How to disable Apple Intelligence features and why you should do it
Users aren’t satisfied with the Apple Intelligence features, so here’s how to turn them off.
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Users aren’t satisfied with the Apple Intelligence features, so here’s how to turn them off.
Last year, smartphone manufacturers jumped on the AI bandwagon to boost a dwindling smartphone market. Apple Intelligence is an excellent example of how Apple desperately tried to convince users it was time to upgrade their handsets or get left behind. But four months is a long time in tech, and many promises have yet to materialize. Those that are available have left many rushing to disable the AI feature from their iPhones.
Why are users turning off Apple Intelligence features?
For the most part, the Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone feels like every other iPhone. 73% of iPhone owners claim the AI features "add little to no value" to their phone experience. The reality is that the AI Rewrite tool, like any AI-written content, produced a generic, robotic text that lacks any personality.
Apple Intelligence has also gained a reputation for providing inaccurate information, like announcing that the UnitedHealthcare shooter Luigi Mangione had shot himself or that Israel's prime minister had been arrested when they hadn't. The tech giant has since been urged to axe its out-of-control news alerts.
By the time users have fact-checked AI-generated content, it removes any time-saving benefits that it promised to deliver. Even the AI notification summaries have become more annoying than solving any real-world problems. If you thought being dumped by text was harsh, imagine Nick Spreen's experience, which he shared on X and later deleted the post.
Unfortunately, this is just one of many chilling examples of what happens when technology strips away nuance, context, and the human touch from life's most personal moments.
Apple users are more interested in traditional smartphone improvements such as a longer battery life and more storage. Ironically, these requests are at odds with the new shiny features promised by Apple Intelligence. For example, the so-called AI enhancements now take up 7GB of storage, leaving many users concerned that future updates will see increases and turn them into bloatware.
Apple Intelligence Storage Increase
undefined Kristo Skempi (@kristoskempi225) January 4, 2025
Apple Intelligence, initially requiring 4GB of storage, now demands 7GB per device (iPhone, iPad, or Mac) after the iOS 18.2 update.
If you're curious about how much storage Apple Intelligence uses on your device, it's easy to check. Navigate to Settings > General > iPhone Storage > iOS to see the space allocated to the feature.
There's also a frustrating catch. Disabling Apple Intelligence doesn't free up any storage. This limitation can be incredibly annoying for those trying to reclaim precious storage space. It's easy to see why AI pioneer Robert Scoble called the new system "Apple Unintelligence." But the good news is that, unlike other big tech companies, Apple Intelligence provides an opt-in feature that allows users to turn off features they don't want or need.
How to opt-out of Apple's AI features on your devices
First, it's important to highlight that Apple Intelligence requires users to opt-in, so it's not forced on anyone. The reality for many users is that they excitedly clicked yes to everything Apple Intelligence-related during the setup process and are now beginning to regret their haste. If this sounds like a familiar story, here is how to disable the AI features you don't need and regain some valuable storage space.
Turning off Apple Intelligence is as simple as heading straight to settings on your iPhone or iPad or System Settings on your Mac. From here, you need to tap or click Apple Intelligence & Siri to toggle off the AI features. But this switch will turn off everything.
If you just want to remove some of the more annoying Apple Intelligence and decide which features you would like to keep, again head to the Settings app, but this time scroll down to Notifications. From here, select Summarize Previews. You will have the option to turn everything off or toggle the features of individual apps. For example, to turn off the text summaries in iMessage notifications, go to Settings > Apps > Messages and switch off the Summarize Messages option.
Turning off other Apple Intelligence features, like Writing Tools and Image Creation, can be trickier and requires a workaround through Screen Time settings. Here's how you can do it:
Go to Settings > Screen Time, enable Content & Privacy Restrictions, tap Intelligence & Siri, select Image Creation or Writing Tools, and choose Don't Allow.
While this method works, it's a bit clunky—more suited for limiting features to prevent kids from using them for homework shortcuts. Once disabled, you won't see pop-up options to rewrite text or create new Genmojis. Additionally, if you open the Image Playground app on iOS, the ability to generate new pictures will be blocked, although you'll still have access to any previously saved creations. While effective, the process feels more like a cumbersome workaround than a user-friendly solution.
Why the iPad Ad backlash casts a long shadow over Apple's Intelligence
Last year, Apple faced widespread backlash over an ill-conceived ad showing objects like pianos and books being crushed by a hydraulic press. Critics accused the company of symbolically stifling creativity rather than championing it.
Actor Hugh Grant decried the campaign as "the destruction of the human experience, courtesy of Silicon Valley." At the same time, Wharton professor Americus Reed II called it a tone-deaf reflection of consumer fears about technology and AI eroding humanity.
Critics were shocked that a company once celebrated as a champion of creativity and individuality could be so out of touch with cultural sensitivities, seemingly forgetting the values that once defined its brand. Herein lies the problem with Apple Intelligence.
A slow rollout of features has left many feeling underwhelmed, especially non-English-speaking people who are still waiting. Worse still, the functionality introduced—ranging from Genmoji to essential proofreading tools—feels more like a half-hearted experiment than the transformative leap users were promised at the launch of the iPhone 16.
What Apple must learn about AI and the human connection?
Beyond Apple's technical missteps lies an even deeper issue. Big tech increasingly seems oblivious to AI's heartlessness when stripped of human emotion and understanding. Whether it's a notification coldly summarizing the breakup of a relationship or an AI misinterpreting a user's intent, technology that does not understand empathy or nuance will be a big turn-off.
Apple's AI feels more like a machine playing catch-up than an innovation that genuinely empowers users. The bottom line is AI must augment, not alienate, and deliver intuitive and sensitive solutions to users' needs. Without this, no flashy marketing or incremental updates will move the needle.
In an era where AI is ubiquitous, all eyes are on whether Apple can find a way to inject the humanity and innovation it's known for. Without it, many features fade into irrelevance and are outpaced by competitors who understand that technology without empathy is useless to anyone.