Apple's iOS 27 software update will add Spatial Reframing, a feature that will allow users to change the position and angle of a photo even after it has been taken.
Spatial Reframing was announced as part of the WWDC 2026 opening keynote. It's set to be made available to iPhone owners when the iOS 27 update is released to the public this fall.
Part of Apple Intelligence, the Spatial Reframing feature uses Apple's Private Cloud Compute and on-device spatial models. That means it's private and fast to use on Apple's latest iPhones.
In use, iPhone owners will edit a photo and tap a new "reframe" button. They'll then be able to drag and zoom the image to get the composition that they like best.
Users can also expand images with the Extend tool to give their subjects a better framing too. For example, users can straighten a crooked horizon without cropping out anything important, or adjust the aspect ratio, and Extend will fill in the missing pieces.
Clean Up hasn't been left behind, with Apple saying that it will "remove distractions with better quality and more realistic infill." What that means isn't yet clear.
For what it's worth, this Spatial Reframing was the subject that generated the most chatter in the AppleInsider newsroom during the keynote.
Generative AI-based images
Notably, the photo will have blurred edges during the editing process. Once complete, Apple uses content from the original photo to feed its generative AI pipeline to replace the blur.
This approach, Apple says, ensures that the machine-generated edges of the image won't look out of place. We'll need to see how well Spatial Reframing works with our own photos before we can judge how accurate that claim is.
Apple also confirmed that the new Spatial Reframing feature will work with existing photos. It'll also work with photos that were taken using other devices, not just iPhones.
