macOS 26 → 27

New features

New in macOS Golden Gate 27 · 21

• Age-based parental controls

  Children’s devices come with age-based controls for screen time, content and communication.

• Apple Intelligence photo editing

  Reframe photos after taking them, extend their borders and remove distracting objects more precisely.

  Apple Intelligence is available with Siri and device language set to Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, or Vietnamese.

• Ask to Browse

  Parents can turn on Ask to Browse and Ask to Buy for their child.

• Calendar events from a description

  Add a calendar event by describing it; editing the description updates the details.

  Apple Intelligence is available with Siri and device language set to Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, or Vietnamese.

• Call Context

  Shows relevant information from your apps when you call a business.

  Apple Intelligence is available with Siri and device language set to Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, or Vietnamese.

• Child account setup

  Creating a child account with enhanced safeguards is easier.

• Generated subtitles

  Generate synced subtitles for any video and translate existing captions.

• Genmoji

  Create a Genmoji from a description, another emoji or a photo.

  Apple Intelligence is available with Siri and device language set to Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, or Vietnamese.

• Image Playground

  Describe an image to create, edit and share original, photorealistic images.

  Apple Intelligence is available with Siri and device language set to Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, or Vietnamese.

• Liquid Glass slider

  Adjust Liquid Glass from ultraclear to fully tinted.

• Mail search ranking

  An improved ranking system makes Mail search results more relevant.

• Mail suggestions

  Mail suggests quick actions such as creating an event or reminder based on the conversation.

  Apple Intelligence is available with Siri and device language set to Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, or Vietnamese.

• Natural language Shortcuts

  Describe a task and Shortcuts builds an automation across apps.

  Apple Intelligence is available with Siri and device language set to Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, or Vietnamese.

• Podcasts watch and listen switching

  Switch between watching and listening to a podcast and pick up where you left off.

• Pull-down refresh

  Pull down to refresh in apps like Safari, Mail, News, Podcasts and Calendar; AirDrop and Safari page loads are faster.

• Redesigned Screen Time controls

  Redesigned controls show how kids use their Mac and let parents make changes with a click.

• Siri AI

  A more capable Siri (beta) that understands you, your screen and your files and can find personal information across photos, mail, messages and calendar.

  Siri AI is available in beta in iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27, and visionOS 27 and requires an Apple Intelligence–enabled device set to a supported language.

• Siri app

  A dedicated Siri app keeps all conversations in one place across devices signed in to the same Apple Account.

• Visual Intelligence

  Take a screenshot and use Visual Intelligence to get information about it and search.

• Write with Siri

  Draft, proofread or rewrite text with Siri AI in apps such as Messages and Mail.

  Siri AI is available in beta in iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27, and visionOS 27 and requires an Apple Intelligence–enabled device set to a supported language.

• iCloud Shared Albums improvements

  Shared albums support full-resolution sharing, new filters and reactions, and easier sharing with Android and Windows users.

Settings that moved

From the Mac settings tracked by the Settings Pathfinder, compared between Apple's 26 and 27 User Guides.

• Screen Time

  macOS 26

  System Settings →then Screen Time →then App & Website Activity →then Turn On App & Website Activity

  macOS 27

  System Settings →then Screen Time →then Manage Screen Time →then Turn On App & Website Activity

• Siri

  macOS 26

  System Settings →then Apple Intelligence & Siri

  macOS 27

  System Settings →then Siri

New in Apple's 27 guide

• Screen Time
• Siri

No longer in Apple's 27 guide

• Screen Time
• Siri

Compatibility changes

“Not 26” usually means the model came out later. Only models in Osnivo's verified device list are counted.