Mandatory Apple Intelligence
That show of respect for its customers may change with iOS/macOS 27. Reports suggest that, at least in the first beta, Apple Intelligence is mandatory[…]
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“So what’s the problem?”, you might ask. Apple’s AI takes up several gigabytes of storage and leaves less headroom for RAM.
Those are small inconveniences, however, compared to my biggest gripe with Siri AI: It’s completely ruined Spotlight.
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The new Siri-first interface that presumes that if you’re searching for anything but an app or file, you must want Siri to feed you a few links of Apple Intelligence’s choosing.
Getting to a web search from a Spotlight query now requires multiple taps: Type your query, tap “Show Results” (careful: hitting enter will trigger Siri to craft a response, eliminating the possibility of seeing any actual Spotlight content), tap on “Show More” next to the list of Siri-surfaced web results, scroll down until you see Search Google (or whatever engine you have set as your default), then tap that.
Apple Intelligence used to be opt-in, but now it seems that you can’t even opt out. I had previously mentioned the removal of the switch in the context of hypocrisy, but it seems there are enough issues here for it to warrant its own post. Also, I had previously written that the switch was combined with Siri, meaning that you could turn off Apple Intelligence if you turned off Siri, too. I now doubt that’s the case.
I’m thinking that asking for a switch to turn of “Apple Intelligence” systemwide is like asking for a switch to turn off Spotlight.
Indeed, we can turn off Spotlight, both the indexing (except, alas, for APFS Time Machine volumes) and the UI, and I think that’s a good thing.
Previously:
- Apple Intelligence in appleOS 27
- No Siri AI in EU
- Chrome’s Huge weights.bin File
- Forcing Copilot AI
- Spotlight Indexing Running Wild
- Invasive Spotlight Indexing
- Bug Opted Users Back In to Sharing Siri Recordings
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They started doing this a few years ago primarily on the Watch.
They have a fancy new feature and by god you are going to use it because we're taking away what you were already using.
That's why we have three different ways to open the "Smart Stack" and none for the Dock and one for the most important feature, notifications.
Now they're doing it on the phone. They want the world to know they finally launched New Siri so they are putting it quite literally front and center, like it or not.
>That's why we have three different ways to open the "Smart Stack" and none for the Dock....
There's Control-F3 to move focus to the Dock, after which arrow keys and Spacebar can be used to navigate and select. Or is that different than opening the Dock?
@NaOH bart is talking about watchOS, where the justification for dropping support for older hardware is that it can’t run Siri AI.
Is it no longer possible to disable Siri? That was an independent toggle of Apple quote unquote “Intelligence”.
Right, but I wonder if the bad UX described above for Spotlight is restored to the previous way of working if there is no Siri to “answer” “questions”.
This is a corporate overreaction to being behind for so long.
They saw people turn off Copilot, but want to tell their shareholders "100% of our devices now run Apple Intelligence" so they can act like they didn't miss the boat and have "lapped" Microsoft.
But they're so dumb they don't get that the AI backlash transfers to Apple Intelligence and tarnishes the brand.
As of iOS 26, merely having your OS and Siri in different languages is enough to kill the entirety of Apple Intelligence (as if it made any sense — why/how should my use of the more complete English voice assistant prevent Image Playgrounds, or website summarization that works in any supported language anyway?). Have they finally fixed that?
I still think they should allow users to disable Apple Intelligence, if nothing else to save storage and RAM, as mentioned. But if they don’t, a workaround might be as simple as giving Siri a British accent.
> If you can’t opt out of AI I’m switching to Linux
100% this. I've been an Apple user for over 40 years but I'm not getting on the AI bandwagon.
Not that I expect anything to change, but I did leave feedback to Apple via https://www.apple.com/feedback/macos/ to request Apple Intelligence remain disable-able.
I skipped upgrading to iOS 26 on my Macs because of Liquid (Gl)ass and I have never turned Apple Intelligence on on any device. If this is mandatory with iOS 27 then I guess I'll stay with Sequoia on my Macs and iOS 26 on my phone (with as much of the superfluous elements turned off as I can). If I want AI "help" I'll ask for AI "help".
@Software_Tyrannosaur: "...If this is mandatory with iOS 27 then I guess I'll stay with Sequoia on my Macs and iOS 26 on my phone..."
The issue for developers is this - how? I'm running on Sequoia (prefer macOS 15.7.5) on my MBP as I comment. Last Xcode version that actually runs on it is *already* two sub-versions out of date (26.3).Can this upload an update to the iOS AppStore as is? Maybe? How about if I'm targeting iOS 15? iOS 17?
Agreed with the "I'll ask AI for help when it's needed. 100%. Disagree with "Liquid (Gl)ass" though. Be realistic, it's called capitulation - and as an iOS developer who desires to make native apps, Apple has us by the nuts.
@Dave "Can this upload an update to the iOS AppStore as is?"
Just to answer this: the answer at the moment is a definitive yes, but eventually it'll change to a definitive no — probably around March or April of 2027. Targeting the versions you described shouldn't change anything, you'll only have problems if/when you want to target iOS 27.
I agree, if you want to develop for Apple platforms you don't actually have much of a choice. You are only allowed to keep your Mac out of date for roughly 18 months before you are effectively locked out of your job, and eventually that will mean being forced to buy new hardware.
I already hate that I have Siri enabled on my phone because it is required for CarPlay. I have the voice activation for it disabled and never use it. It isn’t just the resource usage, I don’t want AI suggestions or summaries or any of it in my apps.
Not having a one button opt out in System Settings for AI is a nightmare. Surely some of it can be disabled piece by piece by digging into the preferences of mail, messages, and all your other apps. But that is a ton of work to do and smacks of Facebook constantly changing where privacy settings are and how they work so you have a never ending task to keep AI disabled on your devices, if it is even fully possible.
iOS 18 has some Screen Time restrictions in 'Content & Privacy Restrictions' for specific Apple Intelligence features (Image Creation, Writing Tools, and Intelligence Extensions.) Are those present in the 27 beta?
@Daniel, thanks. But:
> "Just to answer this: the answer at the moment is a definitive yes, but eventually it'll change to a definitive no — probably around March or April of 2027."
As of April 2026 (not 2027) my Sequoia Mac cannot run anything higher than Xcode 26.3. So to be totally accurate, am I able to upload app updates for my iOS apps that (1) only have a requirement of iOS 15.0 using (2) Xcode 26.3 on (3) macOS 15.7.5? Is this still a definitive yes? This setup still works locally on my iOS 26.5.1 devices (I"m including iPadOS 26.5.1 for brevity) but I already need Tahoe (26.x) to run Xcode 26.4 (and 26.5 and 26.6 RC).
I'm feeling forced - beyond the occasional nag reminders to move *now* to Tahoe, where I'm planning to "capitulate" to the all-too-frequent software updates Apple (along with most everyone else also...thank you AI) when Apple releases OS27 across their platforms. I wish to skip Tahoe on my development pipeline completely (not to be confused with a beta pipeline - that I will wait for another month, maybe when beta 4 is out.
@Dave Yeah, I’m in a similar situation. I am happily running Sequoia now and want to skip Tahoe, but it seems I’ll be forced to run Tahoe in order to be able to develop for Golden Gate. Either that or run the Golden Gate beta.
Does changing the language of Siri to not match your system language disable Apple Intelligence on 27 as it does now?
