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Tell HN: iOS 27 does not allow Apple Intelligence to be disabled

72 points by nunez 18d ago

I'm surprised that this didn't get more attention during the Beta period. iOS 26 had a toggle you could select to disable all Apple Intelligence features. That toggle was removed for iOS 27. Every AI feature has to be turned off individually: https://archive.ph/AE72I There is a way of turning it off through Content Restrictions in Screen Time, but one Redditor reported that doing this disables CarPlay for some reason. This is pretty disappointing.

hnburnsy 18d ago
Just like notifications in iOS that cannot be disabled globally.
neilalexander 18d ago
There is a “Turn off Siri” option. Apple Intelligence & Siri are now effectively one.
- metaltyphoon 18d ago
  Didn’t matter, the space on disk still not reclaimed. On my macbook air it’s 35GB
  - brudgers 18d ago
    The headline was “iOS”
    - metaltyphoon 18d ago
      Applies to both sadly.
      - al_borland 18d ago
        My iPhone 16 Pro shows Apple Intelligence using 6.62GB, not 35GB.
        metaltyphoon 17d ago
        My iPhone 15 pro is showing 15GB
        gaws 17d ago
        All a ploy to buy a newer phone with more storage.
- nunez 17d ago
  This also turns off CarPlay and disables Voice Recognition for HomePods.
rgovostes 18d ago
There is no actual feature called "Apple Intelligence", it's a marketing term for a handful of disparate features that they are applying everywhere. Is the excellent OCR that lets me select text within an image Apple Intelligence? It uses local models. Or the prediction engine that optimizes battery life by backgrounding apps you're less likely to use, or applies updates while you're sleeping? What about the Latent Semantic Mapping text classification framework, which uses language models for fuzzy document search -- and has been around since 2007? It wouldn't have made sense in the past to add a master kill switch for all these features, and it doesn't really make sense now to have one for the latest iteration.
- _boffin_ 18d ago
  i really thought "Apple Intelligence" is the addition of data into Knowledge.db, but i guess not.
- iAMkenough 18d ago
  Yes, but at the end of the day they took away a toggle that allowed you to remove the latent models you don’t use and reclaim space you need. With Apple Intelligence disabled and ~8GB reclaimed, you could still OCR, still use Siri, still separate subject from background, translate text, so on and such. Now it’s all or nothing, shoving LLM weights into 128GB of storage for some people. There’s a better approach.
  - layer8 18d ago
    CNET says that the OS auto-reclaims the space when needed: https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/how-to-turn-off-apple-intelligence/ https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/how-to-turn-...
    - iAMkenough 18d ago
      That’s actually more frustrating, since it qualifies with “that now-inactive space” after disabling Siri. To me that means if you go with the “nothing” route and disable Siri, the local latent models aren’t removed from storage until your device fills up, with the hope you enable Siri again. Akin to all of Microsoft's apps with disparate Windows features pre-installed and unable to be removed from your device except through Storage Sense.
aristofun 18d ago
That really is a bummer, especially on basic older models where 8-20Gb of space wasted on this gimmick even if turned off is not nothing.
skeledrew 18d ago
So interesting. Before, it was great rejoicing, smugness and whatever other related expressions when headlines were saying "Apple is sitting out AI". Now, there's evidence that it isn't the case, and there's... mostly silence, and some mild disappointment. Everywhere else there is outrage and strong feeling expressed about how Y company is slipping AI into everything, but not when it comes to the fruit company. Of course they can do no wrong; it's always the user who's at fault and needs to adopt the correct(ed) path. Funny people.
- kingkongjaffa 17d ago
  It's just following changing sentiment. At the time of the adverts, only a few % of tech workers were using LLMs for daily use, that number has skyrocketed and so has the appetite and acceptance that this technology is here to stay and be embraced as a serious tool for work. It was not at all clear (to me as a relative 'normie' and not an AI researcher) prior to about GPT4 / Sonnet 3 that they would be more than a research lab toy.
  - skeledrew 17d ago
    I don't get the feeling that the outrage has decreased. Actually I'd say it's increasing as more fields are "threatened" by the incursion.
Jackknife9 17d ago
If you go to settings and disable Siri AI and Siri and then re-enable it you get the option "Try Siri AI" and "Use Siri Classic". This disabled most AI features from what I can see. The only one it didn't was notification prority.
ChristmasTomer 17d ago
Yeah, this kinda sucks. I don’t really care what Apple calls it. If there was one switch before, why remove it? If this stuff takes up a few gigs, just let people turn it all off. Easy.
pm_confidant 17d ago
I belive they are investing on Apple Intelligence a lot more, I have myself built a series of apps on top https://yourconfidant.ai/ https://yourconfidant.ai/
singularity2001 17d ago
Lucky you, I cannot enable it (EU).
nunez 17d ago
Okay, I have an update. It turns out that you CAN disable MOST of the Apple Intelligence features without compromising HomePod features or CarPlay by either: A) Downloading and installing the profile I just created that does everything that follows below here (https://github.com/carlosonunez/bash-dotfiles/blob/main/ios-profiles/disableAppleSiriAI.mobileconfig https://github.com/carlosonunez/bash-dotfiles/blob/main/ios-...), or B) Doing these things: 1) Going to Settings > Siri and changing the "Language" to something other than "English (United States)." (I changed mine to "English (Canada).") This automatically disables Siri AI and restores Siri Classic. You'll need to go through voice training again though. 2) Going to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Siri and setting "Siri" to "Siri Classic." 3) Going to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Siri and setting all Apple Intelligence features (Writing/Math Assistance, Image Creation, Extensions) to "Blocked" or "Don't Allow" 4) Going to Settings > Messages and setting "Summarize Messages" to OFF 5) Going to Settings > Mail and setting "Summarize Messages" to OFF. (This might disappear after following step [3]) Steps 1 and 2 delete the Apple Intelligence models from your phone, giving you about 30GB of space back. (Courtesy goes to this Reddit post: https://old.reddit.com/r/ios/comments/1wh7i10/ios_27_how_to_turn_off_apple_intelligence/ https://old.reddit.com/r/ios/comments/1wh7i10/ios_27_how_to_...)
MotoriX 16d ago
Removing a single master switch and making users disable everything one by one sounds like a pretty pointless change. What was wrong with just letting people turn it all off?
- dormento 16d ago
  A frog must be boiled slowly.
vladsiu 16d ago
[dead]
Studui81Labs 15d ago
[flagged]

72 points by nunez 18d ago

hnburnsy 18d ago

Just like notifications in iOS that cannot be disabled globally.

neilalexander 18d ago

There is a “Turn off Siri” option. Apple Intelligence & Siri are now effectively one.

metaltyphoon 18d ago
Didn’t matter, the space on disk still not reclaimed. On my macbook air it’s 35GB
- brudgers 18d ago
  The headline was “iOS”
  - metaltyphoon 18d ago
    Applies to both sadly.
    - al_borland 18d ago
      My iPhone 16 Pro shows Apple Intelligence using 6.62GB, not 35GB.
      - metaltyphoon 17d ago
        My iPhone 15 pro is showing 15GB
        gaws 17d ago
        All a ploy to buy a newer phone with more storage.
nunez 17d ago
This also turns off CarPlay and disables Voice Recognition for HomePods.

rgovostes 18d ago

There is no actual feature called "Apple Intelligence", it's a marketing term for a handful of disparate features that they are applying everywhere. Is the excellent OCR that lets me select text within an image Apple Intelligence? It uses local models. Or the prediction engine that optimizes battery life by backgrounding apps you're less likely to use, or applies updates while you're sleeping? What about the Latent Semantic Mapping text classification framework, which uses language models for fuzzy document search -- and has been around since 2007? It wouldn't have made sense in the past to add a master kill switch for all these features, and it doesn't really make sense now to have one for the latest iteration.

_boffin_ 18d ago
i really thought "Apple Intelligence" is the addition of data into Knowledge.db, but i guess not.
iAMkenough 18d ago
Yes, but at the end of the day they took away a toggle that allowed you to remove the latent models you don’t use and reclaim space you need. With Apple Intelligence disabled and ~8GB reclaimed, you could still OCR, still use Siri, still separate subject from background, translate text, so on and such. Now it’s all or nothing, shoving LLM weights into 128GB of storage for some people. There’s a better approach.
- layer8 18d ago
  CNET says that the OS auto-reclaims the space when needed: https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/how-to-turn-off-apple-intelligence/ https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/how-to-turn-...
  - iAMkenough 18d ago
    That’s actually more frustrating, since it qualifies with “that now-inactive space” after disabling Siri. To me that means if you go with the “nothing” route and disable Siri, the local latent models aren’t removed from storage until your device fills up, with the hope you enable Siri again. Akin to all of Microsoft's apps with disparate Windows features pre-installed and unable to be removed from your device except through Storage Sense.

aristofun 18d ago

That really is a bummer, especially on basic older models where 8-20Gb of space wasted on this gimmick even if turned off is not nothing.

skeledrew 18d ago

So interesting. Before, it was great rejoicing, smugness and whatever other related expressions when headlines were saying "Apple is sitting out AI". Now, there's evidence that it isn't the case, and there's... mostly silence, and some mild disappointment. Everywhere else there is outrage and strong feeling expressed about how Y company is slipping AI into everything, but not when it comes to the fruit company. Of course they can do no wrong; it's always the user who's at fault and needs to adopt the correct(ed) path. Funny people.

kingkongjaffa 17d ago
It's just following changing sentiment. At the time of the adverts, only a few % of tech workers were using LLMs for daily use, that number has skyrocketed and so has the appetite and acceptance that this technology is here to stay and be embraced as a serious tool for work. It was not at all clear (to me as a relative 'normie' and not an AI researcher) prior to about GPT4 / Sonnet 3 that they would be more than a research lab toy.
- skeledrew 17d ago
  I don't get the feeling that the outrage has decreased. Actually I'd say it's increasing as more fields are "threatened" by the incursion.

Jackknife9 17d ago

If you go to settings and disable Siri AI and Siri and then re-enable it you get the option "Try Siri AI" and "Use Siri Classic". This disabled most AI features from what I can see. The only one it didn't was notification prority.

ChristmasTomer 17d ago

Yeah, this kinda sucks. I don’t really care what Apple calls it. If there was one switch before, why remove it? If this stuff takes up a few gigs, just let people turn it all off. Easy.

pm_confidant 17d ago

I belive they are investing on Apple Intelligence a lot more, I have myself built a series of apps on top https://yourconfidant.ai/ https://yourconfidant.ai/

singularity2001 17d ago

Lucky you, I cannot enable it (EU).

nunez 17d ago

Okay, I have an update. It turns out that you CAN disable MOST of the Apple Intelligence features without compromising HomePod features or CarPlay by either: A) Downloading and installing the profile I just created that does everything that follows below here (https://github.com/carlosonunez/bash-dotfiles/blob/main/ios-profiles/disableAppleSiriAI.mobileconfig https://github.com/carlosonunez/bash-dotfiles/blob/main/ios-...), or B) Doing these things: 1) Going to Settings > Siri and changing the "Language" to something other than "English (United States)." (I changed mine to "English (Canada).") This automatically disables Siri AI and restores Siri Classic. You'll need to go through voice training again though. 2) Going to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Siri and setting "Siri" to "Siri Classic." 3) Going to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Siri and setting all Apple Intelligence features (Writing/Math Assistance, Image Creation, Extensions) to "Blocked" or "Don't Allow" 4) Going to Settings > Messages and setting "Summarize Messages" to OFF 5) Going to Settings > Mail and setting "Summarize Messages" to OFF. (This might disappear after following step [3]) Steps 1 and 2 delete the Apple Intelligence models from your phone, giving you about 30GB of space back. (Courtesy goes to this Reddit post: https://old.reddit.com/r/ios/comments/1wh7i10/ios_27_how_to_turn_off_apple_intelligence/ https://old.reddit.com/r/ios/comments/1wh7i10/ios_27_how_to_...)

MotoriX 16d ago

Removing a single master switch and making users disable everything one by one sounds like a pretty pointless change. What was wrong with just letting people turn it all off?

dormento 16d ago
A frog must be boiled slowly.

vladsiu 16d ago

[dead]

Studui81Labs 15d ago

[flagged]