Apple has today released version 27.2 of macOS, watchOS, tvOS, and HomePod Software to the public.
Our experience is that the following accessibility bug has been resolved in macOS Golden Gate 27.2:
We are additionally aware of two new bugs in this release:
- When navigating an expanded conversation in the messages table in Mail with the up and down arrow keys, VoiceOver speaks “label.text.blank” before each message.
- When Tabbing past the subject field in Mail’s “New Message” window, focus jumps to the “Format” radio button in the toolbar instead of the next focusable element in the window, requiring you to press the Tab key several additional times to get to the message body text field.
If you notice any further changes, improvements, or regressions in your use of these releases, please post a comment below with your findings.
Release Notes
macOS Golden Gate 27.2
This update provides enhancements to Siri AI with the ability to retain useful context from previous Siri interactions as well as draw from a wider range of personal context. It also introduces Suggestions in Messages that help you take quick actions in apps like Calendar and Reminders based on context from your conversation. This release includes additional features, bug fixes, and security updates for your Mac.
Siri AI
- Siri AI can recall your past conversations, so you can ask Siri about something it told you before, like the restaurants it recommended last week.
- Siri AI can draw from more sources to give you a great answer, including photos attached in Messages, Calendar event attendees, your voicemails, and better results from Safari history and Reading List.
- Excluded Apps lets you choose which apps Siri, Search, and suggestions can access, all from one setting.
- Write with Siri is available right from the new formatting bar when you compose a message in Mail.
- Siri AI is available in more languages, with support for French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish. Siri AI is not available in mainland China.
Other
- Suggestions in Messages help you take action based on the context of your conversations, like adding a Calendar invite for a dinner.
- Shared Albums in Photos adds the ability to edit captions and comments and avoid adding duplicate photos, and it can display a reminder before albums expire so participants can save important photos and videos.
- Support for SynthID watermarking to help identify whether an image was generated or modified with generative tools in Photos and Image Playground.
- The Home tab in the Podcasts app offers two separate sections for New Episodes and Continue Playing, letting you find the latest updates from your shows and then pick up where you left off.
- FaceTime supports adding a third-party sign-language interpreter or live captioner to a call.
watchOS 27.2
This update provides enhancements to Siri AI, including the ability to retain useful context from previous Siri interactions, draw from a wider range of personal context, and deliver faster responses on your watch. This update also includes other features, bug fixes, and security updates for your Apple Watch.
Siri AI
- Siri AI can recall your past conversations, so you can ask Siri about something it told you before, like the restaurants it recommended last week.
- Siri AI can draw from more sources to give you a great answer, including photos attached in Messages, Calendar event attendees, your voicemails, and better results from Safari history and Reading List from your phone.
- Excluded Apps lets you choose which apps Siri, Search, and suggestions can access, all from one setting on your phone.
- Siri AI now provides faster responses on Apple Watch.
- Siri AI is available in more languages, with support for French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish. Siri AI is not available in the EU or mainland China.
For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit:
https://support.apple.com/100100
Some features may not be available in all regions or on all Apple Watch models. To learn more, please visit:
https://www.apple.com/watchos/feature-availability
Usage limits may apply for some Apple Intelligence features. To learn more, please visit:
https://www.apple.com/apple-intelligence
Software updates, like this one, add new features and improvements that may affect performance and/or battery life. To learn more, please visit:
https://support.apple.com/125039
tvOS 27.2
This update brings new ways to stay connected with FaceTime, personalize your screen saver, and locate your Siri Remote with Find My, along with bug fixes and security updates for your Apple TV 4K.
FaceTime
- FaceTime links make it easier to join calls directly from your Apple TV.
- Sign language interpreter and captioning support lets you add third-party services to your calls.
Screen Savers
- Photo personalization lets you use your iPhone to choose specific photos for your screen saver without sharing your full library with Apple TV.
- Shuffle option lets you enjoy different screen saver categories as your Apple TV cycles through them.
Find My
- Find My support lets you locate your Siri Remote (2nd generation) or later using your iPhone.
HomePod Software 27.2
HomePod software version 27.2 brings the new Sound Glow visual experience, home theater surround sound with Apple TV 4K (4th generation), and support for using HomePod speakers with your Mac, along with bug fixes and security updates for your HomePod.
- Sound Glow on HomePod mini, HomePod mini 2, and HomePod (2nd generation) turns the top of HomePod into a visual display that pulses and glows in sync with your media and shows matching light animations for soundscapes.
- Home theater surround sound supports connecting four HomePod speakers to Apple TV 4K (4th generation) for an immersive listening experience. Requires matching front and rear pairs of HomePod mini 2 or HomePod (2nd generation).
- HomePod speakers with your Mac lets you set HomePod as the audio output for everything you do on your Mac, with a responsive and persistent AirPlay connection.
- Lock controls let you disable the touch controls on top of HomePod to prevent accidental taps from pausing music, skipping songs, or changing the volume.
How to Update
To install macOS Golden Gate 27.2, choose System Settings from the Apple menu, select General in the table, click Software Update in the scroll area, and click the Update Now button to begin the update process. If other updates are available, you can click the Info button to see details about them and select specific updates to install.
watchOS 27.2 is available via Over-the-Air Update (Settings > General > Software Update) or by going to the Watch app on your iPhone and navigating to General > Software Update. To install the update, your Watch must be connected to its charger and have at least 50% battery power.
To install tvOS 27.2, on Apple TV 4K or Apple TV HD, go to the Settings channel, then look for the System section near the bottom. From here, look for Software Updates under Maintenance, then select Update Software and Download and Install. Wait for your Apple TV to download the update. Don't disconnect or unplug your Apple TV until the update completes.
By default, HomePod and HomePod mini automatically install new software updates, but you can manually check for updates in the Home app on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
Comments
attempted to update
I'm currently on the iOS 27.2 beta, the release candidate, and after that I turned beta updates off. My phone says iOS is up to date. Maybe I don't need to update since I was on the RC. Pardon the ignorance, is this accurate?
Re: attempted to update
27.2 update took a bit longer, but the public version is out now.
Re: attempted to update
I turned the betas off and am receiving a small update so there does appear to be a new update, but I am not sure why you are not getting it. Try restarting your phone and see if that brings up the update.
About Update and AirPlay
Heya all,
does anybody know if, after updating, the damned AirPlay bug is solved? i mean the bug that made Voiceover silent whenever you're broadcasting something through AirPlay from the iPhone. I used to use automix that way until it broke down.
Take Care.
Med.
Alicia Krage
Same here. So much about fixing the bug with voiceover talking when pressing Siri. Nuts.
Audio chop bug is still alive and well
The bug with audio being choppy with wired earphones when playing media is still there. Voiceover is still cutting out as it did before. Hoping The next update might give us a chance? It was acknowledge in The feedback app as having a possible fix so who knows
WatchOS 27.2 and VoiceOver lag
Hi
Does WatchOS 27.2 address the VoiceOver lag issue? I want to start using my Apple Watch Series 12, but I'm reluctant to until this bug is addressed.
Also, I'm still on iOS 26 and I'm waying up the pros and cons of updating to iOS 27 to then be able to access WatchOS 27. If the VoiceOver lag issue has been resolved, I may decide to update now so I can set up my new watch. I'm also considering staying on iOS 26 and WatchOS 26 a bit longer and still using my Apple Watch Series 11.
If the Safari bug causing VoiceOver to not speak when listening to audio through external devices is still present which it sounds like it is, that puts me off updating because I watch BBC iPlayer through Safari so I can adjust the playback speed as you can't do that in the BBC iPlayer app. This in turn means I can't update to WatchOS 27 or use my new watch.
If the VoiceOver lag issue is still present, I am almost certain I won't update just yet. On the other hand, if the VoiceOver lag issue has been addressed, I may update and use Chrome instead of Safari. Essentially, I'd update to iOS 27 purely to gain access to WatchOS 27 / be able to set up my Series 12.
Thank you!
Re: WatchOS 27.2 and VoiceOver lag
i thought the lag didn't affect voiceover on the s12?
majorly frustrated: Nothing's changed for me
I just updated to ios 27.2, and to say I'm disappointed would be a massive understatement. When the update was finished, I restarted my phone just to be sure I had done everything right. I'm still getting unspeakable text in front of discord topic lists and another app I'm beta testing where that type of thing really shouldn't be happening. The Wordvoyance app is still completely unusable. If I'm navigating a text field by word and reach the end, the phone resprings. When I'm entering my passcode, I still get the letters spoken after the numbers. So far as I can tell, the only improvement that's been made is that I can once again clear notifications, but that being broken really wasn't bothering me very much.
I have similar feelings about the apple watch. We supposedly got the app switcher back, but if so, I can't get it to work. Did they change how we access it now?
I wish I had a time machine so that I could go back to iOS 26. If memory serves, I haven't hated an iOS release this much since iOS 8. And the ironic part is that Apple clamed iOS 27 was a Snow Leopard-type release. I was holding off on calling Apple in hopes that things would be better in 27.2, but clearly, I'm going to need to make time to call them to report this mess.
Good JOb
on the mac, one fixed bug plus two new bugs. GOod job Apple!
Re: Good JOb
It's too bad nobody that I know of does this for other OSen. It would be really interesting to compare. I say this because I feel like the blind community has some heavy investment in unfounded beliefs going on, my favorite being "if this affected sighted people it never would have happened/would have been fixed three days ago"!
This is nothing against your comment, one fixed vs. two new is definitely ungood. It's more that we're getting a kind of unique focus here that I don't think we get for Windows or Linux, for instance. If Windows had, say, 300 fixed bugs to 5000 new ones, that would say nothing about Apple, we've still got one fix and two new bugs. I just think it would be a really interesting comparison, Esp. if we had data over time to compare. Your comment just made me think of that, is all.
Re: WatchOS 27.2 and VoiceOver lag
Apparently it does. If you read the comments on the WatchOS 27.0 blog, one of the AppleVis editors provides an update to say that the updated chip in the Series 12 doesn't mean improvements to VoiceOver lag.
Also, I'd be interested to know if the issue has been addressed on older watches like the Series 11 because I'd like to be able to install it on that before using my Series 12, so that when I unpair it etc, it's backed up with the latest WatchOS installed.
I just got the voice randomly stopping speaking in the middle of
This is not a new bug. It’s been around for at least parts of iOS 18 when I first saw it. I’m on my iPhone SE when I’m on this website. So everything that I’m reading with is with that device and everything that I’m using to comment just with that device. Yes I know this is the Mac, and watch TV. HomePod update blog but just figured I’d come on here and see that I just experienced it again now. Look I get that maybe just maybe things wouldn’t happen as much with certain people if there are bugs for them, but the thing is there’s just not enough people that have enough of the same bugs I can keep reporting them I think or something like that because there’s definitely been stuff that we’ve been telling Apple for years that we wanted and wanted to have fixed in some of it’s been done and some of it is still long-standing. I can respect that Accessibility features probably do take a lot more complexity to program, but I think there’s just not enough time and maybe like funding or something being dedicated to the Accessibility specific part of Apple or maybe not like adaptive specifically the engineering department or something because there’s definitely been some pretty crazy bugs but things and the fact that you guys got one fixed and two more new ones is not great. This is kind of the stuff. It is actually made me pretty hesitant about trying on iMac. But not necessarily never but definitely for a very long time.
Re: WatchOS 27.2 and VoiceOver lag
No latency issues whatsoever on Apple Watch Ultra 3, though I don't think you meant this particular model since I wasn't experiencing latency in 27.0 either.
macOS, watchOS, tvOS, and HomePod
Hi all,
Just a reminder that this thread is for discussion of macOS, watchOS, tvOS, and HomePod Software.
Except where there is direct relevance to iOS, such as the relationship between your watch and phone, please try to keep the conversation to these platforms, and use the iOS thread for your thoughts on that platform.
Many thanks.
Tahoe vs Golden Gate
I know no one can really answer this for me, but how does this release stack up against Tahoe? I guess Mail is a little worse, but overall how is it feeling? I'd like the sound of the new image description stuff but I really hate upgrading Mac major versions given the risks involved.
Upgrade cost not worth it just for image description
I love this update cause I like being able to record sound from output too natively. And I don't use my mac pprofessionally either. But there's nothing dramatic and random bugs. Claude.ai doesn't work at all on safari vo says snr, chrome only. I stick with windows lmao.
PS: apparently gg is no longer, or was not, on the posix compliance list or something?
Re: new bugs
Oh no, surely not more SNR? I use the Claude Mac app not the web browser so hopefully that is ok?
So is Golden Gate generally more buggy than tahoe?
VoiceOver lag still persists with watchOS 27.2
On my Apple watch Ultra 4, the lag is still there with watchOS 27.2 when swiping through elements more quickly.
Mail toolbar tab issue
As a workaround, have you tried disabling the toolbar? I don't enable the toolbar and personally have no use for it.
I'll upgrade to 27.2 soon, when I can fit it into my schedule. Then I'll try tabbing from the subject field (without toolbar enabled) and report what happens.
WatchOS 27.2
I haven't tried macOS 27.2 because I use my machine for audio and plugins are not compatible yet. However I just updated my watch series 12 to 27.2. I'm not experiencing the lag issue that you all have (although Apple should really fix that; it's unacceptable). One bug I am noticing is that sporadically, VO audio will become a lot louder and clipped/crunchy. I wasn't getting this at all with WatchOS 27.0.1, and it's really frustrating. Short of keeping VO off to avoid getting jump-scared, are there any workarounds y'all know of?
Re: WatchOS 27.2 and VoiceOver lag
Hi Alice,
For me, the VoiceOver lag is definitely still there in watchOS 27.2 on the Series 12. It is horrendous. It reminds me of using VoiceOver on one of the very early Apple Watch devices, if anyone reading this is familiar.
app switcher on watch still MIA
From everything I've heard, we were supposedly getting the app switcher back on the apple watch. I have the ultra 3, and have updated to watch os 27.2. Still no app switcher unless they've changed how to access it. I haven't really experienced any of the lag others are talking about, but all things considered, I kind-a wish my watch and phone could go back to OS 26.
Re: WatchOS 27.2 and VoiceOver lag
Thank you Michael, this is super useful to know.
I've read mixed reports about the lag, but waying up the pros and cons, I've decided not to update just yet.. That, in combination with the Safari audio playback bug still being present, has helped me make this decision.
Re: app switcher on watch still MIA
Heard you press the side button and hold. Not sure if this is correct.
not sure if it's a bug but
I updated my mac yesterday. When I go to things like Safari or mail from the dock, previously it would say "open," because it was previously oen. Similar to how on the app switcher on the phone it would say active. It no longer says that and i'm not sure if this is a bug or not. Either way, it's minor, just something I noticed.
Re: app switcher on watch still MIA
Double-pressing and holding the side button brings up the shutdown menu.
The following are the actions performed by pressing each of the 3 buttons on the Apple Watch Ultra 3:
Re: WatchOS 27.2 and VoiceOver lag
Did not said double press, just press and hold. It suppose to pop up. I never use it so I do not know. Interested I close my apps in my phone but not in my watch. I wander why.