visionOS 27 introduces Gaussian Splatting support in RealityKit, enabling developers to scan real-world objects and render them as photorealistic 3D Gaussian splats directly in their spatial experiences. This bridges the gap between physical reality and virtual content without requiring manual 3D modeling.
ā¢ Capture real-world objects with stunning detail (down to soil texture on a plant) and embed them directly into RealityKit scenes ā no modeling tools required
ā¢ Dramatically reduces asset creation time for objects that are difficult to hand-model, like organic shapes, cluttered surfaces, or highly detailed props
ā¢ Renders in real time on Apple Vision Pro's M5 chip, making photorealistic scanned objects viable for live, interactive spatial experiences
Liquid Glass is Apple's new material and visual design language introduced in iOS 27, bringing translucent, refractive glass-like surfaces to system and custom UI elements. It replaces the frosted vibrancy aesthetic with a more dynamic, depth-aware material that responds to content beneath it.
iOS 27 introduces new SwiftUI drag and drop APIs including reorderable, reorderContainer, dragContainer, and configuration modifiers that enable reordering within and across collections, multi-item drag, and fine-grained control over how data is transferred during drag and drop operations.
PaperKit is Apple's full-featured canvas framework ā previously internal-only ā now publicly available in iOS/macOS/visionOS 27. It powers the drawing and markup experience in Notes, Preview, and Freeform, giving developers access to a complete pencil, shapes, images, and text canvas with a rich data model.
In-depth guide
RealityKit & USDKit in iOS 27 āiOS 27 enforces stricter adaptivity requirements for UIKit apps, making iPhone apps fully resizable in iPhone Mirroring and on iPad, while introducing new navigation bar minimization controls, sidebar opt-in for iPhone tab bars, and prominent tab customization.