Check out 21 new features coming to iOS 27 that Apple has offered

Apple’s WWDC 2026 keynote spent a lot of time on Apple Intelligence, Siri AI, and (less predictably) child account protection, which meant there wasn’t room to say much about iOS 27 beyond the headline features.

However, with the first developer beta of iOS 27 now available globally, users are quickly discovering changes and improvements and posting their findings on social media. You can also find more information on Apple’s website.

Here, we’ll go over some of the iOS 27 upgrades that Apple didn’t mention at WWDC, but that make the mobile OS worth waiting for before a full rollout (most likely in September, as usual).

Keep in mind that iOS 27 is still in beta development – ​​there’s a good chance that all of these changes will make it into the final version of the software, but it’s not guaranteed and there may be additional tweaks along the way.

According to Apple’s official press release, Genmoji are getting an overhaul with iOS 27, with improved quality and greater control over how they’re created. You’ll be able to request the changes you want to see to existing emojis, change their styles, and start with your own photo.

There is also better management of your lock screen. As noted by 9to5Mac, you can drag the I’m currently playing widget of the screen when your iPhone is locked, as if it were a notification. This is something you can already do on Android, and it will appeal to users who don’t want constant access to playback controls.

Next we have the addition of extra-large widgets (9to5Mac again), which give you more real estate on your Today view and Home screens. This undoubtedly indicates the future release of a foldable iPhone, for which it seems that iOS 27 is paving the way.

As we have previously reported, changes have been made CarPlay which include the ability to watch videos (while parked), and there are bonuses for other apps and services connected to iOS 27: iCloud+ subscriptions will come with higher AI usage limits once you upgrade your iPhone’s software.

FaceTime, volume control and Apple Music

Other iOS information was gathered by MacRumors from a screen briefly shown during the WWDC 2026 keynote: two phone numbers (using the same number on two iPhones), dual camera support in FaceTimespeed improvements for AirPlay and AirDropand a new drawing app in Messages.

The arrival of iOS 27 will also pave the way for volume controls for alarms (top of many iPhone owners’ wish list), support for Markdown formatting in Notes, the possibility of extract video frames as photos in the Photos app and some changes to the Weather app that include a new Highlights View.

As we continue with specific app upgrades in iOS 27, we’ll see dedicated support for perimenopause and menopause in the Health applicationwhich Apple says will include “notifications about cycle deviations, including perimenopause.”

While there are no major changes to Apple Music, there are some tweaks spotted by 9to5Mac. These include redesigned artist pages and an update of the AutoMix functionality This gives you more options for AI-generated transitions that seamlessly blend one song into the next in a playlist.

Photo slideshows, AirPods and AI pauses

Another new feature spotted by MacRumors is a highly anticipated update: iOS 27 now allows us create slideshows from photos and videos (rather than specific albums) – something it’s hard to believe the Photos app couldn’t do before. Slide duration, transition style, and music can all be customized, and the slideshow can also be saved as a video.

We’re also indebted to Aaron Perris at X for exploring the iOS 27 developer beta with impressive diligence. Among the improvements it has made are the possibility of hide your location of someone in Find My (without informing the other person), a new design AirPods settings pagethe ability to temporarily disable alarms during recognized holidays, and more control over photo and video sync with iCloud.

There is also hidden code suggesting that the new Siri AI will recommend that you take breaks if you talk too long with the digital assistant. However, it’s not yet enabled or active at the moment, so we’ll have to wait and see if it shows up when iOS 27 starts rolling out to everyone.

We can expect more changes, bug fixes, and security patches to appear between now and the full launch of iOS 27 – and that software development will continue (as is the case with iOS 26). Although the new AI features get the most attention, this is another significant update from Apple.

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Dave is a freelance technology journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based in Stockport, England, on TechRadar you’ll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly on phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business during the weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places, in addition to spending many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.