Apple just rolled out a neat wallpaper trick Android users will envy

Apple has released iOS 27 developer beta 3, introducing a fresh batch of feature refinements, UI tweaks, and optimization steps ahead of its stable autumn launch. While iOS 27 largely focuses on polishing the overall user experience, Beta 3’s standout aesthetic change is a slick new wallpaper animation that makes the interface feel 3D and layered, and it’s bound to cause some jealousy in the Android camp.

The new wallpaper cutout animation appears when swiping down to open the Notification Center.

Instead of the entire screen dropping down uniformly, the system uses on-device intelligence to isolate the foreground subject of your depth-effect wallpaper. This isolated subject floats smoothly over your active app or Home Screen first as a cutout, creating a distinct multi-layered depth effect before the rest of the interface blurs into place.

It’s a flashy piece of UI eye candy that showcases Apple’s mastery of animations and effects.

From my limited testing, this works best with photos with a clear human or animal subject and decent scope for background-foreground separation. If you don’t see the wallpaper depth effect as an option when setting the wallpaper, this transition effect will not trigger.

Beyond the wallpaper trick, iOS 27 developer beta 3 unlocks highly anticipated functional upgrades, as MacRumors notes. Siri voice customization is now fully operational on compatible devices, such as the iPhone 17 Pro, allowing users to adjust the assistant’s speaking pace and expressivity natively. Accessibility gets a major boost with “Live Recognition,” an on-device intelligence tool that uses the camera to describe the surrounding environment and answer specific user questions in real time.

Several minor quality-of-life improvements round out the release. AirPods owners using the “Adaptive” audio mode will find a new granular slider to balance transparency and active noise cancelation, as spotted by Aaron Perris on X.

The Reminders app icon sports updated “Liquid Glass” checklist bullets, while the Photos app adds a toggle to display star ratings on thumbnails.

We’re expecting Apple to run a few more betas in the run-up to the launch of the rumored iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra, which is when iOS 27 will graduate to its stable release and roll out to all users.