A separate collection for sensitive documents
At number 248 in the 263-change WWDC 2026 list documented by iClarified, the item "Identity Documents collection in Photos" appears. The feature creates a dedicated collection in the Photos app for identity documents, analogous to existing collections for Screenshots, Selfies, or Slo-Mo videos. Recognition presumably occurs via Apple Intelligence or on-device machine learning, without images being processed in the cloud.
Why it matters, despite its simplicity
Anyone who has ever searched for a passport photo among thousands of shots understands the utility. But there is a subtler level: isolating identity documents in a dedicated collection means iOS 27 can apply differentiated privacy rules to them — for example requiring Face ID even when the Photos app is already unlocked — or make them accessible to Siri AI for filling in forms without scrolling through the library.
Aligned with the Wallet strategy
The feature reads in parallel with Wallet's expansion as a digital document container and with Visual Intelligence, which in iOS 26 already allowed reading text from images. iOS 27 consolidates the direction: physical documents have an organised digital counterpart in the system, not scattered randomly across the library.