Apple's iPhone now has three new AI photo editing features, including a major upgrade to the Clean Up tool that finally makes it useful.

What happened: iOS 27 introduces three AI editing features for the iPhone's native photos app—an upgraded Clean Up tool (which can now use cloud-based models), Extend (which expands photo edges using AI), and Spatial Reframing (which lets you recompose a photo by simulating camera movement). These features are currently in developer beta.

Why it matters: Clean Up, which previously only used on-device models, now performs convincingly because it can tap into more powerful cloud-based models—a capability Google has offered for years. The upgrade makes photo cleanup a practical tool rather than something that left artifacts. However, Spatial Reframing raises questions about photo authenticity: the AI can invent details that weren't in the original shot, and while edited images get Synth ID labels, those labels only surface if users actively tap an 'AI Info' menu. This adds uncertainty to whether photos posted from phones are trustworthy.

What to watch: Spatial Reframing is the most ambitious but also most problematic tool. When adjusting framing on subjects close to the camera (like selfies), the AI generates uncanny results and invents elements—the author tested it on a photo from WWDC and the AI created a person who wasn't there. The constraint that you can only adjust as far as you could have moved your arm when originally taking the photo limits ambition but doesn't resolve the core issue of blurring the line between documentation and fabrication.