Mail App in iOS 27: New search function and Siri AI
Apple’s Mail app receives several useful updates in iOS 27. Apple has significantly improved the search function and introduced new AI features.
Search
iOS 27 features a completely redesigned search system, which also includes the Mail app. Instead of displaying results based on keywords and recency, the Mail app’s search now sorts results by relevance and search intent. This makes search results in Mail more relevant than before, so you can find exactly what you’re looking for.
If you search for “sprouts” because you want to find a recent order, your order will be displayed before you may see marketing emails from the same retailer.
Siri AI
The Mail app has a built-in “Ask Siri” feature. By long-pressing any email, you can ask Siri to create a summary, find a specific entry in the email, track a package, retrieve a flight number, save a photo, and much more.
Once you receive a response, you can swipe down to open the Siri interface for follow-up questions. The conversations are logged in the Siri app.
Siri can also perform tasks in the Mail app, such as deleting all emails from a specific sender or adding information from an email to your reminders list.
Writing tools
The Mail app offers a “Type with Siri” feature above the keyboard. Tap it to get typing assistance. Siri can draft an email for you, review an email you’ve already written, help you rewrite it, change the email’s style, or give you writing tips.
With “Write with Siri”, your usual writing style, punctuation and tone of voice can be adjusted so that your emails sound more like you and less like an AI.
Your iPhone now also highlights typing and grammar mistakes while you type.
Intelligent answer
The smart replies your iPhone suggests are now tailored to your writing style. This means the suggestions you can type with a single tap sound like you’re actually typing them.
Context-related suggestions
The context-sensitive suggestions you see at the top of the Mail app are now also available to third-party apps, and Apple has also redesigned the interface.
Emails with flight times or restaurant reservations can be added directly to the calendar app with a tap. Directions can be viewed in the Maps app, and emails with shipment tracking information can be followed with the Wallet app.
Call context
Call context is a feature that works between the Mail app and the Phone app. When you call a business, such as an airline or retailer, for which you have a corresponding email address, the Phone app displays the information from that email.
You might see a flight reservation number or an order number for a phone call with a retailer. Call Context works directly on the device and analyzes the caller, not the audio of the conversation.
Performance improvements
Messages in Mail load faster, search indexing is more reliable, and unread message notifications sync more reliably between platforms like iOS and macOS. Apple has also updated list formatting.
Requirements
The improvements to the Mail app search are available on all iPhones with iOS 27, but AI features such as Siri AI integration, “Type with Siri”, call context and context suggestions require an iPhone that supports Apple Intelligence.
Siri AI is not available in the European Union and China, and context suggestions are initially only available in English.
