5 things I already love from the iOS 27 beta

iOS 27 has only been retired for a fewer hours, and I’ve been messing astir pinch the developer beta connected my iPhone 16 Pro. I was astir willing successful trying retired the caller Siri AI, but unfortunately, I’m still connected Apple’s waitlist for that. In the meantime, I’ve been poking astir a bunch of features that aren’t astir AI and recovered a batch that I’m happy pinch — moreover though this doesn’t look to beryllium arsenic large of an update arsenic erstwhile years, the fresh and decorativeness passim the operating strategy is already awesome to see.

Here are a fewer neat things that person jumped retired astatine me.

I’ve ever thought the Liquid Glass redesign, introduced pinch iOS 26 past year, was good — not great, but not peculiarly bad (well, aft Apple cleaned up immoderate early issues, astatine least). But the caller opacity slider successful iOS 27 is awesome: it lets you make Liquid Glass elements for illustration tab bars much clear or much frosty, meaning you tin spot objects nether them successful different degrees of opacity. Want to really spot what’s nether your hunt bar? Go glassy. Would you for illustration to support things much readable? Opt for much of a tint. (You tin astir apt conjecture which I prefer.)

Apple took different walk of galore of its icon designs introduced pinch iOS 26, and overall, they look overmuch amended to me. The changes are typically subtle — tweaks to colors aliases adding a small much glassy texture — but I deliberation they make things look overmuch much polished.

From settings, you tin now — yet — group independent volumes for ringtones, alarms and timers, and alerts and strategy sounds. In the Sounds & Haptics menu, conscionable toggle disconnected the switches that fto you lucifer alarms and timers arsenic good arsenic alerts and strategy sounds pinch your ringtone volume, and you tin set the much granular measurement settings from there.

I person to confess that I ne'er usage widgets, but I saw that other ample widgets were coming pinch iOS 27 this twelvemonth and I had to spot a fewer of them for myself. They’re earnestly huge; they return up an full surface of apps (except for the dock). But I could spot them being an highly useful measurement to look astatine an full almanac aliases a agelong database of to-dos.

While editing the Lock Screen, you tin now put the clip adjacent to the day astatine the very apical of the screen. That opens up much existent estate, which is bully if you want to spot much of your wallpaper image, for illustration a family photograph aliases a cool portion of art, aliases if you conscionable want a small little clutter connected your screen.

We’ll beryllium digging successful a batch much complete the adjacent fewer days, truthful support an eye connected The Verge. And if you conscionable want to spot a elephantine database of promising features coming to Apple’s adjacent large updates, I’ve sewage you covered.