iOS 27 introduces Bluetooth Channel Sounding support via Core Bluetooth and Nearby Interaction, enabling apps to measure real distance (and optionally direction) to paired Bluetooth accessories without requiring Ultra Wideband hardware.
• Replaces unreliable RSSI-based proximity guessing with true distance measurement across the 2.4GHz band, dramatically improving accuracy for accessory-finding use cases.
• Works with Bluetooth-only accessories (no UWB chip required), lowering the hardware bar for third-party accessory makers.
• Integrates with Nearby Interaction to add camera-fused direction estimates on top of distance, matching UWB-class UX on devices with the N1 chip.
iOS 27 adds sectioned queries, codable model attributes, ResultsObserver for non-SwiftUI change observation, and HistoryObserver for reacting to persistent history changes in SwiftData.
iOS 27 expands the App Intents framework with RelevantEntities for contextual content surfacing, EntityCollection for high-performance batch parameter handling, SyncableEntity for cross-device Siri continuity, native Duration/PersonNameComponents parameter types, and @UnionValue for multi-type parameters — plus extended intent execution time limits.
USDKit is a new first-party Swift framework introduced in iOS/macOS 27 that brings native USD scene creation, composition, modification, and export capabilities to Apple platform apps, with deep RealityKit and Spatial Preview integration.
Xcode 27 introduces an agentic localization workflow that lets you ask a coding agent to translate your entire app directly inside Xcode, leveraging String Catalog context — including where and how strings are used — to produce accurate, consistent translations across all languages.