Turn off Apple Intelligence iOS 27

[tehabe]

Operating systems are full of thousands of features you never use but can't disable because they are baked in.

I could disable Siri, I could disable Apple Intelligence, I could disable a lot of annoying things about macOS and iOS. I'm just frustrated that Apple puts Apple Intelligence into the operating system. Just build a MCP like API for iOS and release Apple Intelligence / Siri AI as an or two app(s). If people like it, they will install it, if not, not.

 

[AssassuN]

The local model is not taking up 18GB. Literally far too big to load into memory or run at any reasonable speed. Your problem is not Siri AI, it is something else.

Ok you’re right, it wasn’t 18…it was 13.
Yay Apple took 5 less GB from me!!! Lol. It does take 17GB on my iPhone though. So egregious.

 

[Student of Life]

I think it’s the combination of the iOS, Apple Intelligence and system data that in first beta is eating up space. Think near 50+ gb which just makes iPads that have 128 gb basically unusable. Maybe it’s something corrected in the next beta or it’s related to the indexing in progress.

 

[01cowherd]

View attachment 2638851
Ok you’re right, it wasn’t 18…it was 13.
Yay Apple took 5 less GB from me!!! Lol. It does take 17GB on my iPhone though. So egregious.

On my iPad Pro (M4) it's 24 GB and on my Mac it's 27 GB. That's over 40 GB of OS and models. Ludicrous.

The local model is not taking up 18GB. Literally far too big to load into memory or run at any reasonable speed. Your problem is not Siri AI, it is something else.

Apple uses a technique to avoid loading the entire model into memory, keeping as much in storage as possible. Relevant paragraph:

Instead of forcing the entire model into DRAM, the full model is stored in flash memory (NAND). Because NAND-to-DRAM bandwidth is too slow to swap weights token by token, as standard MoE models require, AFM 3 Core Advanced makes routing decisions per prompt. A lightweight, dense block selects a fixed set of experts during initial processing, periodically reselecting them during generation. To minimize data movement, the model relies on a high percentage of always-active “shared experts” alongside input-dependent “routed experts” swapped into DRAM only when needed.

Introducing the Third Generation of Apple’s Foundation Models

Our next generation of Apple Intelligence is centered around our users, integrated deeply into our operating systems, and powered by a bold…

machinelearning.apple.com

most people don't even know what they are talking about

The call is coming from inside the house.

 

[AssassuN]

On my iPad Pro (M4) it's 24 GB and on my Mac it's 27 GB. That's over 40 GB of OS and models. Ludicrous.


Apple uses a technique to avoid loading the entire model into memory, keeping as much in storage as possible. Relevant paragraph:

Introducing the Third Generation of Apple’s Foundation Models

Our next generation of Apple Intelligence is centered around our users, integrated deeply into our operating systems, and powered by a bold…

machinelearning.apple.com

The call is coming from inside the house.

Yeah I’m always so surprised seeing real humans passionately defend corporations like this. We should always be critical and demand better products and services.

 

[iammike1]

Yeah I’m always so surprised seeing real humans passionately defend corporations like this. We should always be critical and demand better products and services.

I'm not defending Apple, I'm criticizing poor takes and attitudes that think everything should revolve around "me me me". This constant state where people only think about what they want instead of looking at the big picture of providing service to billions of users is exhausting.

I literally have another post on the board currently complaining about actual bugs and how slow Apple is to address bugs.

 

[AssassuN]

I'm not defending Apple, I'm criticizing poor takes and attitudes that think everything should revolve around "me me me". This constant state where people only think about what they want instead of looking at the big picture of providing service to billions of users is exhausting.

I literally have another post on the board currently complaining about actual bugs and how slow Apple is to address bugs.

You say poor takes, but then I brought the receipts to corroborate that take.

 

[tehabe]

I'm criticizing poor takes and attitudes that think everything should revolve around "me me me". This constant state where people only think about what they want instead of looking at the big picture of providing service to billions of users is exhausting.

That is, what I call an absurd take. We are talking about, that Apple forces its users to download a 20+ GB AI model to their computer, phone, or tablet if they want to use AI or not. If I could disable and delete it, I wouldn't care about it. At the same time, the ability to disable and delete it, does not infringe anyone from using it.

 

[HouseLannister]

the ability to disable and delete it, does not infringe anyone from using it.

Until you want Apple to support the phone and the store rep needs to download 20 GB because you deleted 2/3 of the operating system. Or someone wants to buy your used phone and can’t test drive it because your install is incomplete. This is part of iOS now and the integration will only get more seamless and necessary in future versions. I don't use half the apps on my iPhone because I use the Google versions, but I can't delete them. (Sure you can delete the app icon, but the app package is still on your phone.) Before we all knew the phrase LLM, you had Machine Learning on your phone and you couldn’t delete that either. There is no a la carte OS for phones where you can pick and choose your components, because no company wants to have to support that clusterf. The only action I expect from these complaints is Apple will remove the submenu to drill down and see how iOS is allocating its usage in future versions.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

Truthfully, they eventually had to split everything up, the entire “Apple Intelligence” umbrella was just getting way too large for one simple toggle to completely control.
Look at iOS 27 for example, yes Apple Intelligence technically still controls the writing tools and obviously Siri, but it’s also what enables on device dictation, Visual intelligence in the camera app, smart custom passes in Wallet, automix in Apple Music and some of the smart widgets on the home screen.
Why on earth should all of these completely disconnected system features be controlled by one toggle buried in the Siri settings? It would be like if you had to use the Wi-Fi settings to get larger text, it truthfully made no sense.
And as time goes on, it’s going to make less and less sense. Every Apple Intelligence feature should have its own separate toggle.
One shouldn’t lose access to automatic tab organization, just because they don’t want to use visual intelligence.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

Until you want Apple to support the phone and the store rep needs to download 20 GB because you deleted 2/3 of the operating system. Or someone wants to buy your used phone and can’t test drive it because your install is incomplete. This is part of iOS now and the integration will only get more seamless and necessary in future versions. I don't use half the apps on my iPhone because I use the Google versions, but I can't delete them. (Sure you can delete the app icon, but the app package is still on your phone.) Before we all knew the phrase LLM, you had Machine Learning on your phone and you couldn’t delete that either. There is no a la carte OS for phones where you can pick and choose your components, because no company wants to have to support that clusterf. The only action I expect from these complaints is Apple will remove the submenu to drill down and see how iOS is allocating its usage in future versions.

This is also completely true, and I might add that has anyone ever actually looked at the system Storage before Apple Intelligence was even a thing? It *always* quickly becomes an absolutely insane number before dropping back down. I remember back in the iOS 14 days I saw my system data go over 101 GB. And then the next day it was 25.
iOS and macOS have been doing this practice for 10 years now, they stuff themselves with everything they need and then, when they don’t need it anymore, it’s gone.
I have not seen a “storage almost full” notification since my iPhone had 32 GB, and that was almost 10 years ago.
Until the day that I start seeing widespread complaints about full storage notifications in the frequency we saw them during the late days of 16 GB phones, it’s not an issue. The temporary boost in use of system storage has been a thing for like 10 years now.

 

[Jakimo]

Computers have always been an AI, and they’re becoming more capable. My brother once upgraded his Vic-20 from 4k to 16k, and that was amazing at the time

As computers become more capable, they’ll integrate more and more and require more space. We license the OS, and whether Google’s eco or Apple’s eco.. this is actually how it’s always been..

You think things are funky now? Imagine how things would look a hundred years from now.. 😏🤣

Quite the thread!

 

[iLuddite]

Unfortunately Apple Intelligence isn't disable-able in iOS 27 but there is a Screen Time workaround to get rid of some features...

 

[tehabe]

Until you want Apple to support the phone and the store rep needs to download 20 GB because you deleted 2/3 of the operating system. Or someone wants to buy your used phone and can’t test drive it because your install is incomplete.

This is why I think AI models shouldn't be part of the OS. Also yeah, iOS has become extremely bloated over the years. Sadly this is not really any better on Android, maybe even worse (compared to being awful on iOS).

Also more integration into the OS is not an argument, because it is more forcing AI slop on its users.

And the worst part is, iOS has a lot of issues, which won't get fixed through AI or Siri.

 

[iammike1]

This is why I think AI models shouldn't be part of the OS. Also yeah, iOS has become extremely bloated over the years. Sadly this is not really any better on Android, maybe even worse (compared to being awful on iOS).

Also more integration into the OS is not an argument, because it is more forcing AI slop on its users.

And the worst part is, iOS has a lot of issues, which won't get fixed through AI or Siri.

We are literally in an iOS cycle where they are spending more time working on cleaning up and optimizing the OS rather than working almost exclusively on new features. AI had to come to Siri ASAP though after the boondoggle of 2 years ago. iOS 27 is, for the large part, just Siri AI and OS optimization/cleanup with some small features sprinkled in here and there.

Also, grow up with the "AI slop". I can't even take people seriously anymore when they use that term. It's almost exclusively associated with people who have made hating AI part of their personality now and act like they are on some kind of crusade. AI has existed on our systems long before LLMs and the cat isn't going back in the bag at this point so better start getting used to it.

 

[cjsuk]

Oh man if they force this in, I'm out.

 

[DrBertrumRuckford]

2022 iPad Air 5th generation with 64GB here. With iPadOS 27, the amount of consumed storage on my device is:

iPadOS Total Size - 33.02 GB
— 12.56 GB for apple intelligence
— 14.68 GB for iPad
— 5.78 GB Reserved Auto Update Space

System Data - 14.95 GB

Leaves 16.03 GB of space left for Apps and Data including any iCloud synced content. That space is gone faster than you know it.

I use my iPad purely for media consumption so I’ll live with it just fine and I know to expect OS disk needs to grow overtime. I think the average user may face pain on having to juggle their iCloud settings, app data and updates.
Apple does okay with app offloading and large attachment recommendations however I think they’d also better serve the user by informing them when storage is full that they can use their PC or Mac to update their device without needing update space on it.

 

[Brettka7]

2022 iPad Air 5th generation with 64GB here. With iPadOS 27, the amount of consumed storage on my device is:

iPadOS Total Size - 33.02 GB
— 12.56 GB for apple intelligence
— 14.68 GB for iPad
— 5.78 GB Reserved Auto Update Space

System Data - 14.95 GB

Leaves 16.03 GB of space left for Apps and Data including any iCloud synced content. That space is gone faster than you know it.

I use my iPad purely for media consumption so I’ll live with it just fine and I know to expect OS disk needs to grow overtime. I think the average user may face pain on having to juggle their iCloud settings, app data and updates.
Apple does okay with app offloading and large attachment recommendations however I think they’d also better serve the user by informing them when storage is full that they can use their PC or Mac to update their device without needing update space on it.

Same exact situation for me. I have well under 10 apps installed and my iPad has a constant exclamation mark because it wants more space for AI.

I only want AI on my 256gb iPhone.

 

[The Game 161]

maybe go buy a nokia or blackberry

Al is here to stay and if you don't want it on why would you even download the beta?

 

[tikipaul]

It does not. This isn't 2010. A few GBs is nothing. Again, why do you not raise the same amount of stink about the hundreds of other features baked into any Operating System that you can't just turn off and delete? People just get off on the Anti-AI karma these days and it is exhausting and most people don't even know what they are talking about or that they use AI every day even if they don't specifically use a chatbot.

12.82 GB for Apple Intelligence, in addition to 15.21 GB for the iPadOS... 28 GB of 64 GB. That's too much to give up for something I'm not using.

 

[sc00b4s7eve]

[…] The main exception is agentic functionality, and that’s largely because Apple restricts what third-party apps can do on the device. Wanting to disable a feature you don’t use is perfectly reasonable.

[…] I do most AI-related tasks on my computer.

Refuse to be a reverse centaur.

I agree except my reason is I won’t be using Siri AI unless they open the choices for 3rd party online/off-device queries to point to open source builds like DeepSeek.

I’m not holding out much hope though because I remember how long it took them to allow iOS Safari extensions.

 

[Artemiz]

Refuse to be a reverse centaur.

I agree except my reason is I won’t be using Siri AI unless they open the choices for 3rd party online/off-device queries to point to open source builds like DeepSeek.

I’m not holding out much hope though because I remember how long it took them to allow iOS Safari extensions.

You want to open up all your data to some third party AI apps with no regard for privacy? And it’s not just your data you’d be giving up but anyone associated with you as well.
Did you even think for a second of the implications before you came up with this insane idea?

 

[August11]

You want to open up all your data to some third party AI apps with no regard for privacy? And it’s not just your data you’d be giving up but anyone associated with you as well.
Did you even think for a second of the implications before you came up with this insane idea?

You can limit what agents/ AI models have access to on your devices just like you can limit what files any app has access too..

 

[iammike1]

You can limit what agents/ AI models have access to on your devices just like you can limit what files any app has access too..

Sure, if you also want to kill related functions to the data you block off. Like, I can't imagine using Deepseek while blocking it from chunks of your phones data would be more useful than Siri AI with it's privacy protections while maintaining access (as long as you have a level of trust in Apple's claims, that's up to the individual).

I feel like 90% of what makes the new Siri such an improvement is that access to your local data.

 

[Brettka7]

If anyone else is still struggling with iPadOS 27’s required Siri space on their 64gb or 128gb devices, you can clear the space by:

1. Ensure Siri is toggled on and active in Settings, then exit Siri settings and go to iCloud. Visit Saved to iCloud, then toggle Siri sync off.
2. Change the iPad Siri voice to English (United Kingdom) to delete Apple Intelligence data.
3. Reboot iPad.
4. If the data doesn’t free up on the iPad within a couple hours, go to a data-intensive app like Apple Music. Download all of your songs until the device is full, then delete the app to clear the downloads and reinstall.