Apple is actively beta testing iOS 27, trialing new features like Siri AI, new AI image editing features, and upgraded parental controls. Developers and testers can get an early look at these features and more by installing the beta on their devices. And while this beta looks a lot like the iOS 27 Apple advertised at WWDC, it changes massively with each subsequent update. Case in point, Apple dropped the third beta for iOS 27, introducing a number of new features and changes for the OS. Here’s what’s new:
You can now customize Siri’s voice in iOS 27
There’s a lot new with Siri this year. Apple finally overhauled the assistant with Apple Intelligence, which promises to be much more useful than the Siri of old. Among those changes, however, was something particularly useful for those of us who love customizing our devices: Apple now lets you customize Siri’s voice.
This wasn’t available with the first two betas, but now, beta testers can give it a try—assuming they have a supported iPhone. Even though Siri AI is available on iPhone 15 Pro and newer, this customization feature only works with iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air. If you have one of these devices, and you’re running the third iOS 27 beta, you’ll now be able to adjust both the assistant’s pace and “expressivity.”
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Siri AI arrives on watchOS 27
If you’re running the watchOS 27 beta, good news: Apple finally added Siri AI support as part of this third beta round. That includes the new Siri app, so you can pick up conversations from your other devices on your watch. Again, this all assumes you have a compatible Apple Watch: Apple cut support for all Apple Watches older than the Series 9—including the first-gen Ultra and the second-gen SE. You should also exercise caution before installing watchOS betas: Unlike iOS betas, which you can downgrade from (even if there’s some pain), Apple does not let you uninstall a watchOS beta. That means if you run into issues or otherwise regret your adventure, you’ll need to ride out the wave until Apple releases watchOS 27 in full.
Siri AI can now pull from third-party apps
As 9to5Mac highlights, Siri AI can now tap into third-party apps on your iPhone to return results. At the moment, testers have only found one function that works here: pulling battery information from electric car apps. But it’s a real development and a small demonstration of how Siri AI could be a capable assistant on iOS. This was something writer Khamosh Pathak was missing when testing out Siri AI on the second iOS 27 beta. While Siri AI seems great at pulling information from your Apple apps, it hasn’t thus far been able to tap into your non-Apple apps. Hopefully the list of available functions and apps continues to grow so Siri AI can be even more useful.
You can control your AirPods’ Adaptive mode
Apple’s “Adaptive” mode blends Active Noise Cancellation with its Transparency mode. It “adapts” to changes in your environment, pumping in sound when things are quiet and blocking sounds as it gets too noisy. In my experience, it works well, especially when you want to be able to hear what’s going on around you without letting particularly loud sounds hurt your ears. But it’s not easy to customize: You traditionally need to dive through the settings to find Adaptive mode’s controls if you’d prefer it to be more or less sensitive to noise.
What do you think so far?
iOS 27 beta 3 changes that. Now, as part of iOS 27’s improved AirPods settings menu, you can simply control Adaptive mode through a volume slider. It’s far more intuitive and present than before, and hopefully makes it to iOS 27’s official release.
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Apple added a new Lock Screen animation to iOS 27
When you update to iOS 27 beta 3, you’ll notice something new when swiping down to your Lock Screen: The subject of your wallpaper will slowly appear before the full wallpaper pops into view. I’m not 100% sure this is something Apple intended to appear in beta 3, but if it is, it is a bold choice.
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iOS 27 now warns you before you send data to Google’s servers
Apple isn’t operating its new AI features alone. In addition to tapping into ChatGPT for some services, the company is also utilizing Google servers for certain AI processes. With the third iOS 27 beta, you’ll now receive a pop-up before your iPhone sends your data to Google. You can either choose to send the data one time, allow iOS to send your data whenever it needs to, or block access entirely. Apple is adamant that any data sent to Google servers still maintains the same Private Cloud Compute protections as the data that runs through its own servers.
