Safari isn’t the only built-in app getting love in macOS 27. Apple has gone through several of its core apps and added new AI features, better productivity tools, and a bunch of small touches that make daily use nicer. Here’s the rest of what’s new.
Build Safari Extensions Using AI
One of the more interesting things in Safari is that you can now create simple browser extensions with Apple Intelligence, no coding required. You just describe what you want in plain English, and Safari builds it for you.
For example, you could ask it for an extension that shows the fonts used on a page, closes duplicate tabs on its own, changes a site’s colors, highlights important text, or handles small productivity chores. Safari generates the extension and installs it right into your browser. These aren’t meant for serious development, but they’re great for quick, lightweight tools when you don’t know how to code.
And you’re not locked in once it’s made. If you want changes, just describe them and Safari updates the extension for you. You can also edit its permissions, turn it on or off, and manage it next to your other extensions. All of that makes experimenting with browser tools far easier than it used to be.
Get Notified When a Website Changes
Safari also adds a handy feature called Notify Me. Instead of refreshing the same page over and over, you can have Safari watch it for you and ping you when something changes.
It works well for things like product availability, news, blog posts, sports scores, event announcements, and company press releases. You decide how often Safari checks the page, and you get a notification as soon as new content shows up. It’s especially useful for sites that don’t offer email alerts.
Safari Runs Better, Too
Apple put in some behind-the-scenes work as well. Safari now has smoother scrolling, better battery life, quicker responsiveness, and more fluid animations. None of it is flashy, but everyday browsing simply feels faster and more refined.
Smarter AI Editing in Photos
The Photos app picks up several powerful editing tools powered by Apple Intelligence, and they make editing easier even if you’ve never really done it before.
The Cleanup tool is smarter now. Rather than just erasing an unwanted object, it fills in the gap with realistic background detail so the result looks natural instead of patched over.
There’s also a new Extend feature that stretches the edges of a photo using AI. It’s handy for making wallpapers, fixing the composition, prepping images for social media, or widening a landscape shot. The new content blends in with the original surprisingly well.
The standout, though, is Reframe. Instead of plain cropping, it can rework a photo’s whole composition with AI: you can move the subject, change the perspective, expand the background, and generally improve the framing. On the Mac you also get manual sliders for vertical adjustment, zoom, straightening, and positioning, which give you finer control than you get on iPhone.
Shortcuts Just Got Much Friendlier
Apple has rebuilt the Shortcuts app around natural language. Before, you had to manually wire up a chain of actions, which scared off a lot of newcomers. Now you just say what you want, like “Create a GIF from a video,” and it builds the shortcut for you.
If it’s not quite right, you don’t start over. Just describe the fix, something like “Only use part of the video,” and the shortcut updates itself. It opens automation up to people who’ve never touched it, while advanced users can still go in and edit every action by hand.
A Cleaner Weather App
Weather got one of its biggest visual updates in years. At the top there’s now a Daily Highlight that sums up the day’s forecast in a glance, so you don’t have to scroll through several sections to know what to expect.
Several of the charts have been redesigned too, covering rain, wind, temperature trends, and daily patterns. The new graphs show current conditions right alongside what’s coming, which makes the forecast much easier to read at a glance.
Freeform Gets New Creative Tools
Apple has improved Freeform, its brainstorming and collaboration app. New additions include Dark Mode, folders for organizing your boards, drawing tools on the Mac, better collaboration options, shortcut automation, and improved management of shared boards. You can now sketch directly inside Freeform with a mouse or trackpad, which makes it a lot more useful for planning ideas and visual projects.
Notes Finally Lets You Draw
The Notes app now has built-in drawing tools, much like the ones on iPad. You can sketch with a pencil, marker, watercolor, or monoline pen, and there are extras like shapes, text boxes, color choices, and signature support. It brings the Mac version a lot closer to what iPad users already enjoy.
Passwords Can Fix Weak Passwords for You
Apple added a genuinely useful security feature to the Passwords app. If a saved password is weak or has been compromised, Apple Intelligence can replace it for you. With your permission, macOS will visit the website, generate a stronger password, walk through the change process, handle any verification codes, and save the new password securely. It takes a big chore off your plate and makes tightening up your accounts much quicker.
Video Podcasts Come to the Podcasts App
The Podcasts app is getting more flexible. You can now watch video podcasts right inside it, and there are new features like live captions, chapter navigation, and cleaner media controls. No more jumping to another app just to watch.
A Better Image Playground
Image Playground gets a cleaner design that makes creating AI images simpler. You can pick portrait or landscape layouts, choose different art styles, generate images from a description, or build them using your own photos. The whole thing feels faster and easier to move through than before.
Accessibility Upgrades
Apple keeps expanding accessibility across macOS. One nice addition is a dedicated section for Subtitles and Captions, where you can set your caption preferences once and have them apply across supported apps. That means your captions stay consistent whether you’re watching videos, reviewing media, or using other supported apps.
Better Support for External Displays
If you use professional monitors, there’s good news here. macOS 27 now supports Mac mirroring up to 5K, adds more high-resolution display modes and high refresh rate options, and improves compatibility with premium monitors. It all adds up to a smoother experience for creative pros and multi-monitor setups.
iPhone Mirroring Improvements
iPhone Mirroring picks up several upgrades, including support for DRM-protected video, better compatibility with streaming services, improved window resizing, and smoother performance overall. In short, you can now watch supported streaming content through iPhone Mirroring without running into the black-screen problem that used to get in the way.
Smoother System Animations
Apple has polished animations throughout the system. You’ll notice cleaner transitions in Mission Control, Spaces, window switching, app launching, and Finder. Small stuff, but together it makes macOS feel faster and more refined.
Faster Mac Setup
Setting up a new Mac is quicker too. Creating that first user account during initial setup now takes less time than before. It’s not something you’ll do often, but it gets a fresh Mac ready to use that much sooner.
How the First Beta Holds Up
Even though this is only the first developer beta, macOS 27 Golden Gate already feels surprisingly polished. Apple clearly chose to refine the system rather than pile on changes for the sake of it. The early highlights are better visual consistency, smarter AI throughout, improved responsiveness, a cleaner interface, more useful built-in apps, and a better multitasking experience.
As with any beta, expect some bugs and compatibility hiccups, and count on more fixes and features arriving in later betas before the public launch.
All in all, macOS 27 Golden Gate Beta 1 is one of the most balanced updates in years. Instead of reinventing the Mac, Apple has quietly improved nearly every corner of it, and the result is a faster, cleaner, and noticeably smarter experience.
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