Apple releases iOS 27 today as a free update, and it isn’t arriving alone. iPadOS 27, macOS 27 Golden Gate, watchOS 27, tvOS 27 and visionOS 27 all land the same day, together with new HomePod software and AirPods firmware. Apple pushes these at 10am Pacific, so you can start updating your devices from around 8pm Kenyan time.
The release candidate arrived last week. If you want to know which iPhones make the cut, just click here. Here is everything new:
Your old iPhone gets faster
Apple ran its app launch tests on an iPhone 11 Pro Max, a phone from 2019. Against iOS 26.4.2, apps open up to 30% faster. Photos and videos in a 50,000-item library load up to 70% faster. AirDrop moves stuff up to 80% faster.
Underneath iOS 27 is a reworked CPU scheduler, the part of the system that decides which task gets processor time and in what order. The new scheduler is available on every iPhone that can run iOS 27. So if you have an iPhone 11 and newer, you can expect a much faster device from today evening. Unlocking, swiping between Home Screen pages, scrolling the App Library and pulling down Control Centre are all smoother.
The full list of tasks that have been optimised to be now much faster includes over 30 items:
- Safari’s start page and its JavaScript handling,
- Mail loading,
- Camera launch in Low Power Mode,
- the emoji and sticker keyboards,
- text recognition in photos,
- HomeKit pairing,
- Apple Music playback,
- Voice Control,
- Spotlight indexing.
- Connectivity Assist
Each one is small on its own. Together they are why a seven-year-old iPhone is worth keeping another year.
Connectivity Assist is a clever way to solve data issues. When your Wi-Fi says it is connected but nothing is working, your iPhone now switches to try cellular on its own instead of leaving you stranded. Anyone who has watched a WhatsApp message refuse to send on a restaurant network knows that specific frustration. Failed iMessages retry themselves now too.
Siri AI
Siri AI is the rebuilt assistant Apple promised in 2024 and then delayed. It holds a conversation, remembers context from earlier in it, reads what is on your screen and searches the web to answer properly. It ships in beta, in English first, with French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish following in October.
Siri AI needs an iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, or any iPhone 16 and newer. The expressive voices with adjustable pace need an iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro or later.
Liquid Glass is also getting a transparency slider that runs from clear to fully tinted. So you can nw pick how much of it you want.
macOS and watchOS
macOS 27 Golden Gate is Apple silicon only. Every Intel Mac is out. You need a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro from 2020 onward, a Mac mini from 2020, an iMac from 2021, a Mac Studio from 2022 or a Mac Pro from 2023.
It is also the last macOS with full Rosetta 2, the translation layer that lets old Intel apps run on Apple chips. Boot Camp is gone with Intel support. Apple Filing Protocol is gone too, which ends Time Machine backups to an AirPort Time Capsule.
On the wrist, watchOS 27 needs an Apple Watch Series 9 or later, an SE 3, or an Ultra 2 or later. The Series 8, the original Ultra and the older SE models stop here.
Ready to update?
A good rule of thumb is to backup first. Either to iCloud or to a computer. Charge past 50% and stay on Wi-Fi, because the release candidate arrived as a 9.53GB download.
Then go to Settings, General, Software Update, and pull down to refresh.
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