--- title: "Xcode 27 and iOS 27: Liquid Glass is the default, and what else to prepare" description: "Liquid Glass, Swift 6.4, agents in Xcode, Device Hub and an Apple-silicon-only IDE. A practical checklist to get your app ready for iOS 27." author: "MH TOUFIK" published: 2026-11-05T03:00:00.000Z updated: 2026-10-31T07:11:42.000Z url: https://toufik.dev/blog/xcode-27-ios-27-liquid-glass-what-to-prepare category: "iOS" tags: ["Liquid Glass", "Swift", "SwiftUI", "Xcode", "iOS"] --- # Xcode 27 and iOS 27: Liquid Glass is the default, and what else to prepare Every June, Apple shows us the next iOS. Every autumn, we find out what it actually means for our apps. This year it's **iOS 27 and Xcode 27**, announced at WWDC on 8 June 2026. Some changes are nice new toys. A few will change how your app looks the moment you rebuild it. Here's what I'd prepare for, in order of urgency. ## 1. Liquid Glass is now the default look Liquid Glass, Apple's translucent design language, arrived last year with iOS 26, and many teams kept their old look for a while. With iOS 27, Apple says the design "continues to evolve", and reports from developers testing the new SDK say **the temporary way to keep the old look is going away**. I couldn't confirm the exact rule in Apple's own release notes, so check them before you plan around it. But the safe assumption is simple: **when you rebuild with Xcode 27, your app will look like an iOS 27 app.** What to do: - Rebuild your app with the Xcode 27 SDK on a test branch and **screenshot every main screen**. - Look for text that's hard to read over translucent bars and backgrounds. - Remove custom backgrounds you added to fight the system style. They often look worse now. - Check dark mode and larger text sizes. Those are where layouts usually break. Users also get a transparency slider in Settings, so test with more than one setting. ## 2. Xcode 27 is Apple-silicon only Apple says Xcode 27 is **Apple silicon only** (and about 30% smaller). If your team, or your CI machine, still uses an Intel Mac, it's time to plan the upgrade. Cloud CI providers have mostly moved already, but check yours. ## 3. Swift 6.4 ships with it Xcode 27 comes with **Swift 6.4**. If you haven't finished moving to Swift 6 strict concurrency yet, this is a good moment, because new SwiftUI and framework APIs increasingly assume it. (I wrote a [calm, step-by-step migration guide](https://toufik.dev/blog/swift-6-strict-concurrency-migration-guide) if you need one.) ## 4. Agentic coding is built into Xcode This is the biggest change to *how* we work. Apple says Xcode 27 brings models and agents from **Anthropic, Google and OpenAI**, right inside the IDE. In a conversation, an agent can: - plan a change with you before writing code, - write and **run tests**, - try ideas in **Playgrounds** and **check previews**, - use the **simulator** through the new Device Hub. Plugins can add custom skills and MCP tools, and Xcode supports any agent that speaks the **Agent Client Protocol**, the same standard Android Studio now supports. So the same agent can, in principle, help on both platforms. My advice: start by asking it to write tests for existing code, and review every change before you accept it. ## 5. Device Hub replaces the device juggling **Device Hub** is a new single workspace for physical devices and simulators. You can resize simulators on the fly and test different screen sizes and accessibility settings from one place. If you test on many devices, it should save real time. ## 6. SwiftUI keeps getting faster A few SwiftUI changes worth knowing: - **Better toolbar control**, including which items stay visible and which move to an overflow menu. - A new **Document API** for document-based apps. - **Drag-to-reorder** in more containers than just `List`, including grids. - `AsyncImage` now uses **HTTP caching by default**. - `@State` is now a macro, so classes stored in `@State` start lazily. - Apple promises **faster build times**, thanks to a new `ContentBuilder`. ## 7. Foundation Models grew up On-device AI got a lot more capable. The Foundation Models framework now has **one Swift API** for: - on-device models, which can now take **image input**, - larger Apple models running on **Private Cloud Compute**, - and other providers like **Claude or Gemini**, through a new language model protocol. Apple also says Private Cloud Compute models are **free of cloud API costs** for Small Business Program developers with fewer than 2 million first-time downloads. For indie developers, that's a real reason to try AI features this year. ## My checklist - [ ] Rebuild with Xcode 27 and screenshot every main screen - [ ] Fix contrast and layout issues under Liquid Glass - [ ] Move CI to Apple-silicon machines - [ ] Finish the Swift 6 concurrency migration - [ ] Try the Xcode agent on tests first - [ ] Check Apple's "Upcoming requirements" page for the next SDK deadline The theme of iOS 27 is simple: Apple wants every app to look current and to feel smarter. Rebuild early, look at every screen, and you'll avoid the last-minute surprises.