Apple’s Photos app finally removes objects without the obvious glitches of last year.
In iOS 27 the Clean Up tool switches between a fast on‑device model and a higher‑quality cloud model hosted on Apple’s private servers. The on‑device option works instantly but still leaves shadows and mismatched backgrounds. The cloud option, selectable as “High Quality,” takes a few seconds to minutes but fills in textures, shadows and even facial details much more convincingly. The same hybrid approach powers the new Extend and Reframe features, which use generative AI to expand frames or shift perspective.
The upgrade matters because Apple’s earlier AI edits lagged behind rivals like Google Photos, which have offered reliable object removal for years. By off‑loading the heavy lifting to encrypted cloud models, Apple preserves on‑device privacy while delivering results that approach those of specialist third‑party apps. Users who need precise edits can now stay inside the native Photos workflow rather than exporting to external tools.
In short, the hybrid AI model makes Clean Up usable for real‑world photos, and it hints that Apple will keep leaning on private cloud compute to close the gap with more established AI photo editors.