iOS 27 Adds iPhone Handoff, Letting You Use Two iPhones on One Number

Summary

Apple is launching iPhone Handoff with iOS 27 on Monday, a feature that lets one phone number work across two iPhones at once. If you carry separate work and personal phones, or want the same number active on both your iPhone and your iPhone Duo, this lets you switch between them without call-routing hassle. Carrier support is required. T-Mobile is the first US carrier to support it, at $5 per month. Deutsche Telekom is the first international carrier. Other carriers have not announced timelines or pricing.

Why it matters

This is the feature families and dual-phone workers have wanted since people started carrying two iPhones. The $5/month T-Mobile charge is low enough that it is not a barrier for most. If you are on T-Mobile and Monday feels like the right moment to finally set up that second iPhone, this makes the transition meaningfully smoother.

HTD Says

iOS 27 adds a feature on Monday that lets your same phone number ring on two iPhones at once; on T-Mobile, it costs $5 a month, which is probably an easy yes for dual-phone households. Additional carriers are supposedly coming soon. This is quite an interesting feature. I get having two lines via eSIMs on a single smartphone (e.g., one for personal and one for business), but this is a different approach.

If you have an iPhone Duo and an iPhone, they make a great pairing. Being able to hand off a call between these devices makes work pretty seamless. That being said, I think it may be a niche use case. And, of course, there is the additional monthly fee. While $5 isn’t a lot (especially if you can afford a Duo or new-ish iPhones), it will add up. This may be more for business users. I don’t quite see the family use case yet.

If you want to learn more about this feature, check out MacRumor’s write-up, which breaks it down pretty clearly.

Source:

MacRumors