Apple’s iOS 27 has turned out to be a meaningful update for those with iPhones. It brings a set of Apple Intelligence-driven editing tools to the Photos app that let users change the perspective of a picture, extend its borders and remove distractions after the shot has been taken. The iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max also get a new camera technology designed to verify that an image has not been altered.
The new tools give everyday users professional-grade control over pictures that might otherwise be deleted, such as a scenic shot with a crooked horizon or a family portrait spoiled by a stranger walking into the frame. Most importantly, the performance improvements in iOS 27 reach every iPhone that supports the update.
Reframing a photo after the fact
The main photography addition is Spatial Reframe. Users can touch and drag a photo to tilt it and shift its perspective. A real-time preview shows how the scene changes, as if the camera had been moved when the picture was taken.
The tool builds on its work on spatial models for Apple Vision Pro. Spatial Reframe uses image models to generate new content only where the perspective has shifted. The company said this keeps the reframed photo consistent with the original scene.
A companion tool, Extend, widens the borders of an image to give subjects more room. Straightening a horizon or changing the aspect ratio usually means cropping out part of the frame. Extend fills in the missing areas instead.
Clean Up, Apple’s existing object-removal tool, gets a dedicated “High Quality” generative mode. Apple said the mode removes distractions with more realistic infill, even in complex scenes.
Image Playground has also been updated. It can now create images in almost any style, including photorealistic.
The Camera app has a new Siri mode next to photo and video, and it opens Visual Intelligence. Pointing the camera at a meal can bring up its nutritional value. A photo of a restaurant bill can be used to work out what each person owes.
Proving a picture is real
The feature tied specifically to the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max is Apple Reference Image (ARI). It works on the main camera sensor of both phones.
ARI is a way to verify photographs at a time when widely available AI tools make it easy to generate or alter photorealistic images. In this opt-in camera mode, a photographer can create a securely timestamped reference image. The company said the image accurately reflects what the camera sensor captured.
Dedicated secure hardware on the device protects the integrity of the reference image. Private Cloud Compute keeps the image data private while it is processed. The system is built to withstand compromise, and that fraudulent images can be revoked without revealing the photographer’s identity.
The new reframe option on iOS 27
Reframe, Extend and Clean Up are built to change images. ARI is built to record exactly what the sensor captured.
Several less prominent additions deal with library clutter. A “Captured by Me” view hides screenshots, shared family albums and downloaded memes. What remains is a chronological timeline of only the photos taken with the phone’s own camera.
A new automated security folder scans the library for photos of documents such as passports, driving licences and health insurance cards. It keeps them easy to reach while taking them out of the main photo stream.
Users can also save a single frame from a video as a still photo. This helps when the moment was caught while recording rather than shooting.
Beyond photography
Outside the camera and Photos apps, the biggest change in iOS 27 is Siri AI, a new version of Siri that can hold a back-and-forth conversation. Siri has private access to a user’s messages, emails, photos, apps and other personal data. It can also search the web.
Siri can now create home automations from a single command, such as locking all the doors at midnight. It can find specific emails, messages, photos and files by person, time or location. It can also add the ingredients from an online recipe to a shopping list, answer questions about whatever is on screen and retrieve passwords saved in the Passwords app. Users can start Siri with a wake word, with the side button, by swiping down from the middle of the screen to type, or from the Siri app.
Write with Siri works across the system from the keyboard. It can write text from scratch, give feedback on a draft, change tone and wording, and write in a user’s own style by analysing their emails and messages. The iPhone now suggests grammar fixes as well as spelling corrections.
Liquid Glass has been refined with sharper, more defined app icons. A new slider under Settings, Appearance, Liquid Glass sets how buttons, toolbars and menus look, from ultra-clear to fully tinted.
The extend option gives you a wider canvas to work with
In Safari, users can build custom extensions by describing them in plain language, such as one that creates a citation for a web page and copies it to the clipboard, or one that sets a minimum font size. Safari can also sort tabs into categories automatically and alert users when a web page changes.
Faster across the board
iOS 27 includes performance work for every iPhone that supports the update, older models included. Animations are quicker, apps open faster and AirDrop transfers finish sooner. Taking photos, opening the keyboard, using the App Library and switching Home Screen pages are faster too.
iMessage syncs more accurately between devices, failed messages are retried automatically, and the iPhone switches more smoothly between Wi-Fi and cellular networks.