Introduction to the Extend Feature
Apple's iOS 27 update brings a major overhaul to the Photos app, and the standout addition is the Extend feature. This AI-powered tool allows users to expand the canvas of their photos, automatically generating new content to fill in the extra space. It's similar to the generative expand tools found in professional software like Adobe Photoshop, but integrated directly into the iPhone's native camera roll. After spending a week testing it on a variety of images, I found that the feature both surprised and disappointed me in equal measure.
How the Extend Tool Works
To use the Extend feature, open a photo in the Photos app, tap the hamburger menu at the bottom, select Tools, and then tap Extend. Alternatively, you can access it through the Crop tool by pinching to zoom out or adjusting the frame beyond the original boundaries. Once you do, the AI takes about 10 to 15 seconds to generate the missing areas. The process requires an active internet connection, as the heavy lifting is done on Apple's servers. The tool is designed to work with portrait and landscape orientations, and it can fill in any direction, though some constraints may apply when human subjects are near the edge.
Initial Impressions and Setup
I wasn't among the first to install the iOS 27 developer beta, but once I did, I began appreciating the changes Apple has made. The Photos app, in particular, has received one of its most substantial upgrades, adding an improved Clean Up tool, Spatial Reframing, and the new Extend feature, the one I was most eager to try. After spending some time with it on my iPhone 17, here's how the tool has performed so far. Spoiler alert: it's one of the most substantial additions to Apple's previously slim lineup of AI features.
I've tried the feature on several different photos, including a selfie I took in front of a dam in northern India, photos of food items on a table, and shots taken indoors and outdoors. The versatility of the tool is immediately apparent, but so are its limitations. The AI does a commendable job of extending textures and patterns, but it often struggles with complex scenes involving multiple objects or people.
How to Use the New Extend Tool
To use the new Extend feature, open the desired picture in the Photos app, tap the hamburger menu at the bottom of the screen, select Tools, then tap Extend (marked with an arrow below). From there, you can pinch to zoom out, adjust the crop, and reposition the frame to extend the image in any direction or aspect ratio. I really like how the Extend feature is also built into the Crop tool. This way, the feature feels much more intuitive, especially because most iPhone users are already familiar with cropping photos. Once you're in the Crop tool, pinch to zoom out or adjust the frame however you like, and the Extend option should appear at the bottom. In my experience, the feature takes about 10 to 15 seconds to generate a new picture.
It's a Bit Rough Around the Edges
Depending on how much of the frame you ask it to generate, it can produce multiple versions of the same picture, as you can see with my mango pastry. I've added an orange gradient so that you can easily tell which part of the image was expanded. In the first result, for instance, the pastry on the other side of the table never existed, nor did the person in the background. The last picture shows the edge of another plate on the left that wasn't there in the original. While the extensions of existing objects are great (like the plastic spoon), you may be able to spot the ones Apple Intelligence adds.
Take this picture as an example. I shrank it to the center of the frame so that Extend's AI would work across the entire frame, and the result, well, was telling. Look at the tables and chairs at the top of the frame: they look quite blurry and almost dreamy. To be honest, the bags (gray and black ones) don't look good to me either. The AI-generated plates on the left are a slightly different color as well. Yet another example of how weird and AI-like a picture can look. It's extended from all sides, which is probably why the shrubs at the top, the flower toward the left, the added long leaves at the bottom, and the additional flowers on the right look, well, a bit funny or goofy. Of the four people I sent this picture to, only one said it was real, and three could easily pick up on the hints.
Some Results, However, Were Better Than I Expected
I did come across a few pictures for which the tool denied expansion in particular directions. Some of the pictures had human subjects in the direction of expansion, so that could be an intentional restriction, but I couldn't figure out why the others did. The feature also requires an active internet connection and may not work over low-speed wireless networks. However, if I set such examples aside, I have several others where Extend did a great job. Take a look at the picture of my friend below (from her birthday in May). I captured this with a Nikon mirrorless camera. The quality of generative expansion is quite good in this one, so much so that even she couldn't tell the difference. The shrubs at the bottom left do lose their texture in the expanded area, but everything else seems fine.
The silhouette toward the bottom of the tree and the plants in the foreground are very well generated. The leaves at the top, however, gave away the illusion. This is an equally impressive edit. Apple Intelligence has generated the person in the background with just the right amount of detail (he was already blurred due to the lens's shallow depth of field), so that he looks realistic, and so do the reflections in the mirror on the right side.
This is one of my favorite pictures from the Extend feature. The way it fills in the texture from the water bed (toward the left) to the mountains in the background and the canopy stand is simply outstanding. It did add a car on the right and made my arm appear slightly odd, but otherwise, it works fine for a social media post. The same goes for this one. Those who weren't there can't tell whether the gift box at the bottom or the lamp in front of the wall hanging on the left is real. The door to the right and the partially visible chair behind me weren't there at all. In fact, if you notice the ceiling, you'll see how Apple Intelligence has slightly bent it to replicate a fish-eye or wide-angle lens effect. This is one of the cleanest Extend edits I could achieve. There aren't many subjects in the picture, which could be why it's so good, but even so, it's clean and accurate.
Technical Analysis and Comparison
Under the hood, the Extend feature leverages Apple's on-device machine learning alongside cloud-based generative models. The company's Neural Engine processes the image to understand textures, lighting, and depth before generating new pixels. This hybrid approach allows for fast initial previews on device, while the final, more complex generation happens on Apple's servers. The feature is somewhat similar to Google's Magic Eraser or Adobe's Generative Fill, but it's more tightly integrated into the iPhone's ecosystem. Unlike some third-party apps that require manual masking or inpainting, Extend works automatically once you adjust the frame. The quality of the output depends heavily on the scene complexity. Simple backgrounds like sky, grass, or plain walls are almost always flawless. Busy scenes with multiple objects, people, or repetitive patterns like foliage can cause artifacts such as color mismatches, blurry areas, or strange duplicates.
Another technical limitation is the reliance on an internet connection. When I tested it offline on a flight, the feature simply refused to work, displaying a 'No Internet Connection' error. For those who frequently edit photos in remote areas, this is a significant drawback. Additionally, the generation time of 10–15 seconds feels quick compared to some desktop solutions, but it can be frustrating when batch-editing multiple photos. Apple could improve this by offering lower-resolution local generation as a fallback.
User Experience and Integration
The integration of Extend into the Crop tool is a masterstroke of user experience design. Most iPhone users already understand cropping, so adding an option to expand feels natural. The pinch-to-zoom gesture instantly reveals the Extend option at the bottom of the screen. There's no complex tutorial or hidden menu. The feature even supports undo and redo, and edited photos are automatically tagged with a metadata marker (visible by swiping up in the Photos app) indicating that the image has been AI-modified. This transparency is crucial for authenticity and journalistic integrity. Overall, I've had a good experience with Extend so far. It's not perfect, as certain results still show clear AI artifacts, but many results hold up surprisingly well. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that I might rely on it for casual edits, especially when I need to add an ultrawide perspective to the pictures.
Potential Use Cases and Limitations
The Extend feature is best suited for expanding landscapes, architectural shots, and group photos where the edges are simple. For example, a photo of a beach can easily have more sky or sand added to change the composition. However, it struggles with portraits where the subject is close to the edge, often producing strange limbs or distorted faces. The AI also has difficulty extending text or logos, as it tends to generate gibberish. Another limitation is that the feature does not work with Live Photos, RAW files, or videos. For power users, this may be a dealbreaker. Additionally, while the feature is free with iOS 27, it requires an iPhone 15 or later due to the Neural Engine requirements. The feature also does not support batch processing, so each photo must be edited individually.
Despite these limitations, the Extend feature marks a significant step forward in democratizing AI photo editing. Apple has managed to bring a professional-grade tool to the masses without overwhelming them with options. As the technology matures, I expect future updates to refine the generation quality and expand compatibility. The competition from Google and Samsung in this space is fierce, but Apple's integration with the existing Photos app gives it an edge in convenience.
Source:Digital Trends News