iOS 27.3 Beta Features: Siri AI, New Health App, StandBy and More

Apple has started testing iOS 27.3, the biggest update to iOS 27 since it launched in September. The iOS 27.3 beta includes a few features Apple showed off earlier this year, plus some all-new capabilities. The standouts: a more capable Siri AI, a redesigned Health app, and StandBy features for every iPhone that supports iOS 27.

Siri AI Does More In and Across Apps

Apple has added a long list of new actions for Siri AI. In Mail, Siri can unsubscribe you from mailing lists and undo recently sent messages. In Weather, Siri can add locations to your weather list or control weather notifications. In Safari, Siri can clear browsing history, manage tabs and windows, save articles to a Reading List, and close duplicate tabs. In Files, Siri can organize content and delete files you haven't opened in a while.

New actions are spread across Calendar, Files, Journal, Mail, Maps, Messages, Music, Notes, Photos, Preview, Reminders, Safari, Shortcuts, and Weather. The easiest way to see what's new is to ask Siri what it can do in each app.

Siri AI is also expanding to Traditional Chinese, Vietnamese, Turkish, and Norwegian. For developers, Apple is opening a Developer Preview that lets any app connect to Siri AI through App Intents. Siri AI can run custom actions developers build, and there are skills for teaching Siri AI to combine several actions into a single experience.

New Health App, iPhone Duo, and StandBy

The redesigned Health app returns in iOS 27.3 with new Insights and Longevity tabs. Insights shows your latest health data, such as Activity Rings, heart rate, sleep score, and vitals. Apple Intelligence uses that data to offer Personal Guidance, which means suggestions tailored to your goals and the kinds of activities you do.

The Longevity tab looks at your health data over time and assesses you across seven categories: heart health, sleep, mental wellbeing, movement health, metabolic health, hearing, and nutrition. There's also a Health Age feature that compares your health metrics with your actual age, using resting heart rate, VO2 max, HRV, sleep, and biomarkers from blood work. The data comes from Apple Watch, plus fitness assessments you can take at home with tracking through the iPhone's camera.

On the iPhone Duo, Reachability is now available. Swipe left from the left edge or right from the right edge of the outer display to bring content closer to your thumb. Turn it on under Settings, Accessibility, Touch. The keyboard on the front display has also been tweaked: the emoji and number keys have swapped places, as have the microphone and return keys. Keys are slightly taller and thinner, the space bar is wider, and the letters are smaller and less bold. Meanwhile, the StandBy features introduced with the iPhone Duo now come to all iPhone models that can run iOS 27, with Analog and Digital Clock faces that offer more customization, an updated Photos face, new Calendar and Weather faces, and the option to create multiple versions of each face and swipe between them.

Other Changes in the iOS 27.3 Beta

• Safari: there's a Vertical Tabs layout option in Safari settings and an Adaptive Dark Mode for sites without a dark mode design. The Advanced section also has a Use Global Privacy Control option.
• Live Rewind and Siri Recap: available in watchOS 27.3, but iOS 27.3 is required too. Enable them in the Watch app on iPhone.
• Apple Intelligence in China: now live with initial features like Live Translation, Writing Tools, Visual Intelligence, email and notification summaries, Photos Clean Up, and Genmoji. Siri AI and the new Apple Intelligence features from iOS 27 aren't available there.
• China earthquake alerts: iOS 27.3 appears to add support for safety alerts. Apple has been working with the China Earthquake Networks Center on early warning earthquake alerts for users in China.
• Selfie Sing in Apple Music: record a video of yourself singing karaoke. Search for the Apple Music Sing playlist, pick a song, and tap the camera icon. Videos can be adjusted with voice modification options and shared with friends or on social media.
• Freeform: new tools let you create custom, editable shapes from text descriptions (limited to Apple Creator Studio subscribers), plus new text styles and a background color option for boards.
• Control Center: the VPN toggle now lets you quickly switch between VPNs. Before, it only turned the last used VPN on or off.
• App Library: the Cancel button in search is now an X button.
• Apple Fitness+: a new Gym Strength workout builds a four-week plan based on a user's goals, experience, schedule, and equipment.
• Weather: the small slider for switching Condition views now uses Liquid Glass, and the next-hour precipitation view has been updated.
• Australia: RCS support is available for carrier Telstra.

For developers and app owners, the App Intents Developer Preview is the part worth watching, since your app can now plug directly into Siri AI. For everyone else, the redesigned Health app and the StandBy expansion are the changes you'll likely notice first.