Apple Expands iOS 27 Visual Intelligence to On-Screen Search on iPhone 15 Pro and Later
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Oct 6
Apple Expands iOS 27 Visual Intelligence to On-Screen Search on iPhone 15 Pro and Later
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Oct 6
Summary
iOS 27 now lets Visual Intelligence analyze screenshots on supported iPhones, so users can search objects already shown on screen, ask questions, summarize text, read it aloud or add detected event details to Calendar.
Apple limits Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max and iPhone 16 models or later, even though iOS 27 itself runs on a wider range of older iPhones.
The new workflow centers on taking a screenshot, then using context-specific tools that appear at the bottom of the screen; camera-based Visual Intelligence remains available for identifying objects, text, plants and businesses in the real world.
Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel phones already offer similar on-screen lookup through Google's Circle to Search, which works without a screenshot on select Galaxy devices and Pixel 6 or later.
Apple says many requests run on-device and more complex ones use Private Cloud Compute, while Google says Circle to Search activity can be saved with broader Search history—leaving privacy controls and sensitive content as a key trade-off.