Apple has shared the first beta of iOS 27.3, which brings back the redesigned Apple Health app and several new features for testing. Here's what's new.
Apple was stung by overpromising and underdelivering with its infamous WWDC 2024 where Apple Intelligence was first announced. While many new features were revealed during WWDC 2026, many showing up in later betas are being revealed for the first time.
The first beta for iOS 27.3 brings back the redesigned Apple Health app, plus introduces all-new features that were previously not announced. AppleInsider staff has updates installed on across their iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple Watches to try them all out and see what else is new.
There were already surprising new additions with iOS 27.2, such as Dual Capture for FaceTime, Multi-View for iPhone, Apple TV profiles on iPhone and iPad, just to name a few.
Several of Apple's first-party apps have been updated alongside new Siri AI features. Let's get into what's new.
Safari
Out of the gate, one of the best new additions is a slew of improvements to Safari. Apple has added an option for vertical tabs, an AI-powered Adaptive Dark Mode, and new Siri AI capabilities.
The new Adaptive Dark Mode is available on iPhone and Mac.
Vertical tabs are a recent fad in browsers and their addition to Safari makes things look cleaner than before. They support Apple's prior features like Tab Groups, and when you hover over the site icon, it will show the full site name.
The new vertical tabs work on Safari for iPhone Duo, which takes perfect advantage of the wider display.
Adaptive Dark Mode uses Apple Intelligence to analyze sites that don't natively support Dark Mode. It will darken backgrounds, adjust text contrast, invert logos and graphics, recolor vector artwork, and rebalance layered shadows.
We've tested this on a few sites that currently don't natively support a dark interface, and it works quite well. Devs still retain control of this with the ability to block Adaptive Dark Mode, but we think this will make browsing Safari at night much more comfortable.
Siri AI is much more powerful with this update, too. It now understands an entire webpage, can search amongst your open tabs, take actions on your tabs, and manage your browsing history.
Localization has been improved as well, with Siri AI now available in Norwegian, Traditional Chinese, Turkish, and Vietnamese.
If you are looking at a long, detailed product page on the new Apple Watch, you could ask Siri AI to find the weight difference between the aluminum and titanium models. You could also ask it to organize your tabs or clear a site from your history in the past week.
The new Health app returns
After briefly popping up in the iOS 27.2 beta cycle, Apple's redesigned Health app is back. The new app has a fresh layout, an AI-enhanced health summary, and in-app tests that you can do to help measure your overall wellness.
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The redesigned Apple Health app has arrived with iOS 27.3, and language support has improved.
It adds a Longevity tab to the app with your health summary broken down into different categories like food and sleep. If you were testing this before, your data will carry over to the new testing period.
Besides your overall health, it gives you your "Health Age." This looks at your health and tells you how old your body is in comparison to your physical age.
The redesigned Apple Health app also expands language support. In addition to English, it's available in Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), French, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Turkish, and Vietnamese.
Apple still says the redesigned Apple Health app will arrive later in 2026 without making promises about which version of iOS. It may be included in the final release of iOS 27.3, but that hasn't been confirmed.
Siri Recap & Live Rewind
Two flagship features of Apple Watch Ultra 4 and Apple Watch Series 12 have officially entered beta. They are the Audio Intelligence features called Siri Recap and Live Rewind.
Siri Recap is finally here with iOS 27.3. Image Credit: Apple
Apple says that Siri Recap will automatically detect conversations throughout your day and provide helpful summaries within the Siri app. These are meant to be private by design, and no audio is ever saved or recorded.
It takes things like speaker proximity, duration, and more into consideration when detecting these conversations. The summary will give you the high points of what was discussed with no speaker attribution, and the summaries are automatically deleted from the Siri app if they're not saved.
Users can decide when this feature is active, including by limiting it to times of day and location. For example, you could just use it when you are at work and turn it off when you're home, or enable it during the day but turn it off after 8 PM.
The other feature, called Live Rewind, is activated with a double-press of the Digital Crown on your Apple Watch. It gives you a transcription of what was said in the last 15 seconds, though it does not name the speaker.
When enabled, the entire screen of the Apple Watch lights up, and it audibly chimes so it's visibly and audibly clear that it was enabled. Once more, there are no recordings saved and all the processing is done locally on your devices.
It remains to be seen exactly how useful these features might be, especially in circumstances where the user can ask the speaker to repeat themselves. Both may be too invasive for some to consider enabling.
Siri AI is now more capable than ever
With the first iOS 27.3 beta, Apple gave Siri AI additional in-app actions, available in the Calendar, Files, Finder, Journal, Mail, Maps, Messages, Music, Notes, Photos, Preview, Reminders, Safari, Shortcuts, and Weather applications.
iOS 27.3 makes Siri AI much more useful.
These new options are easy to discover, too. You can ask Siri AI what it can do in supported apps to discover new capabilities.
In Apple Music, for instance, Siri AI can create and save playlists. In Calendar app, Siri AI can now schedule appointments with other people, while including locations and call links.
Siri AI can also unsubscribe users from mailing lists, and un-send recently sent emails in the Mail application
Meanwhile, in Safari, Siri AI can be used to close tabs or manage tabs outright, clear the user's browser history, or to add an article to the user's Reading List. It is also capable of scheduling messages, opening files, and much more.
The new personalized feature can also tap into your location history, when necessary. It can find, for instance, the coffee shop you visited last week and display it in Apple Maps.
These various features have been long-awaited by those that have had initial issues with the new Siri AI. The Apple Music features, for example, were basically broken before.
Gym Strength in Apple Fitness+
In addition to the revamped Apple Health app, iOS 27.3 introduces Gym Strength. It's an all-new program for Apple Fitness+ subscribers that delivers personalized workout plans focused on strength training.
iOS 27.3 brings Gym Strength, albeit only for Apple Fitness+ subscribers.
The custom four-week programs generated with Gym Strength will take into account your experience level, equipment preferences, schedule, and more. In short, it will help you train, even if you have no experience, virtually no equipment, and even if you can only train a couple of days a week.
According to Apple, you'll be able to choose from more than 350 exercises. One Gym Strength workout consists of five to seven exercises, totalling anywhere from 20 to 60 minutes, depending on your preferences.
You'll also get access to video demonstrations from Apple Fitness+ trainers, which will come in handy if you haven't used strength training equipment before.
These demonstrations will show you how to use dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, and much more. Over 30 types of training equipment are featured.
You can even log your Gym Strength workouts on an Apple Watch, and the data can be used to customize next week's exercises. The app will recommend what exercises to do, including how many reps and sets, and how much weight to set.
Gym Strength is part of the Fitness+ subscription, which costs $9.99 per month or $79.99 per year on its own, or as part of the $39.95 Apple One Premier plan.
Other new features and changes
Those are the biggest features Apple introduced with iOS 27.3, but they're by no means the only changes. For instance, Apple improved the customization options for clock faces in StandBy mode.
iOS 27.3 brings StandBy clock faces previously limited to the iPhone Duo to more iPhone models.
In short, this means that owners of all iPhones running iOS 27.3 will get the new clock faces, colors, and complications available on the iPhone Duo. The foldable itself, meanwhile, has gained the horizontal Reachability feature that was touted in October 2026.
With iOS 27.3, Reachability can shift the left or right side of the screen to the other side with a short swipe. This makes every part of the UI accessible from one hand, while also holding the iPhone Duo itself. The feature is available within the Settings app, under Accessibility, followed by Reachability.
In the Apple Music app, a new splash screen highlights improvements to Auto Mix, the Concerts For You feature, and redesigned Artist Pages featuring custom visuals.
Separately, Apple Intelligence is now available in beta to users in China, though that does not extend to Siri Ai. Features like the Clean Up tool in Photos, along with Writing Tools and Visual Intelligence, however, are all usable in China.
As for iPad users, iPadOS 27.3 brings Apple's new Siri Mode to the Camera app. The software update also makes the Apple Pencil usable with Visual Intelligence. macOS Golden Gate, meanwhile, has also received Safari's new Adaptive Dark mode.
Overall, Tuesday's developer betas are packed full of new features, and iOS 27.3 is shaping up to be a huge upgrade. Though we're still at the start of the beta testing cycle, iOS 27.3, iPadOS 27.3, and macOS 27.3 are expected to receive a full public release in December 2026.
