Apple Unveils AI Photo Editing Tools in iOS 27 at WWDC 2026

Apple Steps Into Generative Photo Editing

Apple used its WWDC 2026 keynote at Apple Park to preview a new set of artificial intelligence photo editing tools coming to iOS 27. Grouped under a new "Apple Intelligence Tools" section in the Photos app, the trio of features, named Extend, Enhance, and Reframe, rely on on-device machine learning to manipulate images without sending data to the cloud.

What the Tools Do

Extend uses generative AI to expand a photo beyond its original frame, inventing scenery to fill in the gaps when a user changes the crop. The amount of generated content is controlled with zoom gestures that stretch the edges of the image. Enhance acts as a one-tap improvement button, automatically adjusting colour, lighting, and overall image quality. Reframe is aimed primarily at spatial photos, letting users shift the perspective of an image after it has been captured, such as changing the viewing angle of a 3D photo taken on the Apple Vision Pro.

Apple confirmed that every image edited or generated with Apple Intelligence will carry a SynthID watermark, and stressed that the processing runs on-device. The three tools join Clean Up, which until now was the only AI editing feature in Apple's Photos app.

A Cautious Entry

Apple has been the most conservative of the major smartphone makers when it comes to generative photo editing, trailing Google, which has offered generative fill and similar features on Android for over a year. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported in April that internal testing of Extend and Reframe had produced mixed results, with sources saying the tools did not always perform reliably. Apple did not confirm whether all three features would ship with the initial iOS 27 release this autumn or arrive in later updates.

The tools are expected to be available on devices that support Apple Intelligence, including iPhone 16 models or later and the iPhone 15 Pro.

The Wider iOS 27 Picture

The photo editing reveal came alongside a sweeping overhaul of Siri, rebranded as "Siri AI" and powered in part by Google's Gemini models, which dominated the keynote. iOS 27 will run on iPhone 11 or later, with developer betas rolling out this week and a public release expected this autumn. The event also marked Tim Cook's final WWDC keynote before he hands leadership to hardware chief John Ternus on 1 September.