Apple will officially release iOS 27 for compatible iPhones on Monday, September 14, bringing major updates to Siri AI, photo editing, and device performance. Ahead of the public rollout, users are advised to back up their data, free up ample storage space, and verify device compatibility.
The general release of iOS 27 arrives on Monday, September 14, bringing substantial system optimizations and new capabilities to eligible iPhones. According to ZDNET, the upcoming software delivers the features users have awaited following the largely visual focus of iOS 26, alongside performance enhancements designed to make existing hardware run more smoothly.
Device Compatibility Across iPhone Generations
Every iPhone model capable of running iOS 26 will also support iOS 27. However, TechRadar notes that advanced Siri AI features—such as the ability to change its pace and expressivity—are only available on the newer models with more powerful chipsets.
Pre-Update Checklist: Storage, Backups, and Indexing
Installing a major operating system requires preparation. The update process requires room for temporary files along with the main download, so you’ll want to have a good amount of free space. Try to have around 18 to 25GB available, using unconventional ways to clean up your iPhone if you’re currently low. You’ll also need enough power to update your device. While 50 percent battery life should be enough to get you through the process, it’s much safer to keep your phone plugged in while updating, and you should keep your phone connected to Wi-Fi too.
To avoid post-update headaches, Apple included a new indexing optimization with the release of iOS 26.6 in preparation for iOS 27. Indexing is the term for the process in which iOS goes through all the files on your iPhone and categorizes and tags them, so it can find the file you need quickly when you search for it later on. Whenever a new major version of iOS comes out, it generally reindexes your entire phone—but this process can take days and is compute-intensive. Because iOS 27 has a completely new Spotlight search architecture that helps power the new Siri AI, indexing may take even longer than usual. That’s why, as noted by 9to5Mac, Apple added a background feature to handle this ahead of time, and you should check if you’ve updated to iOS 26.6, which includes an indexing update to make the shift to iOS 27’s Siri changes smoother. Importantly, don’t forget to back up your device before the big changes.
New Features Arriving with iOS 27
Once updated, you’ll get a notification popping up on your phone when iOS 27 is ready for you, or you can open up Settings on iOS and tap General > Software Update to see if there’s an update waiting. You can also head to Settings > General > Software Update > Automatic Updates to configure automatic installation.
ZDNET highlights that iOS 27 features many upgrades like recomposing photos, optimizing app launches, and improving performance. Among the new iPhone features you can try once you upgrade are drawing directly in Messages using the Apple Markup tool, which replaces the rudimentary drawing tool it previously featured. This is accessible in the Messages window by tapping the plus sign in a conversation and choosing Drawing. Additionally, Apple has added the largest widget size in iOS 27, giving you more customization power for your home page instead of being limited to a couple of widget sizes.
Photo editing also receives clever AI-powered photo editing tricks. One feature called Reframe lets you slightly change the angle of a picture you’ve taken, with AI adjusting the background to match. In Photos, tap on an image to open it, then tap the icon showing three sliders at the bottom. If you then tap Tools and Reframe, you can touch and drag on the screen to change the perspective and use two fingers to pan and zoom before tapping Reframe to confirm. The other options on the Tools menu can be useful too: Extend will use AI to imagine a wider background canvas for you, while Clean Up lets you remove specific objects or people from your images.