Best Safari Features to Try in iOS 27, Including Apple Intelligence

Safari may already be your default browser on iPhone, but you might be overlooking some of its most useful features.

With iOS 27 and macOS 27, Apple is adding several new Apple Intelligence capabilities to Safari. The browser can now organize your tabs, monitor websites for changes and even create custom extensions using a simple description. Some are especially useful if you regularly shop online, research products, or juggle dozens of open tabs.

Here are five Safari features worth trying.

1. Organize tabs with Apple Intelligence

If you’re anything like me, Safari can quickly become a collection of articles, shopping pages and websites you intended to revisit weeks ago. One of the biggest additions in iOS 27 is Organize by Topic, which uses Apple Intelligence to automatically group related tabs.

For example, Safari can identify several open pages about gaming hardware and place them together, while separating recipes or travel research into different topics.

To enable it on iPhone:

• Open Safari and tap the ‘Tabs’ button.
• Select the ‘Organize’ button.
• Choose ‘Automatically Create Topics’.

Safari continues sorting new tabs as you browse. You can also move related pages into a traditional Tab Group if you want to keep them together permanently. On Mac, topics appear as collapsible groups in the tab bar. Unlike manually created Tab Groups, Apple Intelligence handles their names and organization.

2. Website updates with Notify Me

Notify Me might be the most practical Safari addition this year. Instead of constantly refreshing a webpage to see whether something has changed, Safari can monitor it for you.

Say you’re waiting for a gaming handheld to come back in stock, a concert announcement or a product to drop below a certain price. You can describe what you’re looking for and receive a notification when Safari detects a relevant update.

Open the webpage, tap the Page Menu and select ‘Notify Me’. Enter a request such as “Tell me when this product is back in stock,” then choose how frequently Safari should check.

The feature can continue checking after you close Safari. However, alerts created on your iPhone and Mac currently need to be configured separately because they don’t sync between devices. Notify Me uses Private Cloud Compute to process monitoring requests instead of using on-device processing power so as not to bog down the device.

3. Create Safari extensions without coding

Safari extensions aren’t new, but Apple Intelligence makes them much easier to create. With Describe an Extension, you can explain what you want a browser tool to accomplish without writing code.

In a behind-closed-doors demo, Apple showed how Safari can generate an extension to track coffee shops. It let users record ratings and comments directly in the browser. You can also create a timer to limit time spent on a website or a simple tool that changes how information appears on a page.

To try it, open Safari’s Page Menu and select ‘Describe an Extension’. Explain what you want, review the result and refine it using additional instructions. Safari first checks for existing App Store extensions before generating one. There are limitations. The feature can’t create certain tools, including ad blockers, and it may not support some complex requests.

4. Hide webpage elements with Distraction Control

Distraction Control is one of my favourite existing Safari features, especially when browsing websites packed with banners and floating elements. Open the Page Menu, select Hide Distracting Items, then tap the elements you want removed.

Apple demonstrated this using a recipe website. By hiding banners and other distractions, the ingredients became easier to capture in a single screenshot. Safari also remembers hidden elements when you revisit the page. Apple’s support documentation explains that frequently changing advertisements and other dynamic content may reappear. For articles, Reader Mode is another excellent option. It strips away much of the surrounding website interface, leaving a cleaner reading experience.

5. See how Safari protects your privacy

Safari includes Intelligent Tracking Prevention, which helps prevent third-party trackers from following your activity across multiple websites. To see it in action, open the Page Menu and look for ‘Privacy and Security’, where you can access Safari’s Privacy Report.

The report shows how many trackers Safari has prevented from profiling you, along with information about the websites involved. These protections are enabled by default, so they require no complicated setup.

For extra privacy, Safari’s Private Browsing mode doesn’t save local browsing history and can lock private tabs behind Face ID or a passcode. It’s worth remembering that Private Browsing doesn’t make you anonymous to websites or internet providers.

Which Safari features should you try?

For anyone updating to iOS 27, I’d start with Notify automatic tab organization and Me. Both address everyday browsing frustrations with minimal effort. Distraction Control is also worth keeping handy, particularly if you frequently read articles, save recipes or capture screenshots.

The new Apple Intelligence features require a compatible device, including iPhone 15 Pro models and newer supported iPhones. Availability may vary by language and region. Safari has always benefited from its close integration with Apple’s ecosystem. With iOS 27, it’s becoming much more useful for managing what you do online, not just displaying webpages.