Apple dropped the first iOS 27 developer beta right after its WWDC 2026 event, and I installed it almost immediately. Although I don’t recommend anyone install a developer beta update on their primary iPhone, I couldn’t hold back, as this update seemed like the one iPhone users have been asking for years. 

iOS 27 isn’t one of those updates that throws a crazy new feature at you every turn. There’s no dramatic redesign here and no laundry list of flashy features. Instead, Apple went back to its roots and fixed, refined, and polished what already existed. 

My last year with iOS 26 had been filled with strife. It felt unpolished and was brimming with bugs. After installing the iOS 27 beta, it feels like iOS 26 was the beta, and iOS 27 is the version Apple originally wanted to ship.

The speed boost you can actually feel

The first thing you notice is the speed. Apple claims app launches are up to 30% faster, the Photos library loads up to 70% faster, and AirDrop transfers are up to 80% quicker. I usually ignore Apple’s percentage jargon, but this time I can actually feel the difference.

Switching between apps feels snappier, and apps open without that little delay. Photos loads your content faster, and animations rarely stutter. The search is still indexing on my iPhone, so Spotlight is still pretty slow. Hopefully, once the indexing is done, it will also get the speed boost.

What surprised me the most was the AirDrop speed. There’s no way for me to quantitatively measure this, but the new AirDrop speed will genuinely surprise people. Small files like photos and documents transfer as soon as I tap the AirDrop button and select the destination device. 

I selected a dozen photos, each around 10 MB in size, and they AirDropped to my iPad, even before I put my phone down. Transferring big files feels at least twice as fast as before. And it seems this is not restricted only to the newer iPhones.

And the best part is that this boost isn’t just for the latest models. iPhone 11, 12 mini, and 13 owners are reporting the same thing. A lot of those phones struggled on iOS 26 with random bugs and heating, so it’s a pleasant surprise to see them running smoother on what is still a developer beta.

Apple says the gains come from reworking how the system handles CPU scheduling, memory, and background tasks. What they did clearly worked, since everything feels buttery smooth now.

Liquid Glass finally gets a slider

One of the biggest complaints about iOS 26 was Liquid Glass. Some people loved it, some hated it, but most people like me just wanted more control over it. As rumors suggested, Apple finally listened and added a Liquid Glass slider, allowing users to control the intensity of the effect. 

You can access the slider under Settings → Appearance → Liquid Glass. The first thing I did after installing iOS 27 was drag that slider toward the tinted end. Apple also pushed the effect into more places this time, so widgets finally pick up the same glassy look the rest of the system had, and everything ends up feeling like it belongs together.

While some people have complained about the clear and tinted icon looks, saying that the app icons look sharper thanks to a dark border around them, I don’t mind it. In fact, I prefer this look as the app icons stand out from the background. 

The Photos app steals the show

Apple Intelligence feels much more woven into the experience this time around, and the Photos app gets the most attention. There are three big upgrades here. Clean Up does a much better job wiping out stuff you don’t want in the frame. Extend can fill in and stretch the background of a photo using AI, and Spatial Reframe lets you move the subject around inside a shot after you’ve already taken it.

That last one is genuinely clever, as the AI reconstructs parts of the image to create a whole new composition. I am especially enjoying the new Clean Up tool, as it’s vastly superior to what we had earlier. It can clean objects from a more complex shot without ruining it. I think this is the feature that most people will enjoy. 

Other than AI editing tools, the Photos app is also getting several quality-of-life improvement features. There’s now a “Captured by Me” folder that only contains photos you captured using your iPhone and a “Documents” folder that aggregates photos of passports, IDs, bills, and other documents. 

You can also save a video frame as a still photo and rate photos from one to five stars. Shared Albums are getting some love, too. You can now set them to expire after 30 days, perfect for sharing a batch of photos without them being shared forever.

Inviting people is easier with a new “Create Shared Album” option in any album menu, and you can even create a link that lets others upload their own images straight into the album.

Building shortcuts is finally easy

I am especially excited for the new Shortcuts building feature. I love using shortcuts on my iPhone. They let me automate tasks and perform multi-step actions with just one tap. One reason many people avoid the Shortcuts app is that it can be intimidating.

With this update, users can now describe what they want the shortcut to do in plain language, and Apple Intelligence will create that shortcut for them. I have tested it by creating several shortcuts and found that it’s really good at creating simple shortcuts. Although more complex shortcuts, like the ones I use, will still require user input.

The small wins you’ll notice every day

This update is packed with small quality-of-life wins that I think people will love. Apple added a new extra-large widget that uses a 4×6 layout and takes up almost the entire Home Screen, perfect if you want a ton of information at a glance. Currently, only a few of Apple’s own apps support it, but as developer start updating their apps with new widget sizes, I can see this feature becoming quite useful.

Apple’s apps are also getting some nifty features. Safari can now automatically organize your tabs by grouping them, Calendar can create events from plain language descriptions, Passwords can automatically update compromised passwords, and Find My lets you hide your location from a specific person for a set amount of time without notifying them.

One of the small quality-of-life features that everyone will appreciate is the separate volume controls for alarms, ringtones, and media playback, which Apple has finally added with this update. You can find this in the Settings app → Sounds & Haptics. Here, you can turn off the toggle for “Match Ringtone Volume” to separate volumes for alarms, timers, and system notifications.

The keyboard now shows a paste suggestion when you copy text, so you can tap it directly instead of long-pressing. There’s even a new drawing app inside iMessage for sending quick sketches, and the Camera app is easier to navigate. Portrait mode no longer hides in the carousel, and you don’t have to guess which swipe reveals which setting.

A smarter, chattier Siri: which I am still waiting for

This is the headline feature, and it should be the first point on this list. But I am still on the waitlist and have no way to test it, so it is at the end. I will cover it in a separate article once I get access, but for now, here’s the lowdown on what to expect. 

Siri, now dubbed Siri AI, will understand context across conversations, it will be able to see what’s on your screen, and access your Photos, Messages, Calendar, Files, Notes, and Reminders once you give it permission.

The practical stuff is what excites me. You will be able to ask Siri to summarize selected files, create reminders from anywhere, edit photos, and schedule events, all without spelling out every step. 

Siri also gets its own standalone app with conversation history, a new interface tied into the Dynamic Island, and much more natural voice responses. Behind the scenes, Apple is combining its own Foundation Models with Google Gemini through Private Cloud Compute for the more demanding requests. 

I hope Apple can finally deliver on its AI promises. But, as I said, I haven’t received access to the new Siri yet, as Apple is still rolling it out, but on paper, this is the upgrade Siri has desperately needed.

Should you install it yet

After two days with iOS 27, I wouldn’t call it the most exciting update Apple has ever shipped, but it might be one of the most important. The whole focus here is performance, a cleaner interface, and a smoother experience on every supported iPhone.

My advice for now is to sit tight and wait for the public beta, since this is still early software. Also, it’s too soon to say much about battery life. It will still take a few more days for the phone to settle down and for me to give any verdict on it. I’ve run into a few bugs, but far fewer than I expected this early, which says a lot about where this beta is starting from.

If you’re hoping for a pile of flashy new features, this isn’t that update. But if you just want an iPhone that feels faster, smoother, and more dependable than it did on iOS 26, iOS 27 nails it.