It’s getting harder to avoid AI when you open your phone or laptop — as soon as I started this article in Google Docs, I was immediately offered some AI assistance to write it (which I didn’t take). and with Rollout of Apple IntelligenceWhich now also applies to iPhones, iPads, and Macs.
But if you’re not seeing much value in the Apple Intelligence features launched so far, you’re not alone: About three-quarters of iPhone owners can’t see what all the fuss is about. According to a recent survey. It is also worth noting that this AI add-on Get 7GB of local storage (and count) on each device you want to use them on.
The good news is that Apple Intelligence is reasonably easy to opt-in and disable, something not every company does with their AI tools (looking at you, Google and Microsoft). So if you look for features Writing tools And Summary of bad information More than necessary for your needs, you can turn them off.
Assuming you’ve already turned it on, here’s how to turn off specific Apple Intelligence features. And if you really don’t like it, here’s how to turn it off completely.
(The steps listed below were tested on an iPhone 15 Pro Max running iOS 18.2. You’ll find the same options available on iPadOS and macOS.)
Turn off individual Apple Intelligence features
Most, but not all, Apple Intelligence features can be disabled individually. open up Settings On your iPhone, and you will find a dedicated menu Apple Intelligence and Siri. After that, it depends on what you want to disable.
chatgpt
Tap ChatGPT extension To enable or disable additional AI smarts That chatgpt can add to Siri When you are asking for answers.
Notifications
AI notification summary which is recent Put Apple in trouble Can also be closed individually. From iOS Settings, select Notifications > Summarize the information To turn off the feature. You can also enable it for some apps but not others from the same screen.
Writing tools / drawing
You can turn off the writing tools and drawing, but you have to go through it screen time In settings:
- Tap Content and privacy restrictions.
- enable Content and privacy restrictions.
- Tap Intelligence and Siri.
- Tap Image composition or Writing toolsthen Do not allow.
It’s a clumsy fix — it’s really more to prevent kids from cheating on their homework — but it works. You won’t get a pop-up option to rewrite text, and you won’t be able to create a new Genmoji. Open the Image Playground app on iOS, and the option to create new images will be blocked (although you can access previous images you’ve saved).
Message priority
AI-powered message prioritization in Apple Mail is another feature you can manually disable — or, more precisely, hide from view.
- Within your mail app inboxTap the three dots at the top right.
- Switch on List view And unable Show preference.
Your inbox will return to the way it was before Apple Intelligence arrived.
That doesn’t leave much in terms of Apple Intelligence in iOS 18.2 that you can’t specifically disable. Photos have a clean up tool and Intelligent Breakthrough in Focus, but you can easily ignore these options if you don’t need them.
Completely turn off Apple Intelligence on your iPhone
If you really want nothing to do with Apple Intelligence, and you already have it enabled, you can turn it off completely.
- open up Settings > Apple Intelligence and Siri.
- See the Apple Intelligence toggle switch at the top to fully enable or completely disable the Apple Intelligence features on your iPhone.
The first time you turn this toggle switch on — assuming you do — iOS downloads the AI models it needs for local processing to your phone. These models, which take up 7GB or more of room, will then remain on your iPhone in the future, whether you have Apple Intelligence enabled or not.
If you want to disable Apple Intelligence And Free up space used by local iOS models, you need to reset your iPhone and start from scratch without enabling Apple Intelligence during setup. You can do this by selecting it from the settings General > Transfer or reset iPhone > Erase all content and settingsSince this will, of course, wipe everything on your phone, make sure you have all your important data Safely backed up.
At least for now, you have a lot of control when it comes to the Apple Intelligence features that are activated. We know, however, there are Many more AI upgrades on the waySo we’ll have to wait and see if Apple Intelligence is an optional extra for the iPhone.
