iOS 27 Messages Adds Drawing App, RCS Replies and Apple Intelligence Suggestions

The Drawing iMessage app lets users send sketches and handwritten notes from within Messages, using the same basic markup tools found in Notes and Preview. Any iPhone can run the app, but the report says its purpose is plain ahead of the iPhone Duo, where it is expected to prove especially useful with an Apple Pencil.

For conversations with Android users over RCS, iOS 27 adds inline replies, so an RCS message can be answered the way an iMessage is and with the same basic interface. Tapback reactions are now properly supported as well, meaning Android users see a heart, thumbs-up or other reaction instead of a text line describing it. Both changes belong to the RCS 2.7 standard, which also covers editing and unsending messages. The report says those two capabilities may arrive in iOS 27 or in a later update.

Apple Intelligence powers one-tap suggestions in Messages, which are generated from the context of a conversation. The suggestions can start a reminder or a note, and when someone asks for photos, Messages can locate candidates by recognizing keywords, locations and people in the user's library. They appear either directly below the message they relate to or in the top row of the keyboard. The feature was present throughout the iOS 27 beta but was pulled from the shipping version; Apple says it will return in a future update.

Four other changes are included. A new setting lets users optionally remove the audio button normally shown at the right side of the active message field, with a choice between Record Audio, Start Dictation and None under Settings, Apps, Messages and Show in Text Field. Notifications for multiple tapbacks are consolidated. Smart Reply suggestions in the top keyboard row now draw on a user's personalized writing style. For child accounts, Messages automatically detects and blocks gore or violent content found in shared images and videos.

Apple also lists a series of performance and reliability improvements: failed messages retry sending automatically, messages load faster, syncing across devices is faster, thumbnails display for offloaded media, offloaded media can be found inside Messages, photos, videos and texts send continuously, and conversations can be searched by phone number or by a contact's nickname. The report notes that bug fixes in a major OS release rarely draw attention, but describes the promised refinements as significant for how the app performs.