Apple appears to be working on a small but practical Safari upgrade that could matter most to people who keep dozens of tabs open at once. The feature, called Automatic Grouping for Tabs, is designed to sort tabs on its own instead of forcing users to manage every group manually.
The change is being tested for Safari across iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27. If it arrives as planned, the browser could organize open pages by topic and cut down on one of the most repetitive parts of daily browsing.
A more hands-off way to manage tabs
Safari already offers Tab Groups for separating work, personal, and other browsing sessions. The problem is that users still have to create and arrange those groups themselves, which can become tedious when tabs pile up quickly.
Automatic Grouping for Tabs is intended to reduce that burden. Mark Gurman of Bloomberg said in his Power On newsletter that Safari would identify related tabs and place them into suitable groups automatically.
That approach would make Safari feel closer to Google Chrome’s tab organization tools. Apple, however, appears to be aiming for a version that fits more naturally into Safari and its wider device ecosystem.
New control in the Safari interface
The feature is expected to appear through a button at the top center of Safari. That area is already used for switching between tab groups, and Apple is reportedly preparing a new tool there called Organise Tabs.
Users may also be able to choose between automatic and manual modes. When automatic mode is enabled, Safari is said to show a note that “tabs will group into topics you browse.”
For people who open many pages throughout the day, that could mean less repeated effort and a cleaner browser layout. The browser would handle more of the sorting work without requiring constant attention.
Hints of AI involvement
The same reporting says the feature had previously appeared in leaked code, which supports the idea that Apple has been building a smarter tab system for some time. Gurman also noted that Apple may use AI-based tools to make the function work.
If so, Safari would need more than simple sorting. It would have to understand how open pages relate to one another so the resulting groups make sense to the user.
That direction would fit Apple’s broader push to add more intelligent features across its software. In this case, the most visible result would likely be a browsing experience that feels more orderly with fewer manual steps.
Part of a larger software refresh
Apple is expected to introduce its next-generation operating systems at Worldwide Developers Conference in June. The lineup is said to include iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, and visionOS 27.
Because Automatic Grouping for Tabs is tied to that wave of updates, it looks less like an isolated tweak and more like part of a wider cross-platform effort. Safari is the default browser on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, so even modest changes can affect a very large number of users.
The comparison with Chrome is also notable because it suggests Apple is closing a convenience gap that has already been addressed by a rival browser. At the same time, Apple appears to be doing it in a way that stays aligned with Safari’s design and the company’s ecosystem.
visionOS 27 is also getting attention
Gurman also reported that Apple is preparing updates for visionOS 27 on Vision Pro. Those updates are said to focus on performance, bug fixes, and bringing its capabilities closer to iOS 27.
visionOS 27 is also expected to include AI-based editing tools, a new Siri feature, and other improvements that will also arrive on iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27. That suggests Apple is building a linked set of upgrades rather than separate changes for each platform.
For now, Automatic Grouping for Tabs remains in testing and has not been announced formally by Apple. The final details, feature name, and exact behavior could still change before the company unveils its next operating system generation at WWDC in June.
Source: www.gadgets360.com
