immediately after Apple announced the update in June, followed by the public beta in July. The stable release also comes just days after Apple unveiled the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max on September 9.
The update brings Siri AI, faster app launches and AirDrop transfers, refinements to Liquid Glass, new parental controls, and a long list of smaller quality-of-life improvements. Apple says iOS 27 is available starting today alongside updates for its other major platforms.
Siri AI is finally here, but it is still in beta
The biggest addition is Siri AI, Apple’s rebuilt assistant powered by the next generation of Apple Intelligence. It can understand personal context across Messages, Mail, Photos, and other apps, answer questions about what is currently on the screen, search the web for up-to-date information, and perform more actions across the system.
There is also a dedicated Siri app that keeps conversation history synced privately through iCloud. Apple Intelligence reaches further into apps such as Photos and Safari too. Photos gets Spatial Reframing, Extend, and an improved Clean Up tool, while Safari can organize tabs into topics and notify users when a webpage changes.
Siri AI itself is still labeled as a beta and initially supports English. French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish are coming in October. It also requires an Apple Intelligence-compatible iPhone, so older supported devices will not get everything iOS 27 has to offer.
Speed may be one of the upgrades users notice most
Apple is putting plenty of emphasis on performance this year. The company claims apps can launch up to 30% faster, photos can load up to 70% faster after capture, and AirDrop transfers can be up to 80% faster. Search across Spotlight, Photos, and Mail has also been improved.
Liquid Glass gets a new slider that lets users adjust the effect from ultraclear to fully tinted, and app icons have been sharpened. iCloud Shared Albums now support full-resolution sharing and make it easier for Android and Windows users to join. AirPods also gain custom EQ, while the Health app adds perimenopause and menopause support to Cycle Tracking.
The update also polishes Apple’s parental control features by making it easier to set up child accounts, choose which apps kids can access, and require approval before they visit a new website in Safari. Screen Time has also been redesigned with clearer usage information, daily limits for categories such as Games and Social Media, and schedules that control when certain apps are available.
The good news for older iPhones is that Apple has not dropped any models this year. If an iPhone can run iOS 26, it can also install iOS 27, including the iPhone 11 lineup and second-generation iPhone SE.
