macOS 27 Golden Gate Guide: All the new features coming to compatible Macs, 2026 release date and more

Macworld

Apple has officially unveiled macOS 27 Golden Gate, the next major update for the Mac, bringing Apple’s next-generation Apple Intelligence platform to compatible devices. The update introduces an all-new Siri AI assistant, major upgrades to apps including Safari, Photos, Messages, Mail and Calendar, as well as expanded child safety features, design refinements and performance improvements throughout the operating system.

Golden Gate continues Apple’s tradition of naming macOS releases after iconic Californian landmarks. Among the headline additions are Siri AI, a completely redesigned version of Siri powered by Apple Intelligence, new AI-powered tools across Apple’s apps, enhanced photo editing capabilities, smarter web browsing in Safari, and new automation features that make it easier to get things done on a Mac.

macOS 27 will be supported on all Macs powered by Apple silicon, marking the end of the road for Intel-based Macs. While Intel models are no longer eligible for the new operating system, Apple is expected to continue providing security updates for those devices for some time.

The developer and public betas of macOS 27 are available now. Following several months of testing, Apple is expected to release the finished version to all users this autumn. This hub covers everything Apple has announced for macOS 27 Golden Gate, including new features, compatibility details, beta release information, Apple Intelligence enhancements and the all-new Siri AI experience.

What’s New in macOS 27 Golden Gate at a Glance

Apple

Siri AI: A completely redesigned Siri powered by Apple Intelligence that can understand personal context, answer questions from the web, and take actions across apps.
Visual Intelligence on Mac: Ask questions about anything on your screen, including images, files and text, using a dedicated shortcut.
Safari AI Tools: Automatically groups related tabs, monitors websites for changes such as price drops, and can even generate custom extensions from a description.
Apple Intelligence across apps: Adds AI-powered features to Messages, Mail, Calendar, Photos and Shortcuts to help write, organise, edit and automate tasks.
Child Safety Upgrades: Introduces Ask to Browse, Time Allowances, enhanced Communication Safety and redesigned parental controls to help keep children safe online.

Siri AI: Siri powered macOS 27 features

Foiundry

Apple’s biggest focus in macOS 27 Golden Gate is Siri AI, a completely redesigned version of Siri powered by Apple Intelligence. Rather than functioning as a simple voice assistant, Siri AI is designed to act as a conversational AI assistant that can answer questions, understand personal information, access web knowledge, and perform actions across apps and services.

At a glance: What’s new with Siri AI?

Conversational AI assistant: Siri AI will be far more capable than previous versions of Siri, according to Apple, allowing users to ask open-ended questions, brainstorm ideas, conduct research, and hold natural back-and-forth conversations rather than relying on simple voice commands.

Dedicated Siri app: macOS 27 will offer a standalone Siri app that stores conversations in one place and sync them across Apple devices through iCloud. For example, users could start a conversation on their Mac and continue it later on their iPhone or iPad.

Personal context awareness: Siri will be able to understand information stored across your messages, emails, notes, photos and files. Apple says Siri will be able to locate specific information, find content you’ve saved in the past, and surface relevant details based on your personal data.

Web-powered answers: Unlike previous versions of Siri, Siri AI will be able to access up-to-date information from the web to answer questions on virtually any topic. Apple says it will be able to help with research, interview preparation, learning new subjects and gathering information quickly.

App actions and automation: Siri AI will be able to take action across apps including Messages, Music, Reminders and more. Users will be able to edit messages, manage playlists, create reminders and perform other tasks using natural language rather than navigating menus manually.

Spotlight integration: Siri AI will be built directly into Spotlight Search on macOS. Users will be able to type questions into Spotlight, receive AI-generated answers, and launch Siri-powered searches without opening a separate app or switching to a web browser.

Visual Intelligence on Mac: For the first time, Visual Intelligence is coming to macOS. Users will be able to select content on screen and ask Siri questions about images, files, documents and text, allowing the assistant to understand and respond to onscreen content.

Integrated Writing Tools: Siri AI will generate text from scratch, rewrite drafts, summarise content and refine existing writing. Apple says it will even adapt its tone, wording and punctuation to match how users typically communicate with individual contacts.

Improved dictation: Apple says it will significantly upgrade systemwide dictation with better speech recognition. Dictation will automatically add punctuation, capitalisation and formatting while improving accuracy, making it easier to turn spoken words into polished text.

Custom Siri voices: Users will be able to personalise Siri by selecting a voice and adjusting its pace and expressiveness. Apple says this allows Siri to sound more natural and better suited to individual preferences, although the feature requires newer Apple silicon hardware.

Availability: Apple says Siri AI will enter beta later this year and initially support English. It requires Apple Intelligence-compatible hardware.

Apple Intelligence across macOS 27

As well as powering Siri, the enhanced Apple Intelligence will power some other systemwide features in macOS 27.

Systemwide Proofreading: Apple Intelligence will provide automatic proofreading and improved spelling and grammar suggestions throughout the operating system.

Intelligent File and Folder Naming: In macOS 27 names for files and folders will be automatically suggested based on their contents.

Privacy: Apple emphasised that the new AI architecture maintains privacy protections. Apple claims Apple Intelligence continues to use on-device processing whenever possible and relies on Private Cloud Compute when additional processing power is required. Personal data processed through Private Cloud Compute is not stored or made accessible to Apple, and the system remains open to independent verification by security researchers.

Safari features coming in macOS 27

Apple

Safari is set to gain several Apple Intelligence-powered features in macOS 27, including the ability to automatically organise tabs into topics, monitor webpages for changes such as price drops and restocks with Notify Me, and generate custom browser extensions from a text description.

Automatic Tab Topics: Safari will be able to automatically group related tabs into topics. Apple says that by continually organizing tabs as users browse, Safari will help keep research and projects organized.

Notify Me: Safari will be able to monitor web pages for changes. For example, users will be able to ask Safari to watch for product restocks, price changes, or other updates and receive notifications when those changes occur.

Describe an Extension: Users will be able to create custom Safari extensions simply by describing what they want.
Apple says Safari can generate the extension directly from a text description and add it to the toolbar.

Messages and Mail features coming in macOS 27

Messages and Mail are to gain deeper Apple Intelligence integration in macOS 27. For example, Mail and Messages are will offer smarter Smart Reply suggestions that can reflect a user’s personal writing style.

One-Tap Suggestions in Messages: Messages will suggest actions based on conversation context. Apple says users will be able to quickly create reminders, notes, or perform other tasks directly from a conversation.

Smarter Photo Suggestions: Messages will identify and surface relevant photos based on keywords, people, and locations mentioned in chats.

Personalized Smart Reply: Both Messages and Mail will be able to mimic a user’s writing style depending on the recipient for a ‘Smart Reply’.

More Relevant Search in Mail: Mail will introduce a new search ranking system designed to surface the most relevant results first.

Photos features coming in macOS 27

A new suite of AI-powered editing tools are coming to Photos in macOS 27 that should make it easier to transform and improve photos without needing advanced editing skills.

Spatial Reframing: It will be possible to intelligently reframe images, recomposing images after they’ve been taken.

Extend Tool: A new Extend tool will expand photos beyond their original boundaries.

Enhanced Clean Up: The updated Clean Up tool will be able to remove larger unwanted objects from images more effectively than it can presently.

Design and Interface Changes in macOS 27

Apple

macOS Golden Gate will feature several UI tweaks that address some of the criticisms of macOS 26’s Liquid Glass. For example, macOS 27 will offer improved readability and stronger contrast than Liquid Glass does currently.

Changes include:

Improved readability with more refined Liquid Glass effects throughout macOS.
Better contrast to make interface elements easier to distinguish.
More consistent refraction effects across windows, menus and controls.
Updated toolbars with a cleaner, more unified design.
Edge-to-edge sidebars that extend fully to the edge of windows rather than appearing to float.
Refreshed menu bar icons with a more polished appearance.
Background bars behind window controls to make icon clusters stand out more clearly.
More consistent rounded window corners throughout the operating system.
Liquid Glass app icons that add greater depth and a more three-dimensional look.
Customisable Liquid Glass appearance, allowing users to adjust the effect from ultra-clear to fully tinted

Performance Improvements in macOS 27

Apple says macOS 27 delivers performance improvements throughout the operating system, including:

Faster AirDrop transfers
Faster network file browsing
Faster Safari start page loading

macOS 27 will also add support for higher-resolution ultrawide displays, including 5K at 120Hz. Display arrangements will also be remembered more reliably when reconnecting monitors.

macOS 27 Compatible Macs

Foundry

Apple confirmed that macOS 27 Golden Gate is compatible with:

MacBook Neo (A18 Pro, 2026)
MacBook Air (Apple silicon, 2020 and later)
MacBook Pro (Apple silicon, 2020 and later)
iMac (Apple silicon, 2021 and later)
Mac mini (Apple silicon, 2020 and later)
Mac Studio (2022 and later)
Mac Pro (Apple silicon, 2023 and later)

All those Macs will be able to support Apple Intelligence, but some Siri AI features require M3 with at least 12GB of unified memory or later.

macOS 27 release date: When will macOS 27 be available?

First developer beta: June 8, 2026
First public beta: July 13 2026
Final version: September 2026

Apple debut macOS 27 in a keynote at WWDC26. The official version of macOS 27 will not be available until later in 2026. In recent years, Apple has released macOS at the same time as iOS. The iOS release has been happening during the second week of September, so Monday, September 14, is our guess as to when macOS 27 becomes available to everyone.

When will the macOS 27 beta be released?

Apple

However, it isn’t necessary to wait until the fall to try out the new features in macOS 27. Apple released the first developer beta at WWDC. The first public beta became available on July 13, 2026.

The beta cycle includes several iterations as Apple refines the software. Here’s how you can participate in the beta program.

We have an Apple WWDC event blog if you want to read expert commentary and our immediate reactions and what the WWDC news means to you.

FAQ

When is macOS 27 coming out

Apple hasn’t confirmed exactly when macOS 27 will be available to install, but it usually launches to the general public in September, or at the latest October.

Once macOS 27 launches Apple will likely continue beta development to test new features that weren’t available at launch.

Should I install the macOS 27 beta?

Whether you should install the macOS 27 beta depends on your needs, technical expertise, and tolerance for bugs and instability. Beta software can introduce crashes, data loss, app compatibility problems, excessive battery drain, reduced performance, and other unexpected issues.

For most users, the recommendation is simple: don’t install it. If you’re eager to try the new features, it’s better to wait for the Public Beta and avoid installing it on your primary Mac.

Developers are a different case. The Developer Beta is available now through Apple’s Developer Program, allowing app creators to test their software against new APIs, frameworks, and system features before the public release. If you’re not a developer, think carefully before installing the Developer Beta, as it is typically less stable and more prone to bugs than later beta releases.

Regardless of which beta you choose, make sure you have a complete backup of your Mac before upgrading.

Which Macs get macOS 27

All M-series Macs will get macOS 27, and the MacBook Neo.

Certain Siri features will only be available for M3 Macs and newer.

Should Intel Mac owners upgrade now?

Intel Mac owners should upgrade to Apple Silicon as soon as possible. The transition away from Intel hardware has reached a critical turning point, with software support rapidly vanishing and a new generation of affordable entry-level hardware making the switch more accessible than ever.

Apple has confirmed that macOS 27 will not support any Intel-based Macs. While a small number of Intel models may receive security patches for older versions of macOS until September 2028, they are already excluded from modern flagship features.

Those with Intel Macs also miss out on many features, including Apple Intelligence.

What does the end of Rosetta support mean?

macOS 27 will end support for Rosetta 2, Apple’s translation technology that allows Intel-based Mac apps to run on Apple Silicon Macs.

The end of Rosetta 2 support marks the final stage of Apple’s transition away from Intel-based architecture, effectively terminating the ability of M-series Macs to run older software designed for Intel processors. Rosetta 2 has served as a “translator” or “transition layer” since 2020, allowing Apple silicon to execute x86_64 instructions.

The move further accelerates Apple’s transition away from Intel-era software. As of the macOS 26.4 update, users are already seeing Rosetta 2 warnings.