iOS 27 Adds Native Baybayin Keyboard to iPhone: Here is How to Enable It

Apple quietly included a Baybayin keyboard layout in iOS 27, announced at WWDC 2026. This is the first time Baybayin is available as a built-in system keyboard on iPhone, without needing to buy a third-party app from the App Store.

Right now, the feature is live in the iOS 27 Developer Beta. If you are enrolled, here is how to turn it on.

How to Enable the Baybayin Keyboard on iOS 27

Install the iOS 27 Developer Beta on your iPhone

Open Settings
Go to General
Tap Keyboard
Tap Keyboards
Tap Add New Keyboard
Scroll to Filipino (Tagalog)
Select the Baybayin script layout
Tap Done

What Is Baybayin?

Baybayin is the indigenous pre-colonial script of the Philippines. It was widely used before the Spanish colonial period gradually replaced it with the Latin alphabet, which eventually became the foundation of the modern Filipino writing system.

For most Filipinos, the script is unfamiliar in daily use. But there has been a steady cultural revival push, and its inclusion in iOS 27 piqued Filipinos on Reddit, where some users questioned its practical usability for everyday typing.

It is a fair point. Baybayin is an abugida, meaning consonants carry an inherent vowel. Typing Filipino words requires a different logic compared to a standard QWERTY layout. There is a learning curve.

But here is where it gets interesting. iOS 27 is not just adding Baybayin for the Philippines.

Apple also included keyboard support for Afrikaans, Basque, Galician, Guarani, Luxembourgish, Xhosa, and Zulu, suggesting this is part of a broader push to bring indigenous and regional scripts into the native keyboard system.

iOS 27 itself is a major update, bringing a refreshed Liquid Glass design system, apps that launch 30% faster, AirDrop transfers that are 80% faster, and performance improvements for older iPhones. The Baybayin keyboard is one of the smaller but culturally notable additions buried in a long feature list.

The developer beta is available now to registered Apple Developer accounts. A public beta is expected to follow. The stable release of iOS 27 typically drops alongside the new iPhone lineup in September.

Will you give the Baybayin keyboard a try, or is it more of a novelty feature for you? Drop your thoughts in the comments.