While we expected the OS 27.3 betas to give us our first look at the new Apple Watch Audio Intelligence and the redesigned Health app, Apple has offered a couple of features in today’s betas that we weren’t expecting. Available now in developer beta and coming soon to public beta testers, Apple has announced several new Safari features coming in the next iPhone and Mac update, including a couple of popular features inspired by Chrome and other browsers. Here’s a quick summary of the new features.
- Vertical tabs. Instead of the usual tab bar at the top of the browser window, open tabs can now appear on the left side of the window in version 27.3. Vertical tabs appear as icons by default, but you can resize the tab bar to make the titles visible. This feature is available for macOS 27.3 and iPadOS 27.3, and is also available on iPhone Duo.
- Adaptive dark mode. Some websites don’t provide a native dark mode, so you end up with the site in light mode and the browser borders in dark mode. This new feature will fix this issue by forcing non-native sites into dark mode. When Safari detects such a site, it notifies the user and asks if they want to try adaptive dark mode. Users also have the option to activate it automatically or on a site-by-site basis.
- Siri AI implementation. You can now tell Siri to perform browser tasks, such as clearing the cache and organizing tabs. Apple also plans to expand Siri’s knowledge of web page content beyond what is currently visible. These features require a Siri AI compatible device.
Safari 27.3 is part of OS 27.3, which is expected to reach non-beta testers in early December.
