- The second iOS 27.2 developer beta has landed, and code hints at several upcoming features
- These include an anti-snatching tool, so the phone locks itself if it detects a rough grip or if you’re disconnected from your Apple Watch
- Changes are being made to shortcuts, Apple Music, and even CarPlay Ultra
The second iOS 27.2 developer beta has now landed, and while on the surface it doesn’t look much different from the first beta, behind the scenes there are quite a few new things to find.
Digging into the code, 9to5Mac found more details of an anti-snatching feature we previously reported on. This as yet unannounced feature is apparently called ‘AutoLock’ internally at Apple, and is designed to lock your phone if a thief grabs it.
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Any of these things could trigger an iPhone to lock itself automatically, but there are also references to security measures to prevent false positives. This includes things like successful biometric authentication, and certain innocent app activities that might otherwise be signs of theft.
Other hidden functions
Here’s the new album release countdown on the iPhone, coming soon to Apple Music.Featuring a very satisfying numeric text content transition. pic.twitter.com/stuBUYPoWJSeptember 19, 2026
In addition, as seen by X user @itspdfu (via 9to5Mac) iOS 27.2 Beta 2 also includes code for a new album release countdown in Apple Music, and for the ability to support actions from third-party apps and shortcuts with the new ‘Describe a Shortcut’ tool. So you can include third-party apps in shortcuts built using natural language, instead of using the old shortcut builder.
Finally, @aaronp613 has found evidence that CarPlay Ultra will soon offer a ‘Drive Mode Theme’, allowing you to change things like the gauge style and color. Although currently CarPlay Ultra is only available on Aston Martin vehicles so this could be of limited usefulness.
Of course, there’s the usual caveat with all of this that while Apple is apparently working on these features, we can’t be sure if or when they’ll actually launch. But they all sound like worthwhile upgrades, so hopefully they’ll roll out — and soon.
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