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 the news.
Apple was hit with over-promising and under-delivering with its infamous WWDC 2024 where Apple Intelligence was first announced. While many new features were revealed during WWDC 2026, many of the subsequent betas will be revealed for the first time.
The first beta for iOS 27.3 brings back the redesigned Apple Health app, as well as introducing entirely new features that were previously unannounced. AppleInsider staff have been installing updates on their iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple Watches to try them all out and see what else is new.
There were already amazing new features with iOS 27.2, like Dual Capture for FaceTime, Multi-View for iPhone, Apple TV profiles on iPhone and iPad, just to name a few.
Many of Apple’s proprietary apps have been updated alongside Siri’s new AI features. Let’s get into the news.
Safari
Right off the bat, one of the best new additions is a series of improvements to Safari. Apple added a vertical tabs option, an AI-powered adaptive dark mode, and new Siri AI features.
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 cleaner than before. They support older Apple features like tab groups, and when you hover over the site icon, the full name of the site will be shown.
The new vertical tabs work on Safari for iPhone Duo, which makes great use of the larger 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 graphics, and rebalance layered shadows.
We’ve tested it on a few sites that don’t currently natively support a dark interface, and it works quite well. The developers still maintain control of this with the ability to block adaptive dark mode, but I think this will make browsing Safari at night much more comfortable.
Siri’s AI is also much more powerful with this update. It now includes an entire web page, can search through open tabs, perform actions on tabs, and manage your browsing history.
Localization has also been improved, with Siri AI now available in Norwegian, Traditional Chinese, Turkish and Vietnamese.
If you’re looking at a long, detailed product page about the new Apple Watch, you could ask Siri AI to find the weight difference between the aluminum and titanium models. You could also ask him to organize your tabs or delete a site from your history in the last week.
The new Health app returns
After appearing briefly in the iOS 27.2 beta cycle, Apple’s redesigned Health app is back. The new app has a revamped layout, an AI-enhanced health summary, and in-app tests you can take to measure your overall well-being.
The redesigned Apple Health app arrived with iOS 27.3, and language support has improved.
Adds a Longevity tab to the app with your health summary broken down into different categories like food and sleep. If you were testing it before, your data will carry over to the new testing period.
In addition to your overall health, it gives you your “health age.” This looks at your health and tells you how old your body is compared to your physical age.
The redesigned Apple Health app also expands language support. In addition to English, it is 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 any promises about which version of iOS. It may be included in the final version of iOS 27.3, but this has not been confirmed.
Siri summary and 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 Siri Recap will automatically detect conversations throughout the day and provide helpful summaries within the Siri app. These are designed to be private and no audio is ever saved or recorded.
When tracking these conversations, things like speaker proximity, duration, and more are taken into account. The summary will give you the highlights of what was discussed without speaker attribution, and summaries will automatically be deleted from the Siri app if they are not saved.
Users can decide when to activate this feature, including limiting it to times of day and location. For example, you could simply use it when you’re at work and turn it off when you’re home, or turn it on during the day but turn it off after 8pm.
The other feature, called Live Rewind, is activated with a double press of the Digital Crown on your Apple Watch. It gives you a transcript of what was said in the last 15 seconds, even if it doesn’t name the speaker.
When enabled, the entire Apple Watch screen lights up and audibly beeps, so it’s visibly and audibly clear that it’s been enabled. Again, no recordings are saved and all 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 may ask the speaker to repeat himself. Both may be too invasive for some to consider them enabling.
Siri’s AI is now more capable than ever
With the first beta version of iOS 27.3, Apple provided Siri AI with 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 also easy to discover. You can ask Siri AI what it can do in supported apps to discover new features.
In Apple Music, for example, Siri AI can create and save playlists. In the Calendar app, Siri AI can now schedule appointments with other people, including locations and call shortcuts.
Siri AI can also unsubscribe users from mailing lists and unsend recently sent emails in the Mail application
Meanwhile, in Safari, Siri AI can be used to close tabs or manage them completely, clear the user’s browser history, or add an article to the user’s reading list. It is also capable of scheduling messages, opening files and much more.
The new custom feature can also tap into your location history when needed. It can find, for example, the coffee shop you visited last week and display it in Apple Maps.
These various features have been long awaited by those who have had teething problems with Siri’s new AI. Apple Music’s features, for example, were previously essentially broken.
Strength in the gym 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 offers personalized workout plans focused on strength training.
iOS 27.3 brings Gym Strength, although only for Apple Fitness+ subscribers.
The personalized 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, practically no equipment, and even if you can only train a couple of days a week.
According to Apple, you can choose from more than 350 exercises. A strength workout at the gym consists of five to seven exercises, for a total of between 20 and 60 minutes, depending on your preference.
You’ll also have access to video demonstrations of Apple Fitness+ trainers, which will come in handy if you’re new to strength training equipment.
These demonstrations will show you how to use dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells and more. There are over 30 types of workout equipment.
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 which 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
These are the most important features introduced by Apple with iOS 27.3, but they are by no means the only changes. For example, Apple has improved the watch face customization options 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 receive the new clock faces, colors, and complications available on the iPhone Duo. The foldable itself, meanwhile, gained the Horizontal Reachability feature advertised in October 2026.
With iOS 27.3, Reachability can move the left or right side of the screen to the other side with a short swipe. This makes every part of the user interface accessible from one hand, while also keeping the iPhone Duo accessible. The feature is available in the Settings app, below Accessibilityfollowed by Reachability.
In the Apple Music app, a new home screen highlights improvements to Auto Mix, the Concerts for You feature, and redesigned Artist Pages with custom images.
Separately, Apple Intelligence is now available in beta for users in China, though this doesn’t extend to Siri Ai. Features like the cleanup 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 with new features, and iOS 27.3 is shaping up to be a huge update. While we’re still early in 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.
