iOS 27 is a monumental update for Apple devices, bringing significant features and performance enhancements. At its core, this year's upgrade is defined by Apple Intelligence, a new AI-powered Siri, and more ways to customize Liquid Glass. Apple has also focused on performance updates, ensuring that iOS 27 should run faster on your iPhone and experience fewer bugs and glitches.
Although iOS 27, along with the rest of Apple's new updates, won't be available to the general public until the fall, you can try it out right now. Apple has made the public beta available for testing, in addition to the developer beta that has been available since WWDC. As long as you have a compatible iPhone, you can try iOS 27 immediately, but it's essential to exercise caution.
A warning before you install the iOS 27 public beta: Betas are designed for software testers to trial upcoming updates and root out as many issues as possible before that software rolls out to the general public. By installing beta software on your iPhone, you're opening yourself up to possible bugs and glitches Apple hasn't had a chance to patch. While the official build of iOS 27 won't be perfect either, with a beta, you might run into something that genuinely makes your device difficult to use, or that breaks it altogether.
Luckily, the public beta is safer and more stable than the initial developer beta. Apple beta tests updates like iOS 27 for about a month with a more limited pool of testers before inviting more users to join in. That increases the chance that testers will root out most of the worst bugs, lessening the overall risk of the beta. However, the risk is still there. If something goes terribly wrong with the beta, like your iPhone suddenly stops responding, or you simply can't live with how buggy it is, you can uninstall it, but it's not easy to do, especially without losing any data.
If you're going ahead with the beta installation, make sure to back up your iPhone to your Mac or PC. It isn't enough to have an iCloud backup: If your iPhone backs up to iCloud while running the beta, it will overwrite your backup from the current version of iOS. As such, the safer bet is to back up your iPhone to a computer. If you need to downgrade, you can restore your iPhone from this backup and recover your data, minus anything generated after the backup was created.
Note that this backup is only good for as long as Apple signs (or supports) that version of iOS. Once Apple releases a new official version of iOS and stops signing the version your backup was made to, you won't be able to restore it. Which iPhones are compatible with iOS 27? If you are going to install iOS 27 on your iPhone, you'll need one that's compatible with the update. Luckily, all iOS 26 devices can run iOS 27.
The compatible devices include iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, iPhone Air, iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max, iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max, iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro Max, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max, and iPhone SE (2nd generation and newer).
Only iPhone 15 Pro and newer can run Apple Intelligence features (including Siri AI), while only the iPhone 17 line (including the Air) can access Apple's best on-device models. To install the iOS 27 public beta, you'll first need to enroll your Apple Account in Apple's beta program. Make sure to sign into the same Apple Account you use on the iPhone you want to install the beta on. Next, open your iPhone, and head to Settings > General > Software Update > Beta Updates. Tap "Beta Updates," choose "iOS 27 Public Beta," then tap the back button.
Once you see "iOS 27 Beta" in the updates pane, tap "Update Now." If you want access to new beta updates as quickly as possible, you can also opt for the developer beta. However, keep in mind that installing a developer beta on your personal Apple device can expose you to additional risks and complexities.
