Apple revealed new AI-powered features across several iPhone apps at its WWDC 2026 event on June 5 in the US. The updates will arrive with iOS 27 this fall and include major enhancements to Shortcuts, Safari, Messages, Phone, and the Image Playground app [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].
The Shortcuts app will allow users to create automation workflows using natural language prompts powered by Apple Intelligence AI. Users can describe the automation they want and the app will automatically build the required steps and actions. Cecilia Dantas, Apple's senior manager of Home Software Product Marketing, said, "While super powerful, the process of creating these shortcuts can feel, well, complicated," adding that "the new system is more approachable than ever" [1, 2, 3, 4]. This update aims to make complex automations accessible to non-technical users [2, 4]. However, early developer beta testers noted mixed results, saying easy tasks like sending emoji worked well but more complex automations sometimes failed [3]. The AI-powered Shortcuts feature requires Apple Intelligence hardware and will only run on iPhone 15 Pro or newer devices [4].
Safari will receive several AI enhancements, including AI-powered tab management that automatically groups open tabs by topic and suggests related tabs to add. A new page monitor will notify users when tracked web pages change, useful for price tracking or news updates. Additionally, Safari can now create custom extensions simply through text prompts without developer input [1, 5].
The Messages app will feature AI-assisted reply suggestions and the ability to surface relevant photos based on text descriptions. The Phone app will integrate AI by pulling contextual info from other apps mid-call, such as showing flight details from email during a call with an airline [1].
Apple’s Image Playground app is gaining natural language editing capabilities and a new AI model for creating more photorealistic images. It also introduces new features like wallpaper and contact poster generation [1].
Developers began testing an early beta version of AI-enabled Shortcuts on iPadOS 26 earlier in June, ahead of the full iOS 27 release planned for fall 2026 [3].
