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Safari is picking up touch gestures ahead of the rumored touchscreen MacBook.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Safari is apparently learning to play nice with fingers in the latest macOS beta. The reason could be the touchscreen MacBook. The tweaks are pretty small, but they do show Apple moving away from the app’s cursor-only interface and adding touch support.

For years, Apple has resisted touch on the Mac, but its first touch-enabled laptop is reportedly on the way later this month.

Apple is reportedly preparing to launch its first touchscreen MacBook Pro, potentially as soon as a special event supposedly scheduled for October 28. The laptop is expected to let users interact with macOS using their fingers as well as a trackpad and keyboard. Safari’s new touch-friendly controls could be part of Apple’s effort to adapt its desktop software for the change.

• See also: Why Apple’s touchscreen MacBook will be worth the wait

A prolific leaker who goes by pdfu spotted the changes and shared a short video on X. As per the post, they landed in macOS 27.2 beta 3 and beta 4.

In these betas, tabs in Safari now lift and scale up as you drag them to reorder. Tap and hold a tab, and the context menu will pop up. However, the touch version leaves out the Ask Siri option.

Pdfu labeled the post as “part 1” of a series. At this point, there are no more entries in the series, but more macOS touch toggles could already be on their way.

macOS 27 changes to accommodate touch, part 1:

Safari
• Tabs lift and scale as you drag to reorder.
• Tap and hold a tab to open its context menu. The touch menu omits “Ask Siri.”

Added in 27.2 beta 3 & 4. pic.twitter.com/KfHnL1Guxe

— pdfu (@itspdfu) October 14, 2026

Pdfu has become a valuable source of accurate info on Apple’s future software, regularly digging into beta code to uncover features early. They wrote about the Apple Watch Readiness app and new HomePod surround-sound capabilities well before these were official. Plus, they are the source for many more leaks. 

Apple’s touch groundwork keeps growing

The touch-related leaks extend beyond Safari. In the Notes app, betas for macOS 27.2 include references to press-based touch gestures, while Photos has code for recognizing a touch held in one place. Quick Look, which lets users preview files without opening them, includes a touch-drag feature.

The caveat is that these changes could also support Sidecar, Apple’s feature for using an iPad as a Mac display with touch input. But given the profusion of leaks about a touchscreen MacBook Pro, it’s very unlikely that these are limited to Sidecar. 

Touchscreen MacBook  launch could come October 28

With an Apple event reportedly set for October 28, the long-rumored touchscreen MacBook appears almost certain to arrive this month. Which means Apple needs to adapt macOS 27.2 for finger input, and the touch-friendly changes appearing in the latest beta suggest that work is already well underway.

• See also: Apple quietly sending invites to Oct. 28 Mac event