Five New Changes in iOS 27 Beta 5

Apple released the fifth beta for iOS 27 on Monday, Aug. 10. As we get closer to the update’s official fall release, the number of features and changes Apple will introduce with each beta is certainly diminishing, and no one would call beta 5 a feature-filled update. However, there are some new features and changes worth noting, especially as they are things Apple didn’t previously announce at WWDC.

Before I get into what’s new, a reminder: iOS 27 is not yet finished. As such, while anyone with a compatible iPhone can install it, know there are risks to running beta software on your device. Make sure to make a proper backup of your data, as you could lose everything on your iPhone in the event you need to downgrade back to iOS 26.

Apple just updated five app icons with iOS 27 beta 5

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When you update your iPhone to the latest iOS 27 beta—or, presumably, iOS 27 itself—you’re going to notice new icons for some familiar apps. Some updates are quite subtle, such as Safari. You might not even notice at first, since the icon retains the same basic design as before, but with this latest beta, Safari now has fewer “ticks” in its compass than before, a slightly different blue background, and a distinct screw in its center. It reminds me a bit of iOS 7’s flat design. It’s the same story for Settings and the App Store icons: small adjustments that you might not notice without comparing the icons side by side.

If you’ve been running the beta, you’ll notice the update to the Siri app right away. Instead of the colorful, looping logo Apple debuted with the app, Siri now appears as a gray, glowing orb. Preview’s new app icon is also readily apparent: replacing the loupe against a blue background, the new logo places the loop in the bottom-right corner of a colorful, rounded square. I’m personally a fan of these changes, especially for Preview.

You can now choose British English for Siri’s enhanced voice

If you have a compatible iPhone, you can customize how Siri AI sounds through a new feature called “enhanced voice.” With it, you can change both Siri’s pace and expressivity to make a voice that’s a bit more unique to your iPhone than others. With the first four iOS 27 betas, enhanced voice only worked with various American English accents. But starting with iOS 27 beta 5, Apple now supports customizing British English voices as well. According to 9to5Mac, you now have 11 different voices to customize.

Settings has a new “Before Searching” section

Dive into the Settings after updating your iPhone, and you’ll find a new option in the “Search Settings” menu. “Before Searching” comes with three new settings. The biggest change is “Suggest Apps,” which lets you choose how many suggested apps appear in Siri Suggestions (the default is eight). There’s also “Suggest App Shortcuts,” which appears to let you choose whether or not iOS suggests app shortcuts, and “Show Recent Searches,” which lets you hide your searches from this menu.

You can see when you last updated your iPhone

As reported by Apple Insider, iOS 27 beta 5 will tell you when you installed your current version of iOS on your iPhone. I’m not sure exactly in what scenarios this would be useful, but it’s a new change.

Apple is now hiding cellular network types while on wifi

Here’s a small but interesting change: Apple is no longer showing cellular network types while you’re on wifi. If you check Control Center, you won’t see whether you’re connected to LTE, 5G, or something like 5G UWB as long as you’re connected to wifi as well. You’ll need to jump off the wifi to see what cellular network your iPhone is connected to. (For what it’s worth, I currently can’t see my cellular network type while connected to wifi on iOS 26 either, but maybe that’s a carrier thing, as I’m seeing multiple reports about this change.)