Tired of Awkward Dinner Math? iOS 27 May Let You Split Bills with a Photo
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Apple is scheduled to show us everything that its next major software release will have on tap in less than a week, but that hasn’t stopped a few last-minute leaks from slipping out ahead of Monday’s big WWDC keynote.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has been quite prolific lately in sharing inside info on what Apple has in store for this year’s upcoming iOS 27 release, which will likely go into early preview next week and come to everyone’s iPhone this fall.
In addition to Siri’s big do-over, where Apple’s much-maligned voice assistant will finally get the brain it deserves — and a standalone app, too — iOS 27 is also expected to bring generative AI photo editing, a modular camera, new AI-powered accessibility features, and Apple Intelligence improvements all around.
It’s not all about AI though — at least not directly. Early last month, Gurman also shared how Apple’s Wallet app will finally gain native support for creating your own passes — a missing feature that’s been filled by third-party apps for well over a decade. However, it turns out this isn’t the only Wallet improvement coming to your iPhone in iOS 27.
Yesterday, Gurman shared a new report that Apple plans to bake a clever new bill-splitting feature right into Apple Wallet — and it looks like it will be much more than just a glorified calculator.
Instead, Apple will use the camera and an expansion of its existing visual intelligence features to analyze a bill and break it down on the fly.
The feature will allow users to photograph a receipt, assign items to different people and generate payment requests, according to people with knowledge of the plan.
Mark Gurman
While Gurman pegs this as part of Apple’s plans to expand its “financial offerings,” linking it to the rollout of Apple Pay, the Apple Card, and the short-lived Apple Pay Later BNPL service, this seems on the surface to be far more aligned with Apple Intelligence.
Sources say that it will be available both in the Wallet app and inside the Messages app. Where it may tie into Apple’s financial services is a potential connection to Apple Cash, and, perhaps more significantly, the Tap to Cash feature that was introduced in iOS 18.
It’s unclear if those will be a requirement for splitting a bill, but it’s easy to see how they could make the entire process more efficient. After snapping a picture of a receipt, and assigning everyone’s share by name, your iPhone will be able to send requests to your dining companions to send the funds over using Apple Cash via iMessage, or simply open a Tap to Cash user interface to let them pay you back on the spot.
In that sense, the feature would become a way of Apple more directly competing with services like Venmo, which has become so ubiquitous in some circles that it’s almost a verb. Still, we have to wonder if Apple plans to come up with some clever branding, as “I’ll Apple-Cash-you my share” doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]
