Apple is overhauling Messages in iOS 27 with AI summaries for longer threads, one-tap suggestions, and a new way to handle voice input. The update also adds a progress bar under sent items, photos, voice memos and other files, giving users a cleaner read on what is moving through a conversation.
The reason the changes are drawing attention now is simple: iOS 27 is not due for download until September, but beta testing is already open to users in Apple’s Beta Software Program. That means the first look at the new Messages tools is happening before most iPhone owners can install them, and before Apple has had to answer the easiest question in the room — which phones will get every part of the overhaul at launch.
At the center of the update is Siri AI. Apple says it can preview longer texts, surface suggestions and even draft a reply in a user’s own voice based on past correspondence with that recipient. Sebastien Marineau-Mes said in early June that Siri AI can draft text messages in a user’s voice based on previous correspondence with a recipient, a sign that Apple wants Messages to feel less like a mailbox and more like an assistant.
There is a catch in that push. Apple is adding more AI-powered messaging tools at the same time it is giving users the option to turn off speech-to-text, a reminder that not every user wants voice features folded deeper into the app. The new Drawing feature, tucked inside the extra options menu, also extends the old Digital Touch feature, which first appeared on iPhones in 2014 and still remains in iOS 27.
The update is not only about iPhone-to-iPhone chats. iOS 27 supports RCS 2.7, the latest messaging standard released by the Global System for Mobile Communications Association in 2024, which should matter most when users are messaging outside Apple’s own bubble. Apple has not spelled out whether every supported iPhone will get every Messages feature on day one, and that is the part worth watching as September gets closer: the software is coming, but the rollout may not be uniform.
