GoKawiilWe knew Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference would be full of AI, but I didn't expect to see a photo feature that would make me think: "This is wild."
During the WWDC keynote on Monday, Apple showed off a few new editing features in its Photos app that I think will be genuinely useful. In addition to the existing Clean Up tool, which can remove unwanted distractions from a photo, we'll also be able to extend a photo's edges.
But it was Spatial Reframing, a feature that lets you adjust a photo's composition to reflect where you wish you had been standing to take it, that really caught my eye.
All these features use generative AI, and will be included in a new Tools category in the Edit environment in the Photos app. The first developer beta of iOS 27 is available now to registered developers.
More AI, less slop
Generative AI is a technology that photographers are distancing themselves from (or should be), thanks to all the AI slop being produced everywhere. And yes, that includes creations from Apple's Image Playground app, the image generator that the company also showed off during the WWDC keynote.
But generative AI doesn't need to mean full images created from text prompts. When applied to selective areas, like erasing a piece of trash next to a subject's feet, generative AI can do some of the menial work of replacing pixels that photographers would otherwise spend time retouching in an app like Photoshop. Google's Pixel phones include a similar Magic Eraser tool.
Spatial Reframing is a great example of how the technology can be used to enhance real photos you capture.
How Spatial Reframing will work
Apple's Spatial Photos technology uses AI to determine depth in a flat photo, giving it a 3D effect that responds when you tilt your phone or view it in a Vision Pro headset, even if it wasn't shot as a spatial photo. It can give depth to iPhone lock screen photos, too.
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