Apple just walked back a promise it apparently made accidentally: The new Texture and Grain controls in Photographic Styles aren’t coming to your old iPhone, despite what you might have read last week. Apple locked them to the iPhone 18 Pro lineup and the iPhone Duo, full stop.
The mess is of Apple’s own making. The iPhone 18 Pro announcement said the feature would come to more iPhones down the line. But Apple has now quietly rewritten that language, and it isn’t saying why.
This week on the Cult of Mac podcast: The iPhone 18 Pro is here, and the iPhone Duo is on the way, but Apple’s far from finished releasing new hardware this year.
There’s plenty of new stuff coming down the pike, and we’re especially excited about a pair of long-rumored additions to the Apple lineup.
Also on the Cult of Mac podcast:
Listen to this week’s episode of the Cult of Mac podcast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video version, embedded below.
Although Apple is thrilled about the new Siri AI integrated into iOS 27, maybe artificial intelligence isn’t your thing. Fortunately, you can opt out of Apple’s new voice assistant.
iOS 27 lets you turn Siri off completely. Alternatively, you can switch from the new AI-powered Siri back to Siri Classic.
And if you absolutely do not want artificial intelligence in your iPhone, you can disable it … though that process is far more complex than is ideal.
Word of a new iOS 27 freeze bug is spreading fast across social media. It can lock up your iPhone’s home screen with nothing more than a few quick swipes.
The glitch has already turned into a prank between friends. It’s completely harmless, but can make your iPhone feel dead until you know the fix.
Apple seeded the first iOS 27.2 beta to developers on Wednesday, giving them the chance to test several notable changes and improvements.
The company is skipping beta testing iOS 27.1, an unusual move but one with a good “Duo” reason behind it. Below is a rundown of all the new stuff in iOS 27.2 beta 1. (We will update the post as we discover more.)
Apple wasted no time moving beyond iOS 27 and macOS 27. Just two days after releasing its major new operating systems, the company began beta testing iOS 27.2 and macOS 27.2 with developers.
No, you didn’t somehow miss beta testing iOS 27.1 and macOS 27.1. Apple made the unusual move of not putting these through public beta testing, and for good reason.
Every September, Apple pulls off a logistical magic trick that most people are completely unaware of. You preorder an iPhone, open the sealed box on launch day, and hit the ground running. But have you ever wondered how that’s possible? Apple only finalized the release version of iOS 27 last week after already assembling millions of new iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max units.
Here is how Apple does its final-week iOS update at an astronomical scale.
Apple Wallet in iOS 27 just got a glow-up. The app now splits restaurant bills, tracks Apple Card subscriptions and even builds custom passes. The best part? All of it happens without needing to leave the Apple Wallet app.
The update landed as part of Apple’s iOS 27 rollout. It pushes Wallet closer to becoming a true everyday hub, instead of it being just another simple card holder.
Your iPhone’s next big software update just arrived. Apple released iOS 27 on Monday, fixing many of the annoyances that iOS 26 inadvertently introduced last year, while also tweaking Liquid Glass to improve readability.
Alongside iOS 27, Siri AI also launches in beta today, finally bringing Apple’s AI assistant on par with Google, ChatGPT and others.
Apple’s new iPhone Duo reportedly comes with a new Shift Left Edge setting that lets users add a fake bezel to its outer display. The toggle is built for one job: helping the first folding iPhone play nicer with cases.
The setting lives inside iPhone Duo’s display options. Turn it on, and content will shift away from the left edge of the screen. That way, a case that extends over the display won’t cover anything important.
UPDATE: This article is now moot because the wait is over! iOS 27 is now out for everyone:
iOS 27, iPadOS 27, watchOS 27 and macOS Golden Gate are ready for public release. After previewing the updates at WWDC26 in June, Apple will release them on Monday, September 14.
But when exactly does iOS 27 land on your iPhone on September 14? Here’s when you can expect Apple’s latest updates to go live in your region. (Though you have the option to skip the wait and get iOS 27 now.)
UPDATE: This article is now moot because the wait is over! iOS 27 is now out for everyone:
iOS 27 will roll out to iPhones everywhere on September 14, but there’s no need to wait. You can install the final version this weekend and start exploring the new features whenever you have time.
Best of all, there’s nothing dodgy or risky involved. You’ll be downloading the same final release Apple will push to everyone else — just a few days ahead of schedule.
Visual Intelligence ads could be headed for your iPhone. Code buried in iOS 27 suggests Apple is exploring a new way to slip sponsored results into its camera-based search tool.
The change won’t have Apple selling the ad slots directly. Instead, search providers like Google may supply sponsored images. And these could sit right on top of the results Visual Intelligence already shows you.
Apple’s Edge Light feature may soon make the jump from Mac to iPhone. Code in the iOS 27 release candidate suggests the glowing screen-border effect could be coming to the iPhone Duo. It could eventually make its way to other iPhone models, too.
The discovery comes from an analysis of Apple’s latest software beta. The code points to the Mac feature being adapted for iPhone, creating a soft ring of light around the edge of the display. The catch is that it’s still an early build, and some key settings aren’t finished yet.
The Apple TV Remote app receives a sneaky upgrade in iOS 27. Apple tucked away two new features inside the app’s redesigned interface, and they’re hiding in plain sight.
The changes first surfaced in the iOS 27 release candidate. One of them brings a full app launcher to the remote, while the other surfaces streaming recommendations on the remote screen.
UPDATE: This article is now moot because the wait is over! iOS 27 is now out for everyone:
After months of beta testing, Apple will release iOS 27, iPadOS 27, watchOS 27 and macOS Golden Gate to the public this month. And at its “Surprise and Shine” event, the company finally provided a release date.
The new operating systems will be released publicly in less than a week, on September 14.
A leak shows off several camera-focused features that Apple will introduce with iOS 27 later this week. This includes exposure scopes, with waveform and histogram displays to monitor exposure easily.
Apple will also presumably add focus peaking support to the iPhone’s stock Camera app.
Popular iPhone accessory maker Ugreen is entering the smart home segment, but with a twist. Instead of relying on the cloud, it’s launching a HomeAgent that will run AI models locally to keep your data private.
The lineup consists of the HomeAgent and the SynCare series of smart cameras.
iOS 27 will let one phone number work across two iPhones. A new iPhone Handoff feature will soon allow you to swap your cellular line between a main and a companion device, with no SIM swap required.
The feature got the barest mention at WWDC 2026 in June, with zero explanation from Apple. Now, a leaked demo video finally shows how the setup could actually work.
Apple’s new support document explains how you can speed up Spotlight indexing on your device. It also goes into detail about how Spotlight indexing works.
Many iPhone, iPad and Mac users will face this indexing slowdown once Apple releases its next-generation operating systems next month.
Apple looks set to refresh one of the most popular Apple Watch faces, with nine new colors reportedly coming to the Modular face this fall.
The colors surfaced in the latest iOS 27 beta code, and they could point to a broader refresh landing alongside new Apple Watch hardware and accessories this fall.
Apple is building a new way to prove your iPhone photos are real. Called Apple Reference Image, it could become a highlight of iOS 27. The tool is designed to verify whether a photo was actually captured by the iPhone’s camera, not an AI generator.
It showed up in a privacy disclosure buried in iOS 27 beta 5.
After almost a month-long gap, Apple rolled out iOS 27 beta 5 to developers on Monday. With September fast approaching, the new beta adds the necessary polish before the OS’s public release this fall.
Below are all the changes spotted in iOS 27 beta 5 so far, including the (possible) name of the first folding iPhone.
The iPhone’s Lock Screen has always played by Apple’s rules. That changes with iOS 27, which hands far more design choices to iPhone users.
The upcoming update adds four new tools. You can generate AI wallpapers, stretch photos to fit properly, move the clock and hide the Now Playing widget. It’s the most flexible the iPhone Lock Screen has ever been.
iOS 27’s Call Context feature is shaping up to be one of the most useful additions in Apple’s fall software update. The Phone app will automatically show confirmation codes, reservation details and other relevant info whenever you call a business.
The feature works by pulling information straight from your Mail app, saving you the hassle of digging through your inbox in the middle of a customer service call. And Apple processes all of this locally, without sending anything to the cloud or a third party.