A concept for iOS 27. The assistant moves into the dock, answers land on your home screen, and nothing sends, books or changes without your yes.
Goal
Make AI feel like part of iOS, not another app you have to open.
Challenge
iOS 27 made the assistant smarter, but typing to it still starts at the top of the screen, and its history lives in a separate app.
Result
A working iOS 27 prototype with nine flows, from quick answers to a booked table, and a clear record of how it grew out of version 1.
The project happened twice. Version 1 came out of research on iOS 26. When iOS 27 shipped, I looked back at it honestly and rebuilt it.
Chapter 1
I started with iOS itself: how the home screen has changed, what each era added, and what people were saying about iOS 26 right now.
Every era changed how you get to things. None of them changed where you ask for things.
A grid of apps and a dock. The model we still use.
Folders, the first way to organize the grid.
Flat and layered. Depth comes from blur and translucency.
Widgets on the home screen, and the App Library.
Icons anywhere, tinted icons, Apple Intelligence.
Liquid Glass. Controls react to what's behind them.
Siri AI, asked from the Dynamic Island at the top.
Ask from the place your thumb already rests.
Five places, the same two questions: what works, and what doesn't.
PraisedCriticizedAbout AI
Grouping the notes showed where opinion agreed and where it split.
PraisedCriticizedBothNot mentioned
What I saw
Design and ecosystem were praised wherever they came up. AI split people: excited about the features, frustrated by lag and inconsistency.
What I concluded
The gap wasn't visual quality. AI lived in separate apps and features, so using it meant leaving what you were doing.
What I asked
How might AI feel like part of the home screen, instead of another app to open?
Chapter 2
From moodboard to a finished flow in four steps. The sketches, wireframe and screens are redrawn from my original files; the moodboard is distilled into its four themes.
Moodboards across iOS, macOS and visionOS. Four themes kept coming back.
Procreate, Illustrator, VizcomI started with widgets at the top, then tried a search bar sitting between the app grid and the dock. That position became the seed of the whole idea.
Procreate, VizcomI blocked the layout out in Figma, then finished it with glass, color and a wallpaper. Version 1 put ChatGPT in the search bar and filled the dock with eight suggested apps.
Figma, Illustrator, PhotoshopTap the bar, type a question for ChatGPT, and the answer appears as an overlay while the home screen stays in place.
Figma prototypeChapter 3
In September 2026, Apple released iOS 27 with Siri AI. It holds real conversations, understands what's on screen, and keeps past chats in a new Siri app. Typed questions start from the Dynamic Island at the top of the screen.
That answered half of my original question: the iPhone now has a capable assistant built in. It left the other half open. Where should it sit, and what should it be allowed to do for you? So I went back to version 1 and marked it up.
Keep Fix
Chapter 4
iOS 27 put the assistant at the top of the screen. Before committing to the dock, I compared four options on what matters for small, everyday questions.
StrongPartialWeak
iOS 27Typed questions start at the top.
This conceptThey start in the dock.
Chapter 5
Each one traces back to something from the research or the critique of version 1.
Small questions get small answers. A card rises from the dock and sits over your apps, which stay exactly where they were. Tap outside it and it's gone.
Traces back toKeep #3, and the research: people praised polish and consistency everywhere, so a new layer shouldn't move anything.
Reading is instant. Anything that sends, books or changes a setting shows a preview with one clear button. After you tap it, it waits five seconds before it really happens, so Undo actually works.
Traces back toFix #4, and my research conclusion that people needed more control.
Every answer carries a small chip: On iPhone, Private Cloud, or the name of the outside assistant you chose. Tap it to see what was shared. Outside assistants only get the one request you send them.
Traces back toFix #5, and the research: AI was the theme people split on, and trust starts with knowing what's handling your request.
Phone, Messages and Mail never move, so muscle memory keeps working. The fourth slot changes with your day, and a tap on its badge says why it's there.
Traces back toFix #2: version 1 let all eight dock apps change.
iOS 27 keeps past conversations in a separate Siri app. Here they're one swipe up from the dock, kept on your iPhone for 30 days unless you change it.
Traces back toThe original question: an assistant you have to open an app for is the friction this project started with.
Type your own question in the bar, or pick a task. The notes beside the phone explain each design choice as you reach it.
Pick a task
In version 1, I used ChatGPT during research to summarize how iOS had changed and where the market was heading, and AI helped me generate and critique early concepts.
Every layout, interaction and component was designed by me in Figma, and the renders were made in Illustrator and Photoshop. For the 2026 revamp, I rewrote the concept around iOS 27 and rebuilt the prototype in HTML with AI-assisted code.
Does one moving slot help, or just surprise people?A week-long diary study would show whether people start relying on it or stop looking at it.
Does anyone read the chip?If nobody taps it, trust has to come from somewhere else, like how each card is worded.
Is a preview too slow for close friends?Texting a partner might deserve a faster path than booking a table. Testing would show where that line sits.