iPadOS 27 and iOS 27 both arrive on Monday, September 14, 2026, they carry the same release candidate build, 24A435, and Apple describes the iPad release as carrying the iPhone feature set. Three things appear only in Apple’s iPad material, and five appear only in its iPhone material.
Everything below is drawn from what Apple publishes on its own product pages. Where a feature is absent from one page, that is what we say. Absence from Apple’s page is not the same as absence from the software, and Apple has published no per-feature device matrix for either platform.
Key facts
| Item | iPadOS 27 | iOS 27 |
|---|---|---|
| Release | Monday, September 14, 2026, free | Monday, September 14, 2026, free |
| Release candidate | 24A435, September 9 | 24A435, September 9 |
| Siri AI | Beta, English first | Beta, English first |
| Siri AI in the EU | Not initially available | Not initially available |
| Apple Intelligence hardware | iPad Pro and Air M1 or later, iPad mini A17 Pro | iPhone 16 and later, iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max |
| Published compatibility list | One footnote, four families | Full model list, iPhone 11 and later |
What both releases get
The overlap is most of the release. Apple’s iPadOS 27 page carries the same headline sections as the iPhone page, and the same feature names appear on both.
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- Siri AI in beta, with personal context, onscreen awareness and systemwide app actions, plus the Siri app that syncs conversations over iCloud.
- Photos gains Spatial Reframing, the Extend tool and an enhanced Clean Up. Image Playground adds photorealistic images.
- Liquid Glass gets more uniform refraction and a Settings slider that runs from ultra clear to fully tinted, with sharper app icons.
- Safari organises tabs into topics and adds Notify Me for price drops and restocks. Mail search gets a new ranking system.
- iCloud Shared Albums move to full resolution with reactions and per-album activity feeds, and Messages sync gets faster.
- Custom EQ arrives in AirPods settings, which matters if you bought the AirPods 5 that went on sale this week.
- The Screen Time and Child Safety additions, including Ask to Browse, Time Allowances and gore blocking in Communication Safety.
- Wi-Fi Assist is renamed Connectivity Assist on both platforms, per Apple’s deployment documentation.
Three things Apple lists only for iPad
| Feature | Apple’s claim | The condition attached |
|---|---|---|
| Faster external drive work | Browsing and transferring files to external drives up to 5x faster | Tested on an 11-inch iPad Pro M4 with a USB4 SSD, 10,000 JPEGs, iPadOS 26.4.2 against prerelease 27 |
| Visual Intelligence in screenshots | Built into the screenshot experience on iPad | On iPhone the same capability is a Siri mode inside the Camera app instead |
| Photos slideshows | Customisable duration, transitions and music | Listed on the iPadOS 27 page. Apple does not repeat it on the iPhone page |
Five things Apple lists only for iPhone
- Siri mode in Camera, which starts a visual search from the viewfinder. The iPad equivalent runs through screenshots.
- GymKit on iPhone, for connecting to compatible treadmills, ellipticals, bikes and stair-steppers, along with AirPods Pro 3 heart rate in workouts.
- Tap to Share in Apple Pay, which Apple limits to iPhone 12 or later on iOS 27 and does not offer in the European Economic Area.
- Siri AI in CarPlay, with support varying by vehicle manufacturer and model.
- iPhone Handoff, which Apple describes as carrier dependent.
The features that land on both but not equally
Bill splitting with Apple Cash reaches iPad, but Apple restricts it to the United States and to an iPad mini with A17 Pro or an iPad with M1 or later. It also requires Siri AI on an Apple Intelligence device, which puts the EU carve-out in front of it as well.
The second tier of Apple Intelligence splits the platforms harder. Siri voice customisation and the improved on-device Dictation model need an iPad with M4 or later and 12GB or more of unified memory, while on iPhone the same tier covers the iPhone 18 Pro, 18 Pro Max, Duo, 17 Pro, 17 Pro Max and Air.
What Apple has not said
Apple has published nothing about Stage Manager, windowing or Apple Pencil in iPadOS 27. Those are the areas iPad owners ask about every September, and this year Apple’s page is silent on all three rather than saying they are unchanged.
It has also not said which of the shared features need an Apple Intelligence iPad. Safari tab topics, the Mail ranking change and the richer VoiceOver image descriptions all sit on the page without a hardware note. Our event recap lists everything Apple did put in writing on September 9.
Both updates are due on Monday, September 14. Apple has not published a time for either, and it has not said whether the iPad specific claims will be repeated in a support document once the release ships.
