How to unplug from Apple Intelligence on iOS and macOS

AppleInsider

Apple Intelligence is still in its infancy, but not everyone wants to use it. Here's how to disconnect from Apple Intelligence on iOS and macOS.

Unplug from Apple Intelligence.

While artificial intelligence is gaining in popularity at an accelerated rate, some users have found they prefer to turn off Apple's AI, Apple Intelligence, on their iOS and macOS devices.

In iOS 18.3 Apple made Apple Intelligence be on by default. You may want to turn it off.

The reasons for this vary: Apple Intelligence still has a way to go before it is perfected, and its slow rollout indicates this could take some time.

It also increases processing and storage requirements on Apple devices - potentially causing performance issues for some. Others simply don't feel a need for it.

You might find you only want Apple Intelligence on when you need to look something up, or to ask it how to do something. The rest of the time you might want it to remain off.

Some users simply don't want their data processed and sent to Apple, even though Apple promises the data remains mostly anonymous and secure.

For an overview of how to install and enable Apple Intelligence see Apple's technote #121115 How to get Apple Intelligence.

For more info on setting up Apple Intelligence see our article How to use ChatGPT in Apple Notes for macOS.

Turning off Apple Intelligence

Most of the general Apple Intelligence settings can be found in the Settings app on iOS or in the System Settings app in macOS.

For either OS, go to the settings app on your device, then select Apple Intelligence & Siri on the left. From there, flip the main Apple Intelligence switch off.

There's also a separate switch named Siri which disconnects Apple Intelligence from Siri input.

Apple Intelligence installed and enabled in macOS Sequoia.

Even if you leave the main Apple Intelligence switch on, there's still a separate switch to disconnect it from Siri if you don't want it used with that feature. If you've enabled the ChatGPT extension with Apple Intelligence there's also a separate pane for that.

There are also various other hidden Settings switches that enable Apple Intelligence in Apple apps (in Messages and Screen Time settings, for example).

Turning off reporting

As we previously reported, Apple Intelligence keeps logs and reports of what it is doing on your Apple device. You might want to turn off reporting even if you leave Apple Intelligence on.

This is fairly easy to do and only requires a few steps on iOS and macOS devices. You can also change the report interval.

To see what Apple Intelligence has been doing on your Mac, or to change the reporting interval go to System Settings->Privacy & Security->Apple Intelligence Report.

Checking used storage

In iOS you can also see how much storage Apple Intelligence is (or was) using by going to Settings->General->iPhone Storage->iOS.

Under the iOS or iPadOS heading there's an Apple Intelligence row listing how much device storage it uses. The total can run anywhere from 5GB to 8GB - and the total used will likely increase over time as long as Apple Intelligence is turned on.

Once you turn Apple Intelligence off it will still use some storage on your device, but the amount it uses will likely be cut in half.

Which features you'll lose

Once you've turned everything off in the Settings app, Apple Intelligence stops running. To reactivate it simply turn the Settings switch(es) back on.

After you've turned Apple Intelligence off you'll lose these system-wide Intelligence features:

1. Summaries


2. Writing Tools


3. Visual Intelligence


4. Image Playground (if you've installed it)


5. Genmoji

As Apple Intelligence evolves it will be interesting to see what impacts it has on Apple systems in the future. For now not having it built-in and permanently force-enabled is a good thing for users.



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daalseth

Thank you for this. I had already shut AI down, but it was good to go through the checklist to make sure it was really quite sincerely dead. 

I look down the list:

1. Summaries
2. Writing Tools
3. Visual Intelligence
4. Image Playground (if you've installed it)
5. Genmoji

And there is absolutely nothing that I want anywhere near my Mac or devices. It’s not just that I don’t think I’ll use them. Rather I specifically and by name and function do NOT want them on my system. 

chasm

As a longtime professional editor and writer:

People who think their writing is perfect and doesn't need any proofreading are generally fools.

I can certainly see why some people might not want the other features of Apple Intelligence, but I'd encourage people to try the proofreading tools -- you may be surprised at how much it finds.

stabitha_christie

chasm said:

As a longtime professional editor and writer:

People who think their writing is perfect and doesn't need any proofreading are generally fools.

I can certainly see why some people might not want the other features of Apple Intelligence, but I'd encourage people to try the proofreading tools -- you may be surprised at how much it finds.

People that are fussy because of the inclusion of writing tools baffle me. I get not being particularly interested in the rewrite features, but the proofreading is a great addition to the OS. 

appleinsideruser

I love the proofreading, but the Oxford comma, I’m not so sure about…

dewme

Nice read. Technically accurate, unbiased, and levelheaded summary for users who want to take control of whether Apple Intelligence is enabled on their devices. Today I disable Apple Intelligence on my devices only because the listed functional capabilities are not things that I need in my everyday life. I do however use other AI products like ChatGPT, Copilot, and Google Labs’ image generation tools nearly every single day. There have been times when I’m on a chat or FaceTime and trying to show an example of something I’m trying to explain, like a physical item, and I’ll use an image generation tool AI tool to come up with an example. Sure, I could use an Apple Pencil and hand draw something, but AI based image generation is much faster and much better.

 I believe that one of the main things that is affecting a lot user’s perspective around AI, including Apple’s AI Apple Intelligence, is the use of the word “intelligence.” Anytime someone attaches a human or living organism based attribute like intelligence, reasoning, smartness, etc., to an inanimate machine or mechanism things can go badly if these terms are taken literally.

At some point these terms were probably associated with products or machine capabilities to provide a succinct way to project features that supposedly had elevated levels of automation or processing versus their non-automated competition or the status quoin . Put another way, it’s in some ways a clever marketing gimmick. This in no way devalues the advanced functionality or capabilities that the devices or applications delivers, but it leaves open the possibility that some folks, especially the media, sci-fi authors, and conspiracy theorists will instill fear and uncertainty in the minds of people who don’t understand what the technology actually is.

The mathematical basis for AI has been utilized for several decades, especially in the field of weather forecasting and other forms of predictive logic based applications. The supercomputers from 30-40 years ago were often used by weather forecasters and modelers. They were usually quite large, power hungry, and provided computational capabilities that pale in comparison to the attractive handheld and fully connected computers that we slide into our pockets every day in the present. At no point did people start talking about weather forecasting algorithms as being some form of insidious intelligence that was going to replace humankind. They were just tools to help us decide whether to consider packing an umbrella or getting the snowblower tuned up and ready to go. But as everyone knows quite clearly, the forecasts were not always accurate. That’s the nature of probability. 

Today’s AI is much more broadly applicable across a large swath of problem domains compared to weather forecasting. We now have an incredible amount of processing capability at our disposal and huge amounts of data to feed the algorithms, not to mention tiny supercomputers in our pockets attached to massive computing power in the cloud. But AI is still a prediction based tool that uses mathematical algorithms. It has no human intelligence, reasoning, free thought, sentience, love, hate, emotions, or anything that’s unique to living organisms.

AI is a tool.