Apple Intelligence Will Soon Be Enabled Automatically. Here’s How to Turn It Off

When iOS 18.3 ships, possibly next week, it will include new italicized Apple Intelligence message summaries (following some embarrassing misleading ones) and the usual collection of bug fixes and security updates typical of a dot-3 update. More significantly, though, Apple Intelligence will reportedly be turned on by default for devices like the iPhone 16 series that can run it. In iOS 18.2, you need to take extra steps to activate the new AI technologies.

That’s not great news if you’re one of the 73% of Apple users who think AI adds little to no value to the experience, according to a new survey by SellCell. In a separate survey, CNET found that 25% of smartphone owners are not interested at all.

That’s also not ideal if your device is getting full, since Apple Intelligence tools such as Image Playground, Image Wand and Genmoji now occupy more storage space than when it was originally released.

If Apple Intelligence holds no appeal for you, or if you’d rather wait until the tech matures a bit more, it’s easy to turn it off entirely or selectively disable some of the features.

Is Apple Intelligence ready to be auto-enabled?

I’m not an AI crank — I appreciate features such as notification summaries and the Clean Up tool in the Photos app. And yet, Apple Intelligence is also a work in progress, an evolving set of features that Apple is heavily hyping while gradually developing. I wouldn’t hold it against you if you wanted to not be distracted or feel like you’re doing Apple’s testing for them (that’s what the developer and public betas are for).

Remember that Apple Intelligence works only on the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro or M-series Macs and iPads (plus the newest iPad mini). And if you’ve already updated to iOS 18.2, you need to add yourself to the queue for access to the new features.

Here’s what you need to know about disabling it.

How to turn off Apple Intelligence entirely (iPhone, iPad and Mac)

Open Settings (iPhone or iPad) or System Settings (Mac) and choose Apple Intelligence & Siri. Then turn off the Apple Intelligence option. Confirm your choice in the dialog that appears by tapping Turn Off Apple Intelligence.

Here’s what you lose:

(Curiously, the Clean Up tool in Photos sticks around even when Apple Intelligence is turned off, perhaps because the first time you use it the app downloads resources for it.)

How to turn off individual Apple Intelligence features

Maybe you’re finding some Apple Intelligence features helpful while others are annoying (or just highly amusing). You can turn off specific features in the settings for apps to which they apply.

For example, to disable text summaries in Messages notifications, go to Settings > Apps > Messages and switch off the Summarize Messages option.

Some features are not as app-specific. Writing Tools, which use Apple Intelligence to proof or rewrite text, appear as an option when you select text, regardless of the app. To turn that off, you need to disable Apple Intelligence system-wide.

Also note that nearly every app includes an Apple Intelligence & Siri option in Settings, with a Learn from this App option (turned on by default). That applies just to whether Apple Intelligence and Siri can monitor how you use it to make suggestions; it doesn’t affect any particular Apple Intelligence features.

How to turn off Apple Intelligence features in Screen Time settings

Another option for restricting what Apple Intelligence can do is buried in the Screen Time settings. Screen Time is designed to control which apps and features can run on another device, such as the iPhone used by a child in your household. But it’s also helpful for tracking how much time you’re spending on the device and, in this case, turning off some components of Apple Intelligence.

1. Open the Settings app and go to Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions.
2. Turn on the Content & Privacy Restrictions option if it’s not already enabled. If this is the first time you’re flipping this switch, don’t worry — everything is allowed by default.
3. Tap Intelligence & Siri.
4. Tap on the following three features and decide whether to allow or don’t allow their use: Image Creation (such as Image Playground and Genmoji), Writing Tools and the ChatGPT Extension (which uses ChatGPT to process requests that are beyond the built-in Apple Intelligence capabilities).

How to view the amount of storage Apple Intelligence is using

If you’re concerned about the storage requirements of Apple Intelligence, you can find out how much the system is using by going to Settings > General > iPhone (or iPad) Storage > iOS (or iPadOS).

Unfortunately, from my testing it does not appear that turning off Apple Intelligence reclaims that storage space: After doing so and restarting my devices, the Apple Intelligence item and amount are unchanged.

For more on iOS 18.2, see how the Mail app in iOS 18.2 sorts messages into categories and if you haven’t upgraded already, make a good backup first.