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What are these servers actually used for? The Siri+LLM features of Apple Intelligence aren’t launched yet, and the other features like notification summaries r

What are these servers actually used for? The Siri+LLM features of Apple Intelligence aren’t launched yet, and the other features like notification summaries run on-device.

drcongo 8mo ago
I was wondering the same thing. I turned notification summaries off as they were less than useful, and I don't think I've stumbled across any other Apple Intelligence features apart from the laughable Image Playground or whatever it's called.
- toraway 8mo ago
  I cringe whenever I see the Image Playground icon on my MacBook. It somehow looks worse than most scammy image generation apps you see on half-page search ads on the App Store. I have no idea how Apple willingly released it like that. It was updated on my iPhone to a bland, forgettable abstract icon that’s still fairly mediocre but no longer an ongoing embarrassment for their corporate brand standards.
Analemma_ 8mo ago
I'm a complete Apple ecosystem user-- I have a Mac, an iPhone, an Apple Watch, Apple earbuds, and an Apple TV, and I also pay reasonably close attention to their announcements and developments-- and I couldn't tell you a single Apple Intelligence feature. Nor do I ever use Siri except for setting kitchen timers. Just a total failure of execution.
- Izikiel43 8mo ago
  > Nor do I ever use Siri except for setting kitchen timers. If it even works, it fails with "something went wrong" for me 3 out of 5 times
- altairprime 8mo ago
  The gorgeous rainbow border is one of the Apple Intelligence features, unavailable to plain Siri :/
- tensor 8mo ago
  What do people even expect from these intelligence services? Apple is always said to have failed, yet I've seen nothing in Windows that I'd actually want to use WRT to intelligence services. Siri being better at free form requests for actions and doing internet/knowledge searches is about all I can think of. But also, I use Kagi for that, and unless Siri has a pluggable backend for search I'm not sure being forced to use only Apple's search, if it ever exists, is a great design.
verdverm 8mo ago
The next Siri is Siri by Gemini, running on Google servers with Apple Privacy requirements. (aiui) https://www.macrumors.com/2026/01/30/apple-explains-how-gemini-powered-siri-will-work/ https://www.macrumors.com/2026/01/30/apple-explains-how-gemi...
aurea 8mo ago
Well... you can write Apple Shortcuts that send AI requests to their cloud.
tgrowazay 8mo ago
They are supposed to run Apple Intelligence for devices too old to do it themselves. https://security.apple.com/blog/private-cloud-compute/ https://security.apple.com/blog/private-cloud-compute/
- skygazer 8mo ago
  I don’t believe that’s true. Private Cloud Compute is restricted to newer phones that already support on device Apple Intelligence. It’s just that the on device model is basically limited to simple stuff. Safari page summarization and the text rewriting features are run in the cloud. You can tell because those features go away without a network connection, and don’t cause the phone to warm.

What are these servers actually used for? The Siri+LLM features of Apple Intelligence aren’t launched yet, and the other features like notification summaries run on-device.

drcongo 8mo ago

I was wondering the same thing. I turned notification summaries off as they were less than useful, and I don't think I've stumbled across any other Apple Intelligence features apart from the laughable Image Playground or whatever it's called.

toraway 8mo ago
I cringe whenever I see the Image Playground icon on my MacBook. It somehow looks worse than most scammy image generation apps you see on half-page search ads on the App Store. I have no idea how Apple willingly released it like that. It was updated on my iPhone to a bland, forgettable abstract icon that’s still fairly mediocre but no longer an ongoing embarrassment for their corporate brand standards.

Analemma_ 8mo ago

I'm a complete Apple ecosystem user-- I have a Mac, an iPhone, an Apple Watch, Apple earbuds, and an Apple TV, and I also pay reasonably close attention to their announcements and developments-- and I couldn't tell you a single Apple Intelligence feature. Nor do I ever use Siri except for setting kitchen timers. Just a total failure of execution.

Izikiel43 8mo ago
> Nor do I ever use Siri except for setting kitchen timers. If it even works, it fails with "something went wrong" for me 3 out of 5 times
altairprime 8mo ago
The gorgeous rainbow border is one of the Apple Intelligence features, unavailable to plain Siri :/
tensor 8mo ago
What do people even expect from these intelligence services? Apple is always said to have failed, yet I've seen nothing in Windows that I'd actually want to use WRT to intelligence services. Siri being better at free form requests for actions and doing internet/knowledge searches is about all I can think of. But also, I use Kagi for that, and unless Siri has a pluggable backend for search I'm not sure being forced to use only Apple's search, if it ever exists, is a great design.

verdverm 8mo ago

The next Siri is Siri by Gemini, running on Google servers with Apple Privacy requirements. (aiui) https://www.macrumors.com/2026/01/30/apple-explains-how-gemini-powered-siri-will-work/ https://www.macrumors.com/2026/01/30/apple-explains-how-gemi...

aurea 8mo ago

Well... you can write Apple Shortcuts that send AI requests to their cloud.

tgrowazay 8mo ago

They are supposed to run Apple Intelligence for devices too old to do it themselves. https://security.apple.com/blog/private-cloud-compute/ https://security.apple.com/blog/private-cloud-compute/

skygazer 8mo ago
I don’t believe that’s true. Private Cloud Compute is restricted to newer phones that already support on device Apple Intelligence. It’s just that the on device model is basically limited to simple stuff. Safari page summarization and the text rewriting features are run in the cloud. You can tell because those features go away without a network connection, and don’t cause the phone to warm.