ipados 18.2.1 'unskippable' apple intelligence setup screen

[stevemiller]

i updated from 18.2 to 18.2.1 and the welcome screen had a set up apple intelligence screen. there was no option other than 'continue'. i scoured for any small 'x' or 'maybe later' option, but there was none. i should have screen grabbed it. anyway. it then proceeded to ask me what siri voice i wanted (which i'd already set up, not sure why i have to do it again). then it went to the home screen. when i went to settings, apple intelligence was thankfully still off (as i'd set it in 18.2).

imo, making it seem like you have to enable apple intelligence to continue using the os is scummy. even if 'you could always turn it off again later', apple intelligence fills gigs of storage with its models, and it remains on the device even after disabling the feature.

and although it mercifully didn't enable anything, i just have to say the UX of this screen is absurd. i honestly couldn't tell you with apple's programming competence lately whether it was just an incredibly poorly labelled screen to ask me to confirm my siri voice, or if it was truly intended as a way to push their apple intelligence usage numbers up, and their own poor programming undercut their own attempt at strong-arming higher adoption numbers.

 

[russell_314]

I think you just possibly misunderstood the set up window. It’s just showing you a new feature, not saying you have to enable it. Of course, Apple is going to show the newest feature after an update.

As to it not giving you a choice or enabling anything, is it possible you don’t have an iPad with an M series chip? Maybe if you did it would’ve given you a choice to either turn it on or leave it off. It doesn’t make sense to have a pop-up window about a new feature and not even ask if you want to enable it. I had a similar experience on my iPhone, but it is not compatible so I didn’t get any choice to enable Apple Intelligence.

 

[BigBlur]

This happened to someone else too, and they were able to get a screenshot (link). Like you, it didn't turn on Apple Intelligence despite the button saying 'Set Up Now'.

Btw, if you haven't heard already, Apple Intelligence will be turned on automatically when upgrading to iOS/iPadOS 18.3 and macOS 15.3. It seems as if that "broken/non-functional" screen slipped into 18.2.1 when it shouldn't have.

macOS Sequoia 15.3 and iOS 18.3 Enable Apple Intelligence Automatically

When installing macOS Sequoia 15.3, iOS 18.3, or iPadOS 18.3, Apple Intelligence will be turned on automatically on compatible devices, Apple says in...

www.macrumors.com

 

[stevemiller]

This happened to someone else too, and they were able to get a screenshot (link). Like you, it didn't turn on Apple Intelligence despite the button saying 'Set Up Now'.

Btw, if you haven't heard already, Apple Intelligence will be turned on automatically when upgrading to iOS/iPadOS 18.3 and macOS 15.3. It seems as if that "broken/non-functional" screen slipped into 18.2.1 when it shouldn't have.

macOS Sequoia 15.3 and iOS 18.3 Enable Apple Intelligence Automatically

When installing macOS Sequoia 15.3, iOS 18.3, or iPadOS 18.3, Apple Intelligence will be turned on automatically on compatible devices, Apple says in...

www.macrumors.com

yes that is the exact screen i got.

what a disappointing confirmation of literally both my complaints that a) apple intends to force this feature on people rather than have them opt in and b) they are in fact so bad at software QA anymore that the popup in 18.2.1 was in fact a mistake.

maybe i'm just fired up and fed up with a lot of things, but this REALLY doesn't sit well with me. i've sent feedback to apple and i'd encourage others to do the same. even if you want and like apple intelligence, it should be an opt in thing. it doesn't take any effort for them to make the screen a yes/no question. i have previously tried it and turned it off, so the fact that potentially every update going forwards will disregard an explicit setting that i made on my system tells me apple does not respect me as a user or customer, and only view me as an install base metric to appease investors.

 

[stevemiller]

I think you just possibly misunderstood the set up window. It’s just showing you a new feature, not saying you have to enable it. Of course, Apple is going to show the newest feature after an update.

As to it not giving you a choice or enabling anything, is it possible you don’t have an iPad with an M series chip? Maybe if you did it would’ve given you a choice to either turn it on or leave it off. It doesn’t make sense to have a pop-up window about a new feature and not even ask if you want to enable it. I had a similar experience on my iPhone, but it is not compatible so I didn’t get any choice to enable Apple Intelligence.

i appreciate your help but every assumption you made here is incorrect.

as evidenced by BigBlur's post, apple IS planning to say we have to enable it. there is literally only one button that says "set up apple intelligence". and my device is apple intelligence compatible. i tried it, turned it off explicitly, and now the OS is saying it doesn't care that i took the explicit action of saying i don't want it, and i might have to potentially turn it off every time the os updates because they don't respect my decision.

 

[stevemiller]

to close this off this thread, i was happy to see 18.3 updated and respected the 'off' setting for apple intelligence for my ipad. either it was only auto-enabled in 18.3 betas (which to me is a more acceptable request since the expectation is to gather feedback for beta features) or they decided not to force it before final release. either way i'm satisfied with this outcome.

 

[russell_314]

i appreciate your help but every assumption you made here is incorrect.

as evidenced by BigBlur's post, apple IS planning to say we have to enable it. there is literally only one button that says "set up apple intelligence". and my device is apple intelligence compatible. i tried it, turned it off explicitly, and now the OS is saying it doesn't care that i took the explicit action of saying i don't want it, and i might have to potentially turn it off every time the os updates because they don't respect my decision.

Wait, what do you mean you turned it off? I’m confused now. In your original post, you said it didn’t turn on anything and you just had an issue with the UX. Did it enable Apple Intelligence without giving you a choice? I mean as possible this is going to be in the future, but I wasn’t replying to in the future possibilities but rather what you posted. I totally agree that if you turn it off and it turns back on that’s a problem, but is that what happened? Maybe I misunderstood what you meant when you said it didn’t enable anything?

and although it mercifully didn't enable anything, i just have to say the UX of this screen is absurd.

 

[stevemiller]

Wait, what do you mean you turned it off? I’m confused now. In your original post, you said it didn’t turn on anything and you just had an issue with the UX. Did it enable Apple Intelligence without giving you a choice? I mean as possible this is going to be in the future, but I wasn’t replying to in the future possibilities but rather what you posted. I totally agree that if you turn it off and it turns back on that’s a problem, but is that what happened? Maybe I misunderstood what you meant when you said it didn’t enable anything?

I mean i won’t harp on it too much longer since it didn’t end up actually turning anything on, which was my biggest concern in all this.

But the screen very clearly said it was going to enable Apple intelligence, with no option to decline it, which rubbed me the wrong way. And when I looked around online, several tech blogs were reporting that Apple did plan to enable it by default.

Ultimately, the forced “set up Apple intelligence now” button for 18.2.1 did not turn on Apple intelligence (whether by bug or by last minute decision change at Apple). And when 18.3 also dropped today it didn’t even ask about it at all after completing that update.

So while I still think it’s buggy and concerning that they were considering forcing on features that I already tried (in 18.2’s initial release), disliked, and turned off - at the end of the day I’m just glad they didn’t.

If they want to promote Apple intelligence adoption to users, I’m fine with a dialog asking for user permission, just like location services, camera/mic access, faceid, Apple Pay, etc.