Apple Releases iOS 27, macOS 27 Beta 4 With Siri and Photos Tweaks
Apple seeded the fourth developer betas of iOS 27, macOS 27 Golden Gate, and four other platforms, adding smaller refinements ahead of September's public launch.
Apple is refining its fall software lineup one beta at a time. The company released the fourth developer betas of iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27 Golden Gate, tvOS 27, watchOS 27, and visionOS 27 on Monday.
This round brings fewer changes than earlier betas, though Apple is still adding new features across Photos, Siri, and the TV app.
The update follows last week’s first public betas, with today’s developer builds expected to reach public beta testers within days.
What’s New in Beta 4
MacRumors outlines several small but notable additions.
The Apple TV app now includes an Automatic Downloads toggle in Settings that downloads the next two episodes of any show in Continue Watching, deleting each one once it’s finished.
Photos gains a “Zoom to Fill” toggle, turned on by default, that slightly zooms images whose proportions nearly match the screen’s aspect ratio.
Siri picked up several changes too: the voice selection interface, first previewed in starting betas, now shows a customizable-style picker with voices and accents even on devices that don’t support true custom voices.
While devices that do support them, currently limited to the iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air, will soon get additional voice options.
Elsewhere, users can now set how many lines of preview text appear in the Siri app, up to five lines or none at all, and a new Accessibility toggle displays an on-screen transcription of what’s said to Siri.
Apple also added a splash screen explaining the Siri Search or Ask interface, a ProRes Log and Log 2 video encoding option in Camera settings, per-network control over Wi-Fi Connectivity Assist, and a redesigned AirPods Control Center menu with more Adaptive mode choices.
A Removed Feature and a Fold Hint
Not every change in beta 4 is an addition. MacRumors reports Apple pulled back the Notification Center wallpaper animation introduced in beta 3, which had shown a cutout of the wallpaper’s subject as users swiped down the Home Screen.
AppleInsider lists the specific build numbers behind this round: iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 beta 4 carry build 24A5390f, macOS 27 beta 4 is 26A5388g, tvOS 27 beta 4 is 24J5325d, watchOS 27 beta 4 is 24R5325h, and visionOS 27 beta 4 is 24M5326g.
Perhaps the most intriguing find comes from within the code itself: MacRumors notes new references to a dual-battery iPhone, including a string reading that the batteries in the iPhone are performing as expected.
This fuels the speculation that the detail relates to Apple’s rumored foldable iPhone Ultra, which is expected to use a dual-battery design.
Timeline to September’s Public Release
Apple has maintained a steady momentum with its developer builds ever since the initial reveal at WWDC on June 8.
Earlier rounds already delivered massive updates, including tweaks to Liquid Glass, the long-awaited Siri overhaul, new child-protective features, and an Apple TV integration inside the Home app.
AppleInsider cautions that developer betas remain under active development and should only be installed on secondary hardware rather than a daily driver device.
Apple still has about two months of polishing left before the official fall launch. Later test builds usually focus on stability over shiny new features, with these latest changes expected to hit public beta testers in a matter of days.
