Overview
- Apple made the iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 public betas available to users enrolled in the Apple Beta Software Program on July 15, 2026 so they can download and evaluate the new software.
- The centerpiece is Siri AI, a dedicated conversational assistant that can read screen content, act inside Apple apps, and appears as a standalone chatbot-style interface in the beta.
- Apple says Siri AI uses new, smaller on-device foundational models plus Private Cloud Compute and that those models were distilled with support from Google’s Gemini to optimize for Apple Silicon and privacy.
- Access to advanced Apple Intelligence features is limited by device model, regional regulatory exclusions including Europe and China, and staged rollouts that require model downloads, indexing, or waitlist activation.
- iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 also introduce a Liquid Glass opacity slider, expanded child-safety controls, new photo-editing tools and claimed performance gains, and testers are advised to back up devices because betas can be unstable and affect battery life or app compatibility.