I’ve Been Using iOS 27 for Months. Here’s What’s Great and What Needs to Change

The new OS doesn’t feel like a total overhaul, but most of the changes consistently nudge things in a good direction.

Senior writer

Zachary McAuliffe

Senior writer

September 14, 2026, 1:11 pm ET

The latest iOS update is out now. Apple released iOS 27 on Monday, Sept. 14 (just as I predicted). You’d be forgiven for thinking Siri AI is the only new addition, but the OS includes several other features — even if they aren’t especially groundbreaking.

You can download iOS 27 now by going to Settings > General > Software Update > Update Now and following the prompts on your screen.

I’ve been using iOS 27 betas since June, and found a handful of useful new features, including a new Liquid Glass slider, and even started testing the revamped Siri after avoiding the digital assistant for a decade. Overall, my phone feels snappier and opening apps is almost instantaneous.

Apple’s iOS 27 brings a lot of quality of life upgrades to your device without as many standout new features as previous iOS updates — similar to Liquid Glass in iOS 26. There are also a few questionable changes, such as a new way to access your Notification Center, which isn’t unusual for these annual upgrades. Overall, iOS 27 is an inoffensive update filled with subtle improvements that you might not notice unless they’re pointed out.

As the official pointer-outer person, that’s my cue to give you a virtual tour around Siri AI and some of my favorite changes, as well as a few updates that left me scratching my head.

Note that my experience with these features is based on beta versions of iOS 27, so it’s possible some of them work differently on the public release. Siri AI is still in beta, even after the public release of iOS 27, and remains an opt-in experience.

iOS 27’s best improvements

Siri gets an AI overhaul

The latest iOS update has convinced me to turn over some daily digital chores to Siri, such as looking up driving directions or checking my schedule. Despite a few flaws, Siri worked well when I asked it to plot my route in CarPlay, find a cake recipe and perform a number of other simple tasks. The result? I’m now comfortable using Siri for small jobs.

In iOS 27, Siri AI is disabled by default, so you have to enable it if you want to use it. Here’s how to do so.

Tap Settings.
Tap Siri.
Tap Try New Siri.

It can also take time to go from being waitlisted to being able to ask Siri AI for a gift recommendation for your friend based on a text thread. Don’t forget: Siri AI is also still in beta in iOS 27, so you could run into bugs or have odd experiences with the digital assistant. Plus, Siri AI is only available in Apple Intelligence-compatible devices. iPhone 14 models or older (or the iPhone 15 or 15 Plus models) can’t access the enhanced assistant.

New Liquid Glass slider, and one questionable option

After Apple launched Liquid Glass in iOS 26, the company added ways to adjust transparency to address readability issues. With iOS 27, you can get as close to disabling the design as possible thanks to a new Liquid Glass slider. After installing iOS 27, you’re given an option to adjust just how liquidy or glassy you want things. But if you skip that screen, here’s where to find the Liquid Glass slider.

Tap Settings.
Tap Appearance.
Tap Liquid Glass.

From here, you can make Liquid Glass elements on your device more or less transparent by dragging the slider to the right. If you want more see-throughness, so elements are more transparent, drag it left. I find it difficult to tell menus and background items apart — I don’t understand who would want this option, but it’s there if you do.

I’ve been happily using the totally frosted look (slider all the way to the right) for a few weeks now. While I didn’t mind Liquid Glass as much as other folks, the frosted setting ensures I can read and see the text, menus and icons properly.

Safari gets an upgrade, too

My CNET colleague Jason Chun has been enjoying the Safari upgrades in iOS 27, including favorable UI tweaks. He noted that the All Tabs icon replaces the three-dot menu in Safari’s Compact toolbar. He also likes the return of the Bookmarks icon to the top of a new tab next to Reading List and History, and that Safari can automatically organize tabs.

“It’s a super useful feature,” Chun wrote. “Especially if you keep as many emotional support tabs open as I do (currently 72).”

More volume control across your device

Apple finally gives you the choice to adjust the volumes of your ringtones, alerts and alarms independently. This has been greatly helpful, ensuring my alarm isn’t so loud that it wakes up my infant son at night, yet keeping my ringtone loud enough during the day that I can hear it over him crying.

To separate the volume levels, you have to disable two switches:

Tap Settings.
Tap Sounds & Haptics.
Disable the switches next to both instances of Match Ringtone Volume.

Disable the switches next to both instances of Match Ringtone Volume.

You can then use the sliders beneath those switches to change the volume of your alarms and your alerts without affecting your ringtone volume.

Pasting photos and links into messages is easier

A message in Messages with an option to paste a photo into a text field highlighted.

There’s also an easy way to paste photos, links from social media and more into Messages in iOS 27. If you copy one of those things and go into a chat, Messages will display an option above your keyboard to paste the item into your message before you start typing.

It’s a simple adjustment that streamlines texting assets to folks. Before, you had to long-press on the text box and tap Paste. That’s not a lot of steps, but tapping the option above the keyboard is faster.

I also appreciate how this makes it easier to ensure I’m pasting the intended photo or link into a message instead of another link or text from hours ago. I’ve pasted unrelated gibberish into texting fields many times before iOS 27.

The Weather app shows different elements

The Weather app showing precipitation chance for Atlanta.

The Weather app gets another small tweak, showing more weather elements throughout the day. You can see hour-by-hour forecasts for rain and winds in your area by tapping water drop and wind symbols in the Conditions bar in the app. You can also see those conditions for the coming days of the week.

This is a welcome feature that helps me plan my day before stepping out the door with just a glance.

New on-screen timer

You also don’t need to go into your clock app to set a timer in iOS 27. If you open the timer in your Control Center, a new timer window will appear at the top of your screen with a horizontal dial you can pull left or right to get the exact countdown you need (down to 15-second increments). You can set and start a timer from here and access it while in other apps.

I like being able to quickly set and keep track of a timer without switching apps — a small but mighty improvement.

Three changes I’m still lost on

A standalone Siri app is now a thing

Apple Intelligence-compatible devices get a new Siri app in iOS 27 that lets you interact with the digital assistant in a similar way to other chatbots, such as Gemini on Android, and access past conversations or requests within the app.

I struggle to see the appeal of this app over the regular Siri voice assistant. It feels easier to use Siri without the app in most instances, such as asking the assistant to look up the hours of a local bookstore.

Even if you’re using the Siri app as a search engine, it feels easier to, you know… use a search engine. I asked Siri to check the news, for example, and the app would regularly give me news that was at least a few days old. This is better than when I tested an earlier beta version of iOS 27 and the app gave me news from about a month prior, but it’s still not what I’m looking for.

It does give you links at the bottom of queries to verify information, which is good if you use the app as such. However, a search engine such as DuckDuckGo could give me those links without forcing me to wade through a preamble that might be full of outdated or incorrect information.

Notification Center has a new home thanks to Siri AI

If you do enable the new Siri AI, your iPhone’s Notification Center gets a new home — much to my dismay. Instead of two sections for the drag-from-the-top touch shortcuts, now there are three. Instead of dragging down from the center of your home screen to see your notifications, now you have to drag down from the top-left corner of your home screen. If you drag down from the center, you open a new Search or Ask bar.

I’m right-handed and this is dreadful. It’s one of the more annoying things about iOS 27. It messes with my muscle memory and my expectations of where things are located on my phone.

The good news is that if you don’t enable Siri AI (or later disable it), you can still access your Notification Center by dragging down from the top center of your home screen. It does mean you’d need to sacrifice using Siri AI — it all comes down to your UX preference.

The tiny clock is tiny and morally wrong

The tiny clock Lock Screen option in iOS 27.

You can shrink your lock screen clock in iOS 27 when customizing your lock screen. Tap the highlighted button in the picture above and the clock shrinks down into the date bar across the top of your screen.

Sure, that option lets you see more of your lock screen background. However, I’m an advocate of the lock screen’s big clock and therefore consider the tiny clock to be heresy. Tiny clock feels too small to be comfortably legible. People who like this setting: Can you see Pluto on a clear night without a telescope?

iOS 27 is a step in the right direction

Siri AI is the centerpiece of the update, and Apple has improved on the digital assistant enough that if you don’t already use it, I’d suggest giving it another chance. Most of the other new features are small improvements and upgrades that make for a pleasant, if sometimes underwhelming, experience.

For more on the operating system, you can check out how to change some of the most annoying features on the OS and how I learned to stop worrying and began to enjoy Siri.