I Tried macOS 27 Golden Gate and These Are My Five Favorite New Features

Apple's WWDC 2026 keynote dropped a ton of news, but as always, there’s even more bubbling under the surface. Developers are already diving into the first beta versions of macOS 27, codenamed "Golden Gate," and I've dusted off my own developer account to get an early look.

Good news for the curious: Accessing the developer beta is now free! You no longer need to pay the $99 annual fee; just register your Apple Account with the program. A word of caution, though: Betas are buggy. I haven't hit any major issues, but proceed with care on a secondary device, or wait for the public beta in July or the full release this Fall. For those running Apple Silicon Macs, Golden Gate promises some sweet upgrades. Here are my top five so far.

Automatic Safari Tab Organization

My browser often looks like a digital hoarder's paradise, so Safari’s new automatic tab organization is a game-changer. It promises to analyze open pages, identify similarities, and group them intelligently. Imagine all your project research tabs neatly bundled, or your daily news sites categorized without lifting a finger.

You can set this up under Safari > Settings > Tabs, choosing By recommended topics or Automatically. While it’s still early days and mostly groups tabs from the same site, the potential for a cleaner browsing experience is huge, and I expect Apple's AI to get smarter here fast.

Better Support for Ultrawide Displays

This one might be niche, but for ultrawide monitor users like me, it's a blessing. macOS 27 finally brings broader support for more native resolutions and refresh rates, along with sharper scaling. If your ultrawide felt a bit off with macOS before, prepare for a far smoother ride. Even better, Golden Gate remembers your window layouts across disconnects, so no more scattered desktop chaos when you plug back in.

Improved iPhone Mirroring

iPhone mirroring is already incredibly handy, and Golden Gate refines it further. You can now drag the mirrored iPhone window into a dual-pane, iPad-style layout for supported apps – a clear nod to future foldable devices, perhaps? Plus, accessing the iOS Control Center directly through mirroring is a neat trick. Just hit View > Control Center to toggle Airplane Mode or start a screen recording from your Mac.

A Slider for Liquid Glass

After a year of Liquid Glass being a "take it or leave it" visual, we finally have control! macOS 27 introduces a system-wide slider to adjust the amount of Liquid Glass translucency. Find it under Appearance in System Settings. The difference isn't dramatic from one extreme to the other in this beta – "fairly translucent" to "hardly translucent at all" – but the option to fine-tune your aesthetic is always welcome.

And of Course... Siri AI

The biggest buzz from WWDC was undoubtedly Siri AI, ready to take on Gemini and ChatGPT. While I’m still stuck on the waiting list (sigh!), the integration looks incredibly powerful. Imagine a smarter Siri popping up in Spotlight to answer complex questions, analyze on-screen content, browse your photos, or draft emails. There's even a dedicated app to review your chat history, and for the first time, Siri conversations will sync across all your Apple devices. The convenience alone could make this a killer feature, even before it fully matches its rivals.