New Touch Gesture Code Added to macOS 27.2 Beta Ahead of Rumored Touchscreen MacBook Pro

New touch-gesture references have surfaced in macOS 27.2 beta 3, pointing to additional touch support in Apple's built-in apps. The code was spotted by MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris.

The third developer beta, released today, contains references to "PXGTouchDwellGestureRecognizer" in Photos and "ICTouchPressGestureRecognizer" in Notes. Safari has a touch sentinel recognizer, while Quick Look includes a "dragTouch" feature, as detailed in the MacRumors report.

The references do not necessarily point to a new Mac. macOS Golden Gate already supports full touch input through Sidecar, which lets an iPad serve as a display for a Mac. The new code could extend that support rather than indicate a touchscreen built into a MacBook.

Touch-related changes are already visible in the launch version of Golden Gate, which added pull-to-refresh gestures in Safari, Mail, and Calendar. In the new beta, the Dock also gets a long-press animation for app icons, shown in a clip posted by ldt.

Earlier reporting described planned macOS changes for the rumored touchscreen notebook, including controls that enlarge after a tap and contextual menus positioned near the finger. Touch is expected to complement the keyboard and trackpad, not replace them, with scrolling and pinch-to-zoom also planned.

The redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch models are expected to get OLED displays, a Dynamic Island, and M5 Pro and M5 Max chips. The enclosure would also be significantly lighter than today's machines. The notebooks are already being tested with macOS 27.2 and could be announced as early as October, though the announcement could slip to November.