From faster message loading to Siri quickly finding the right photos you want to send, learn about all the ways iOS 27 improves your texting experience on iPhone or iPad.
Messaging is a core part of iPhone, and each year Apple adds new features or polishes existing ones.
For example, it added live translation, message backgrounds, and specific text selection to the Messages app in iOS 26. With iOS 18, it added RCS support, Satellite messaging, Schedule Later, text formatting, and these 13 upgrades.
Building on that, iOS 27 (currently in beta) once again adds a handful of under-the-hood improvements and new features to the Messages app. None of these updates are as revolutionary as previous iOS versions, but they are still a welcome change.
Here are 13 new improvements to the iPhone Messages app in iOS 27.
Hide the microphone button in text field
If, like Justin Bieber (yes, there’s a backstory), you accidentally hit the record audio button in the typing box, Apple now lets you hide it completely (or change it to start dictation instead). Just go to iOS 27 Settings > Apps > Messages > Show in Text Field and select None.
Ask Siri to find you the right photos before sending
Siri is much smarter in iOS 27, which comes in handy when you want to quickly share a bunch of specific photos without spending time locating them in the Photos app or selecting them manually.
Suppose you went on a trip recently and want to share those photos in your family group chat. Just ask Siri something like “grab photos from my recent trip to Paris and send them to the Family group chat.” Siri will search through your photo library, then show a carousel of chosen images. Just take a look, and tap or say ‘Send.’
Ask Siri other questions about messages
Siri can dig through your texts and find exactly what you’re asking for. Let me explain better with a couple of my own examples:
- I received an invitation for an event but don’t remember what it was, and finding it manually would take time. In this case, I can just ask Siri, “What was the event my [friend name] had asked me to attend?” Siri will go through my texts and find it for me. I can then even ask it to add that event to my calendar or set up a reminder.
- One of my family members sent me a YouTube link for a Butter Chicken recipe, but I don’t recall who sent it or when. I can ask Siri to find it and forward it to my wife by saying “Someone recently sent me a YouTube link for a Butter Chicken recipe. Forward that link to my wife.” Or, if I know who sent it, I can add their name to the voice command to make Siri’s life easier, and Siri may even compose an accompanying message before the link, as shown in the screenshot below.
Note: Even though the feature works fundamentally well, in my tests I regularly found it took a long time to process requests and, in some cases, eventually threw an error (Something went wrong. Please try again or I’m having trouble with the connection. Please try again later), which takes all the fun out of an otherwise great feature. Hopefully, Apple will fix it before public release.
Send a sketch
The new Drawing feature lets you sketch something personal and send it. In a world flooded with AI-generated images (including ones Apple helps you generate), a personal drawing stands out, bringing a sense of individuality and specialness.
Just go to a conversation, tap the plus icon, select the Drawing iMessage app, and unleash your creativity.
Improved contextual suggestions
The Messages app already underlines certain text in your message so you can do quick conversions right there. Or, it will underline the word ‘photos’ if someone asks you for it, and tapping it will instantly show the photos picker.
iOS 27 improves on this, and now, depending on the content of the message you receive, you’ll see small buttons that let you quickly create events, reminders, or add to notes.
Similarly, if you get a text like “send photos from your recent trip to San Diego,” you’ll see a suggestion above the keyboard, and tapping it will bring up just those photos that fit the description.
Continuous media sending
Previously, if you were sending a high-quality photo or video and your internet connection dropped, the upload would get stuck and eventually fail. Now, the app keeps trying in the background and automatically completes the upload and sends it once your connection is restored.
You can also keep using the app while a message is being sent, and queue up more photos and videos, attach files, or send text, all without having to wait for the previous message to finish sending.
Failed message retry sending automatically
This is related to the tip above.
In case a text fails to send due to temporary network issues, the iOS 27 Messages app will automatically attempt to resend it without you having to tap the red exclamation icon and retrying.
Combined Tapbacks notification
Earlier, if you received multiple reactions (officially called Tapbacks) to a text in a personal or group chat, your iPhone would usually notify you of each reaction with separate alerts, and blow up your notifications. Depending on the scenario, the iOS 27 Messages app may group multiple reactions in one notification.
Personalized suggestions for one-tap replies
Quick, pre-written suggested responses generated by Apple Intelligence aren’t new. But now, those replies reflect your writing style for a more natural experience.
Search using phone number and nickname
Instead of contact names, you can now also type a phone number or contact’s nickname (if added) in the Messages search box to find their chats.
Faster message loading
Your conversations with a person, having thousands of texts and attachments and going back multiple years, should load more quickly now. You can also scroll to past messages faster and search for them quickly, thanks to an improved data indexation system in iOS 27.
Better message sync across your devices
This one is handy if you own multiple Apple devices. iOS 27 makes your texts, reactions, attachments, and read status sync more quickly and more reliably between your iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro.
Better experience with offloaded media
Old offloaded photos and videos that are no longer stored locally but are only in iCloud can now appear in search results when relevant. Plus, when you browse photos and videos in a conversation, and there are offloaded items, they now show a preview instead of a generic placeholder thumbnail, helping you identify those pictures and videos.
Which of these new features and improvements do you like the most?
Also, new in iOS 27: