Club Benefits
WWDC 2026 is closing in on us fast, and that's where Apple is going to spill the beans on all the new software it has coming our way before the end of the year. There's still a lot we don't know about iOS 27 right now, but it sounds like the Safari web browser will be copying a particularly neat trick from Google Chrome.
According to Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, Apple has started testing a feature that will automatically group tabs in Safari. The ability to group tabs in Safari is nothing new, but this feature will likely take some cues from Google Chrome and start grouping things together without specific directions from the user.
How automatic tab organization could work
You will apparently have to explicitly choose the automatic grouping option, so the ability to manually organize tabs doesn't seem to be going away. That's beneficial for those of us who prefer to maintain control over what our phone does, rather than handing over the work to AI. However, Gurman notes that even though this feature does seem to involve AI of some kind, it hasn't been listed as part of Apple Intelligence.
That said, I could easily see that changing if Apple wants to renew its AI push following the rumored launch of the Gemini-powered Siri later this year.
The automatic organization will apparently group tabs "into topics you browse," though Gurman doesn't cite any specific examples of how the system will decide what goes where. Presumably, things will be somewhat open-ended, with the ability to group tabs dynamically without adhering to a fixed list of topics.
Gurman also reiterates previous reports that iOS 27 won't undo the controversial changes made with iOS 26 and the launch of Liquid Glass. He claims that Apple will be refining the new design, with additional options to customize the effect. Gurman also believes that, despite the online backlash, Liquid Glass has "been a net positive" for Apple. It's unlikely that he's alone in that assessment.
WWDC 2026 kicks off with a keynote address on June 8, and it's here that Apple will reveal what it has planned for iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, and all the other pieces of software Apple devices rely on. Be sure to read our WWDC 2026 preview for the latest news and rumors, plus what we expect to see from the conference.
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