Apple Intelligence gives Photos in iOS 27 its biggest editing upgrade in years

Apple is making Photos much more powerful in iOS 27 by adding AI-powered editing tools that can fix framing mistakes, remove unwanted distractions, and reshape images after they're taken. Here's what's new.

New Apple Intelligence features announced during WWDC 2026 let users expand photos beyond their original frame and adjust perspective after capture. These features also allow for more advanced edits directly in the Photos app across iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27.

The update brings capabilities that previously required specialized editing software or third-party apps.

Google, Samsung, and Adobe already offer tools that can expand images, remove objects, and generate new content. Apple is now bringing many of those same capabilities directly into Photos.

Extend can recover photos that feel too tightly framed

One of the most significant additions is Extend, a new tool that uses Apple Intelligence to expand a photo beyond its original boundaries.

Instead of cropping an image, Extend works in the opposite direction. The feature generates new image content around the existing photo, creating additional space that was never captured by the camera.

Users can expand a vacation photo to include more of a landmark or widen a tightly framed portrait to reveal additional background detail. Extend can also rework older photos to fit wallpapers, social media posts, and widescreen displays.

Results will vary depending on the complexity of the image and the amount of new content the system needs to generate. Even so, Extend directly addresses a common problem for smartphone photographers.

Spatial Reframing goes beyond a traditional crop

Spatial Reframing changes the apparent perspective of a photo after it's been taken by generating new image content around the original image.

Cropping changes a photo by removing parts of an image that already exist. Spatial Reframing changes a photo by generating new content that can make the scene appear as though it was captured from a different viewpoint.

Spatial Reframing preserves the original subject while generating new content needed to create a different perspective. Users can change how a scene appears after a photo is taken without relying on a crop that only removes part of the original image.

Like most AI tools, results can be inconsistent. I've successfully reframed a few photos where a different angle improved the composition, but the system can sometimes distort facial features as it generates new image content.

Cleanup makes object removal more convincing

Cleanup can remove unwanted people, objects, and distractions from photos. It's one of the most practical Apple Intelligence features introduced so far.

Earlier versions generally worked best in simple scenes. More complicated backgrounds could sometimes reveal visible artifacts or make it obvious that an image had been edited.

iOS 27 focuses on improving the quality of those edits. Cleanup can produce more natural-looking results and better reconstruct the portions of an image left behind after an object has been removed.

Cleanup now lets you choose which Apple foundation model handles an edit. Fast prioritizes speed for quick touchups, High Quality focuses on more detailed reconstruction, and Auto lets the system pick the model it thinks is best for the image.

I'm impressed by the quality of the edits. Earlier versions of Cleanup worked best when removing small objects, but the updated tool can now handle much larger edits without falling apart.

A passerby in a vacation photo, clutter behind a portrait, or an unwanted object in a product image can all affect the final result. Better object removal helps users clean up those images without making the edit obvious.

Improved reconstruction helps Cleanup remove unwanted elements while making edits look more natural.

Image Playground shifts from image generation to image editing

Up until now, Image Playground hasn't been much of a hit with users. Apple intentionally limited the feature to stylized image generation rather than realistic images, which kept the tool within a narrower creative sandbox.

Those restrictions helped differentiate Apple's approach to AI, but they also made Image Playground less useful for many everyday tasks. In iOS 27, Image Playground can now edit existing images.

Users can select objects within a photo and modify, move, replace, or transform them using natural-language prompts. The update brings Image Playground closer to traditional photo editing workflows instead of focusing exclusively on creating new images from scratch.

For example, you can share a photo to Image Playground and describe the change you want to make. I added a rose to this flower pot just by typing a prompt.

The change marks a significant expansion for a feature that originally centered on Animation, Illustration, and Sketch styles. Those image styles were intentionally stylized and designed to look artificial rather than photorealistic.

iOS 27 also adds photorealistic image generation to Image Playground for the first time. The addition moves the app closer to competing AI image tools that already offer realistic image creation.

Editing existing photos gives Image Playground a clearer purpose. Users can apply AI tools to images they already have instead of generating entirely new content.

Photo editing may become one of Apple Intelligence's most useful features

Most people edit photos far more often than they generate AI images. Photo libraries already contain years of vacation pictures, family photos, screenshots, and other images that users regularly revisit, share, and adjust.

The new editing tools focus on improving existing photos instead of generating entirely new images. Apple designed Extend, Cleanup, and Spatial Reframing to fix common photography mistakes directly inside Photos.

Cleanup can remove a tourist from the background of a vacation photo, Extend can recover a shot that feels too tightly framed, and Spatial Reframing can improve a composition after the photo has already been taken.

Image Playground, Cleanup, Extend, and Spatial Reframing all apply AI to photos users already want to keep rather than asking them to start with a blank canvas. Fixing a meaningful photo will likely prove more useful for many people than generating a brand-new image from scratch.

The new photo editing features are available now in developer betas of iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27. Apple plans to release public betas later this summer before launching the software updates this fall.