Woman using an iPhone. Credit: Tim Robberts /
iPhone? iCamera, more like, right? Well, not quite, but Apple is really keen on photography, which is why it puts so much effort into shiny new camera hardware. Fortunately, it also puts loads of effort into shiny new photography software – and iOS 27 is no exception. Want to know which new features to check out first? Feast your eyes on the best new iOS 27 photography tips below.
Edit controls
Having seemingly decided visible controls were bad in iOS 27, Apple’s had a change of heart. Open Camera, prod the tools button now located to the right of the shutter, and press Edit. You can now decide which controls remain on-screen at all times. Want to revert? Tap ‘Reset to Essentials’ and you’re back to the basics.
Shoot with RAW 9
If you’ve got an iPhone capable of shooting RAW, Apple’s given you a lovely upgrade in the shape of RAW 9. I wrote about this a while back. Now it’s arrived, it’s a rare feature you don’t have to learn or turn on – it’s just there, doing its thing. Fab.
Try Clean Up (again)
If you’ve used Clean Up before and were left unimpressed, be prepared to be, well, less unimpressed. Probably. In Photos, edit a pic, tap Tools and select ‘Clean Up’. You’ll see a quality menu, which you can set to ‘High Quality’ for detailed work. As ever, tap-hold to see the original to check Apple’s AI hasn’t ‘cleaned up’ the wrong thing.
Extend a photo
The Extend tool is designed to eke out space beyond the edges of a photo. Select it and Photos will get you started. Pinch to adjust the extension bounds and use drag handles to amend the crop. Tap the Extend button to confirm the edit. Of course, generative AI is a probability machine, and so be wary of using it for major edits and don’t try to pass off the results as authentic.
Reframe a snap
The Reframe tool is the most contentious of Apple’s new additions. Select it and drag to pan your shot. Tap Reframe and Photos will calculate a depth map and recreate your image with altered perspective. Apple claims this feature only ‘fills in the gaps’, but I worry it’s a step too far towards fakery. My advice: use Reframe sparingly (if at all), because the results can look glaringly fake.
Rate your photos
In any thumbnails view, tap-hold a photo, go to ‘Set Rating’ and give your pic a star rating from one to five. You can do the same using the tiny rating menu when viewing an individual photo. This feature appears to be iPhone-only, but it’ll surely head to other Apple gear soon. For now, it at least provides more granularity than a favourites button alone.
Add and manage keywords
Photos in iOS 26 let you add image captions, words from which could be surfaced during searches. But iOS 27’s custom keywords veer closer to pro workflows. Tap a photo’s info button and ‘Add Keywords’ to add some keywords. Manage existing keywords by tapping your profile in the Collections tab and selecting ‘Manage Keywords’.
Create new filters
Beyond adding, renaming or deleting keywords, you can use ‘Add to Favourite’ to send a keyword to a Favourites field – see the previous screenshot. Next, head to your Library or an album and tap the filter button (three lines). Your keywords will be available from the Keywords menu.
View a selection
In your Library, an album or a collection, tap Select and choose several images. Tap ‘Show Selected’ to view them in a pop-up panel. Tap the button at the top left to enter a gallery view, which lets you swipe between images. This is useful for focusing on a non-contiguous set of images, deselecting those you don’t want, and applying actions or adding metadata to the remaining selection
Start and save slideshows
Previously, slideshows could only be created from albums. Now, you can select multiple photos from any thumbnails view and go to ‘…’ > ‘Start Slideshow’. Tap the screen while the slideshow plays and choose Customise to adjust the transition type, shot duration, music and looping. To stash your slideshow for later, go to ‘…’ > Share and choose ‘Save Video’.
Sync photos faster
A frustrating aspect of iOS has been finding Photos seemingly deciding not to sync with iCloud until you open the app, discover it’s optimising something or other, and give it a manual nudge. You can now override this behaviour: tap your profile in the Collections tab, and then set ‘Sync Immediately’ to ‘For Today’.
In iOS 26, shared albums were limited: you could adjust the name, make the album public, manage participants and decide if members could add photos. iOS 27 changes all that, but to access the new options you’ll need to tap-hold your shared album and choose ‘Upgrade Shared Album’. Note that once you’ve done so, anyone not using a ‘27’ OS will need to view the album on icloud.com.
Tap-hold an upgraded album and choose ‘Manage Shared Album’ (or use the sharing button when viewing the album). Tap the thumbnail and then ‘Select Album Cover’ to change the key photo. Tap any contact and you can decide whether they can manage the album, add photos or just view and comment. Under ‘Sharing Options’, you can open the album to anyone with a link or limit it to approved members. To allow new participants to join with your permission, turn on ‘Access Requests’.
If you don’t want a shared album to live forever, turn on ‘Make Album Temporary’ in the management screen. The album will then expire after 30 days, at which point any photos or videos that people haven’t saved to their libraries will no longer be available to them.
Tap-hold a Home Screen and then the edit button at the top-left. Choose ‘Add Widget’ and select Photos. You’ll see Featured and Album now have an extra-large portrait option that on an iPhone fills an entire Home Screen. If that gets a bit much, tap-hold the widget and choose a smaller size so that it takes up less space.
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Do you want to win some great prizes for your photography? Enter your photos in ourInternational Amateur Photographer of the Year competition. Free entry for photographers aged 13-21.
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About
I’m a tech writer of over 25 years who’s been fascinated by photography since I got a free – and terrible – 35mm point-and-click for opening a bank account as a kid. These days, you’ll mostly find me aiming my iPhone at local wildlife that bolts a split-second before I hit the shutter, or disappearing down rabbitholes with apps that transform my snaps into everything from cross-processed art to ZX Spectrum-style pixels.
