Start poking around Apple’s revamped, contextual Siri, set up the new parental controls, and reconfigure the command center with the public beta, which is available now.
A public software beta in the summertime is always a welcome treat, especially as most of us retreat indoors for the air-conditioned life. Apple released the iOS 27 public beta for iPhone users who want to be the first to try upcoming features, including cross-app actions, granular parental controls, and a contextual Siri. Not everything is live yet—Image Playground and the advanced Writing Tools are still missing, for instance—but once you load the software and it offers a slider for the Liquid Glass interface effect, it definitely feels like something new.
Ready to take the plunge? No developer account is required. Enroll your device in the beta by signing in with your Apple account at the Beta Software Program website. Afterward, head to Settings > General > Software Update > Beta Updates on your iPhone and select the iOS 27 Public Beta. The update is available for all devices back to the iPhone 11. which was a major talking point at WWDC, though don’t expect to see Apple Intelligence features on there. Those are available only on the iPhone 15 Pro and later.
While Apple’s public preview builds are way more stable than in previous years, it’s still beta software. Make sure you have a fresh backup of your iPhone before you load the preview.
1. Command Siri to Perform a Task Across Several Apps
The days of Siri being a glorified kitchen timer are over after iOS 27 hits the streets. Apple announced at its developers conference last month that it deprecated SiriKit in favor of App Intents, a new API that gives Siri deeper, system-wide awareness of the apps you use and how you use them. It means that Siri will finally be able to perform multi-step commands and grab information without requiring you to open apps.
To get it set up, you don’t have to dig into the settings. Instead, ask Siri to fetch. Try a command like, “Find my latest Airbnb reservation in Mail and message it to a specific person.” Since Siri now understands entities inside apps, it knows where to “look” to grab that data and execute the command. Use Siri to add files to a shared photo album with specific people, or to extract a date from a recent text message and create a calendar event. The idea is to tell Siri what you need done without having to tap in and out of the apps yourself.
2. Set Up ‘Ask to Browse’ for Your Kin
With iOS 27. Apple introduced Ask to Browse, a granular parental control suite that goes beyond simple website and app blocking. It lets you set parameters for your kid’s screen time, including a kill switch that logs them off at the end of their time. Kids can request access to specific websites or content, or to message with a friend or an external family member.
To set this up, go to Settings > Screen Time > Content and Privacy Restrictions. Once it’s enabled, you’ll see the new Ask to Browsetoggle. From here on out, kiddo will have to approach you or send a message requesting permission.
3. Use Visual Intelligence to See Something
Now that Siri works, you can easily use it in the Camera app in iOS 27 alongside the standard Photo and Video capabilities and get Visual Intelligence to tell you stuff. It’s like giving Siri eyes without having to wear smart glasses on your face (which would creep everyone out).
In previous versions of iOS, Visual Intelligence felt like a hidden feature, since it was buried behind a long-press gesture. But in iOS 27. it’s right there in the camera app. When you encounter a messy receipt you’re trying to split, a parking sign that makes no sense, or a business card you want to turn into a contact, you can snap it with the camera, then ask Siri to take it a step further in another app.
To try it yourself, make sure you’re enrolled in the latest Siri beta. Then, you’ll see the Siri option appear in the Camera app. Select it, and point and shoot. Siri will then offer to extract the text for you, summarize, or route the information to another app. I just said “Hey Siri” and then asked it to extract text and save it to a Notes file.
4. Make a Shortcut By Describing It
I got to try this out at WWDC. It’s one of the features I wish I already knew more about so that I could fully experience it. iOS 27 lets you “Describe a Shortcut.” You can speak out loud, in plain verbiage, the kind of formula you want to exist, and then Apple Intelligence will help you figure out the rest. It’s much less daunting outside of the developer conference setting. I’m also realizing I have no idea what to tell you to try first, because I don’t even know.
Here’s how you do it: Go to Shortcuts (I like saying, “Hey Siri, open Shortcuts” for a real flex), then tap the floating Plus icon at the bottom of the screen. This will let you create a new shortcut. It will ask, “What do you want your shortcut to do?” Try to describe it as best you can, keeping in mind the common tasks you do with your iPhone day to day. For starters, because I couldn’t think of anything else, I asked Shortcuts to create an automation that logs whenever my AirPods connect to my iPhone 16 Pro. Because why not?
5. Build a Command Deck With the Control Center
The Control Center was a welcome addition to iOS 7 in 2013. but its implementation still feels more like a junk drawer than a command center. Apple finally fixed that in iOS 27 by adding support for multiple pages. Now, you can customize panels to suit whatever you’re up to—dedicate one to work, another to play, and a third to connected home control, for example.
Ready to set one up? Swipe down to open the Control Center. Long-press on an empty area to enter Edit Mode. Instead of dragging and dropping to create a new page, look toward the bottom. You’ll see an icon to start a new page toward the right edge. Tap it to create a new one and start adding what you need.
6. Keep Siri On the Down Low
In iOS 27. Siri is now a persistent, conversational archivist rather than, well, the glorified timer it used to be. This sort of convenience comes with a trade-off, even with Apple’s promises of privacy and on-device processing. For Siri to remember things and apply context, it needs a long-term history of your requests and other activities.
It doesn’t need to remember every single thing, however. Apple offers retention settings in the Siri preferences. They’re no longer buried behind a submenu, and you can choose how long Siri keeps your conversations. Go to Settings > Siri, then scroll down to Keep Conversations. From here, you can choose to have your history automatically deleted after 30 days or one year. You can also choose to have Siri remember everything forever.
What about those times you wish Siri could forget something that you said? You can actually purge specific threads without nuking your entire history with Siri. Open the standalone Siri app, tap More, then select the chats you want to delete entirely.
We expect Apple to release the final version of iOS 27 later this year (likely in September). Until then, the company will continue to update the public beta every couple of weeks with bug fixes and additional features. You can tap in at any time to check it out.