iOS 27's Best Feature Might Not Be a Feature at All
· Lifehacker
When Apple takes the virtual stage in June for WWDC 2026, avid fans might expect the company to announce a number of new features for updates like iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27. And while these updates will almost assuredly sport some key features and changes from the "OS 26" era, the best new feature might not be a feature at all. In fact, it might be the exact opposite.
In his Power On newsletter on Sunday, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman ran through some of Apple's thought processes with its upcoming updates, per Gurman's sources. It seems that following the company's big delays and stumbles in rolling out big AI features, and its Liquid Glass design overhaul, the company is in a position to focus more on iterative updates rather than sweeping changes. As such, Gurman expects "years of gradual improvements," starting with iOS 27, which he has said since November will be a "Snow Leopard-like" release.
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For those out of the loop, Mac OS X Snow Leopard is a famous OS update in Apple world. Apple announced Snow Leopard as having zero new features, as the update was intensely focused on delivering bug fixes and stability updates to Mac OS (now macOS). Snow Leopard didn't actually ship with zero new features—there was a new QuickTime player and a fresh version of Safari—but the emphasis was really on shipping a new OS for the Mac that felt the same as before, but just worked better.
If that's the philosophy Apple wants to carry onto iOS 27, I'm all for it. iOS 26 hasn't been too buggy in my experience, but I keep encountering other users who swear the update has negatively impacted their iPhones. The one complaint I keep hearing is about the keyboard, which users allege is buggy beyond belief. While there are general steps you can take to make the iOS keyboard work better for you, any software bugs affected it will require Apple's intervention—not the end user.
I would also like Apple to extend those plans to its other big updates this year, as well. The first couple of versions of macOS 26 (Tahoe) received an even poorer reception online than iOS 26, from what I've seen. The negative reviews kept me from updating my M1 iMac until macOS 26.3, which beta testers found to be less buggy than previous versions. Indeed, my M1 Mac can handle macOS 26.3, but it's still a bit laggy at times. While you could chalk that up to the five-year-old chip, I'd bet Apple could optimize its OSes across the board to make the experience a bit smoother for any devices that will be compatible with any of the OS 27 updates. If Apple can make macOS Tahoe run smooth on the MacBook Neo, running a binned, two-year-old iPhone chip, I imagine my iMac could run macOS 27 with some grace.
iOS 27 will have actual new features, too
Like Snow Leopard, Apple won't actually have zero new features to ship with iOS 27. The biggest feature of all will be rolling out its new "AI Siri," which despite being announced in 2024 for iOS 18, has encountered delay after delay. But Gurman says the other big iOS 27 "feature" will be support for Apple's upcoming foldable iPhone, introducing things like split-screen apps for the first time on iOS. It'd be great if Apple extended this support to standard iPhones as well (especially the Max), but Gurman seems to think this will remain a foldable perk only.
Remember, this year marks Apple's 50th anniversary, and the company likely has some big plans in store. But I think the best thing the company could do to celebrate is make sure that all of its devices are running optimized versions of their respective OSes. Happy Birthday, Apple!