An update for non-English speakers
While WWDC 2026 keynote coverage largely focused on Siri AI and Apple Intelligence, one of the updates with potentially the broadest real-world impact passed almost unnoticed: iOS 27 introduces new keyboards for Afrikaans, Basque, Baybayin (Filipino script), English (Philippines), Galician, Guarani, Luxembourgish, Xhosa, and Zulu. As documented by MacRumors and 9to5Mac, this is one of the most extensive new language packages in years.
Indigenous North American languages for the first time
Particularly significant is the inclusion of indigenous North American languages: Blackfoot, Comanche, Cree, Kiowa, and Tsuut'ina. These are not languages with millions of speakers, but their presence in the operating system of a global device carries both symbolic and practical value for the communities that speak them, and represents an evolution of accessibility beyond disability. Support also improves for Hindi, Chinese, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, Brazilian Portuguese, Slovenian, Estonian, and Marathi. Apple has also improved phonetic conversion from Pinyin and Kana when typing in Simplified Chinese and Japanese.