IOS 27 May Bring New AI-Powered Editing Tools to the Photos App.
Apple is undoubtedly lagging behind in the AI race. ” Apple Intelligence ” has fewer features and is less useful than similar products from competitors; the company doesn’t have its own chatbot; and we’re still waiting for an AI-powered update to Siri, which Apple first unveiled back in 2024.
And yet, a lot could change with the release of iOS 27. The update looks set to be a bit of a catch-up moment for Apple , as rumors suggest we’ll finally see an updated Siri, as well as Apple’s attempt at a chatbot similar to ChatGPT. And now, it seems likely that the update will also include new photo editing features that will directly compete with other AI apps.
Apple’s Intelligence Tools are coming to the Photos app.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman ( via MacRumors ), Apple plans to add a new “Apple Intelligence Tools” section to the Photos app. This new section will contain three AI-powered editing options: “Expand,” “Enhance,” and “Reframe.”
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The Extend feature works similarly to other generative fill apps. The goal is to expand the image frame by adding AI-generated elements. For example, if you want to expand the frame of a photo of a park bench, Extend can use AI to add additional grass, sky, and trees to enlarge the image. This feature will reportedly work with pinch-to-zoom gestures, which could make it more intuitive.
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The “Enhance” feature appears to be an improvement on existing photo enhancement features. This option will adjust various elements of your photo based on artificial intelligence. This includes things like color and lighting—elements you can already automatically adjust using the “Auto-Enhance” option in the Photos app. Perhaps Apple has improved the AI model to work better, or perhaps this is the same feature, consolidated into the new Apple Intelligence menu.
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The Reframe feature is designed for 3D photos. Selecting this option allows you to adjust the perspective of 3D photos using 3D image data to reframe them. This sounds promising if Apple can implement it: the ability to reframe a photo after it’s been taken will provide significant editing benefits if the original image doesn’t quite match your expectations.
These features may change or be discontinued.
While Gurman seems confident in the existence of these AI features, their inclusion in iOS 27 doesn’t appear to be guaranteed. Apple’s AI development has always been volatile, and these image editing tools may be no exception—Gurman says Extend and Reframe, in particular, may be delayed until a future update, possibly iOS 27.1 or iOS 27.2. This isn’t uncommon for Apple. The company often announces new features at WWDC and then delays them, and these features haven’t even reached that stage yet. But this could be another sign that Apple’s AI department is still struggling.
Apple’s only significant AI-powered image editing feature currently is “Cleanup,” and while it works, it often falls short of its competitors. Lifehacker author David Nield found that this tool performs on par with Google’s Magic Eraser but can’t compete with Samsung’s Object Eraser. Perhaps iOS 27 will offer some improvements to “Cleanup,” as well as Apple’s other AI efforts.