iOS 27 changes the Notification Center gesture after 15 years

Apple changed the Notification Center gesture on iPhone and iPad in iOS 27 when Siri AI is enabled. Swiping down from the center of the top edge now launches Siri instead of opening the notification list.

Notification Center remains available through a swipe from the top-left corner. Alerts now appear from that corner, while most of the top edge is reserved for Apple’s new Siri invocation method.

A change after 15 years

Notification Center has been part of the iPhone and iPad experience since iOS 5 in 2011. The default gesture is unchanged in iOS 27, but enabling Siri AI requires users to develop a new habit.

The gesture area changed during early iPadOS 27 betas. In the first beta, the space above Home Screen icons was largely devoted to Siri, and the Notification Center area could shrink depending on whether the date and AM/PM indicator were displayed.

Apple adjusted this in the second beta by creating a more even arrangement: Notification Center sits on the left and Control Center on the right, each covering roughly the width of two icon columns. The remaining top-edge area is used for Siri.

The change follows an earlier redesign of Control Center access: on iPhone X, Apple moved it from an upward swipe from the bottom to a downward swipe from the top-right corner, later standardizing the approach across devices. The source says iOS 27 offers no setting to disable Siri’s central downward swipe.