5 Cool New iOS 27 Features To Try In The First Public Beta

After over a month of developer testing for iOS 27, Apple is now releasing the public beta to users. While this is far from the stable version people will get in September once the official release occurs, it's still a good first look at what Apple has in store for its next big iOS cycle. Among the cool features public beta testers should try are the new Siri AI, the new Image Tools set, and Passwords AI functionality. While, in general, iOS 27 isn't packed with lots of new functions, Apple is focusing on making the overall experience better, as apps can open faster, battery life (allegedly) will last longer, and connectivity features will be more responsive.

As Apple lays the groundwork for the upcoming iPhone Fold, iOS 27 is all about delivering the long-promised AI features from a few years ago, but also eliminating years of old code lines, polishing the iOS experience as it better integrates with iPadOS and macOS, and preparing the iPhone for its next 20 years, which are going to be celebrated in 2027.

These are some of the cool iOS 27 features I've been using for the past month, and that I think you should try as well. Still, remember that this is a beta; features might not work as expected, and you shouldn't install it on your main phone. That being said, here's what you can test now.

I had my doubts when Apple announced the new Siri AI. After a disappointing experience with iOS 18 and the first batch of Apple Intelligence features, it was unclear if the company would ever deliver a satisfactory experience. However, testing the new Siri AI for the past month has been such a great experience. The personal assistant only speaks one language at a time, but I can type in a different language and it can perfectly answer me in that one.

Most importantly, Siri is exactly the kind of AI I wanted: It doesn't flirt with me, it doesn't keep asking me to ask follow-up questions, and it goes straight to the point. If I'm satisfied with its answers, I can just move on, I don't need to wait. In addition, Siri is great for finding things on my iPhone, like a message, a mail, a podcast, or helping me with something that's happening on my display. Siri can actually become the best AI out there, because it's not trying to sell you a product, it just wants to help with your everyday tasks.

Besides that, the new Siri app is a great way to find past conversations or start a new chat. Apple made the new Siri so interactive that you can summon it from pretty much anywhere on the display, whether by using the Side Button, calling it, selecting text, and so on.

A couple years ago, Apple introduced the Clean Up tool. At the time, the company said this feature wasn't designed to fundamentally change a picture. As a matter of fact, it wouldn't try to guess your face if you hid half of it, and had a hard time removing several people or objects from the background of your photo. With iOS 27, Apple not only boosted the Clean Up tool, making it a lot better at those tasks it wasn't originally intended to perform, but it also released Expand and Spatial Reframing. These additional tools make editing a photo with the iPhone's built-in Photos app more powerful and enjoyable and give users more options, even though you might start questioning, "What is a picture?"

That said, the Clean Up tool now features a new generation of image models that make it better. With Expand, as the name suggests, users can expand the background of a photo, making a portrait look like it was taken in landscape or vice-versa. If you're adjusting a tilted picture, the Expand version might pop up to make up for the space that you cropped.

Finally, the Spatial Reframing uses a technology introduced with Apple Vision Pro, so users can slightly tweak the angle at which the photo was taken. The photo can be centered or realigned thanks to the spatial models Apple made for its mixed reality headset, and the results are pretty good.

Apple's most significant design change since iOS 7 wouldn't come without a lot of criticism. While most of them felt valid, especially for the lack of proper accessibility for reading the UI, the company seems to have finally found the right balance. Users can now decide how much of the Liquid Glass experience they want, as it can be as translucent as Apple envisioned, or it can be really tinted, almost bringing back the iOS 18 look.

Apple is also making refraction more uniform, apps sharper, and adding improved contrast. While the company continued to tweak Liquid Glass in the past three betas, it's likely that it will continue to do so until the final version becomes available. However, if you're one of the bravest public beta testers, your feedback on the new Liquid Glass can be great to improve the general experience for all users later this fall.

That said, iPhone users can now take advantage of previous iOS 26 accessibility features and improvements introduced for Liquid Glass, but Apple is currently adding a new set of visual changes to make the experience better for everyone. For example, the latest iOS 27 beta added a tinted background for the widgets on the Lock Screen, making them a lot more visible than before.

Apple has a long history with its Passwords app. At first, the company took forever to take the Passwords tab out of Settings and create a standalone experience. Once it finally did, users were expecting it to add support for credit cards and other perks. As new software updates were released, the Passwords app got better but introduced an annoying issue: It would tell you when one of your codes was compromised or if you used the same code on several websites, and would suggest that you change them.

However, it wasn't anything more than a suggestion, which means it was just pointing at the issue without solving it. I, like probably most of you, have never updated my 200+ compromised passwords because they're probably not "that compromised" (please, don't listen to me, and do update your codes). That said, iOS 27 finally brings a fix for those reminders that you should be taking care of your digital security.

With this upcoming software update, Siri/Apple Intelligence can sign in to some of your accounts, update your passwords with a new strong code, and automatically update it on the Passwords app with just one command. It doesn't work with all platforms, sometimes a 2FA can interrupt this straightforward experience, but this is such a cool feature that it's probably one of the first things you should do once you install the iOS 27 public beta.

Since iOS 27 doesn't bring all-new experiences to apps, like iOS 26 and its many Apple Music features, this update is all about little features that can make a big difference. For example, Apple says apps can launch up to 30% faster, new photos load up to 70% quicker, and AirDrop transfers can become up to 80% faster. These improvements are especially important because they aren't just made for the latest iPhone 17 models, but for older models too.

Another cool improvement is that Apple promises a smoother network transition so the iPhone quickly decides if it's best for you to stay on Wi-Fi or a cellular connection. Some everyday examples that can make a big difference are when you're talking to someone over FaceTime while you're leaving the house, or as you just step off a plane, and the iPhone can switch from slow Wi-Fi to reliable 5G internet.

Still talking about FaceTime, you can finally do a dual capture in a conversation, failed messages on iMessage will automatically retry sending, you can have Android and Windows users participate in iCloud Shared Photos with high-resolution images, and even AirPods are getting custom EQ so you can adjust how the lows, mids, and highs feel. In addition to the iOS 27 public beta, Apple is also making a public beta available for iPadOS, watchOS, macOS, and tvOS, so users can enjoy what's new with those updates as well.