Siri’s AI overhaul may have been the headline announcement at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference earlier this month, but Apple’s broader AI strategy is taking shape through a series of smaller features embedded across its software.
Rather than asking consumers to adopt the new AI-powered version of Siri to get all the benefits that AI brings, the company is weaving AI into the apps and services people already use, with a focus on solving real-world problems. The result is that your iPhone will be able to split restaurant bills among friends, secure your passwords after data breaches, automate tasks, and organize information with less manual effort, among other things.
Individually, these features may not be as dramatic as a Siri that finally understands your personal context and can take action on your behalf. But combined, they showcase a vision for AI that’s less about chatting with a bot and more about making Apple’s software itself feel smarter and more capable.
Beyond Siri AI, here are the smaller AI features in iOS 27 that we’re most looking forward to using. The features are live now in the developer beta and will soon arrive in the public beta, before iOS 27’s general public release later this fall.
Bill splitting
When iOS 27 rolls out later this fall, customers will be able to split the restaurant bill using Apple Cash. Powered by Apple Intelligence, you simply take a photo of the receipt (or upload a photo), and you’ll then see a new option that lets you choose to split the bill with others. Apple Intelligence works to extract the key details from the bill, like the items ordered and the quantities, the tip, and the total. You can choose the items you ordered from the receipt and then share a request for others to do the same by messaging the group chat. Others can select their items and quantities — even selecting a half (1/2) if they split with another. To pay, you double-click just as you would for any other Apple Cash transaction.
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