Hands-On Mac 167: Disabling Apple Intelligence

Summary

Podcast Summary: All TWiT.tv Shows (Audio) Episode: Hands-On Mac 167: Disabling Apple Intelligence
Release Date: January 30, 2025
Host: Micah Sargent
Podcast Network: TWiT

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Introduction

In the January 30, 2025 episode of Hands-On Mac, hosted by Micah Sargent, the discussion centers around disabling Apple Intelligence—a suite of advanced features now enabled by default across Apple devices, including iPhones, iPads, and Macs. Micah delves into the reasons why some users might prefer to turn off these features and provides a comprehensive, step-by-step guide on how to do so.

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Understanding Apple Intelligence

Apple Intelligence encompasses a range of functionalities designed to enhance user interaction with Apple devices. Key features include:

• Emoji Generation Using Writing Tools: Allows users to create custom emojis based on their input.
• ChatGPT Integration via Siri: Enables conversational AI interactions through Siri.
• Enhanced Siri Capabilities: Provides smarter and more intuitive responses to user queries.

While these features offer significant enhancements, Micah acknowledges that not all users may find them necessary or preferable, prompting the need for disabling them.

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Disabling Apple Intelligence on macOS

Micah begins by addressing macOS users:

1. Access System Settings:

   • Navigate to the System Settings on your Mac.

2. Locate Apple Intelligence and Siri:

   • Instead of the usual Siri section, users will now find an Apple Intelligence and Siri section.

3. Toggle Off Apple Intelligence:

   • Switch off the Apple Intelligence feature.
   • A prompt appears:

     “Apple Intelligence features like writing tools will not be available. If you continue, Siri will also stop using the additional capabilities provided by Apple Intelligence.”
     — Micah Sargent [00:45]

4. Effect of Disabling:

   • Loss of access to advanced writing tools and enhanced Siri functionalities.
   • Only basic Siri controls remain active, such as voice interactions and keyboard shortcuts.

5. Re-enabling Features:

   • To turn Apple Intelligence back on, revisit the System Settings, navigate to Apple Intelligence, and toggle the feature back on. This restores all advanced functionalities.

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Disabling Apple Intelligence on iPhone

Transitioning to iOS devices, Micah outlines a similar process with specific nuances for the iPhone:

1. Open Settings App:

   • Launch the Settings app on your iPhone.

2. Navigate to Apple Intelligence and Siri:

   • Scroll down to find the Apple Intelligence and Siri section.

3. Disable Apple Intelligence:

   • Toggle off the Apple Intelligence feature.
   • A prompt appears:

     “Turn off Apple Intelligence.”
     — Micah Sargent [04:00]

4. Impact on Siri Features:

   • The Talk and Type to Siri option is disabled, limiting Siri to voice-only interactions.
   • Users desiring to type messages to Siri must utilize accessibility settings instead of the default Apple Intelligence options.

5. Re-enabling Apple Intelligence:

   • Turning the feature back on initiates the download of on-device models necessary for Apple Intelligence, requiring Wi-Fi and power connectivity.
   • A prompt advises:

     “Connecting iPhone to Wi-Fi and power while models are downloading.”
     — Micah Sargent [05:15]

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Disabling Apple Intelligence on iPad

For iPad users, the steps mirror those of the iPhone with slight variations:

1. Access Settings App:

   • Open the Settings application on your iPad.

2. Find Apple Intelligence and Siri:

   • Locate the Apple Intelligence and Siri section within settings.

3. Turn Off Apple Intelligence:

   • Toggle the Apple Intelligence switch to off.
   • A confirmation prompt appears similar to macOS and iOS devices.

4. Verification of Changes:

   • Post-disablement, the Talk to Siri option replaces Talk and Type to Siri, confirming the deactivation of Apple Intelligence.
   • Micah notes:

     “That is kind of another way to kind of confirm that it actually has changed.”
     — Micah Sargent [06:30]

5. Storage Benefits:

   • Disabling Apple Intelligence can free up storage space by removing on-device models.

6. Re-enabling Features:

   • Reactivating Apple Intelligence follows the same process as on the iPhone, including downloading necessary models.

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Conclusion

Micah Sargent wraps up the episode by reiterating the steps to disable Apple Intelligence across macOS, iPhone, and iPad devices. He emphasizes the flexibility users have in customizing their device functionalities to better suit their preferences. Whether concerned about privacy, storage, or simply preferring basic Siri interactions, Micah provides clear guidance to regain control over Apple's default intelligent features.

“If at any time you decide that it's not for you, you can turn off the Apple Intelligence features.”
— Micah Sargent [07:20]

Micah thanks listeners and signs off, hinting at future episodes that continue to explore and demystify Apple’s evolving technology landscape.

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Notable Quotes

• Micah Sargent [00:45]:
  “Apple Intelligence features like writing tools will not be available. If you continue, Siri will also stop using the additional capabilities provided by Apple Intelligence.”

• Micah Sargent [04:00]:
  “Turn off Apple Intelligence.”

• Micah Sargent [05:15]:
  “Connecting iPhone to Wi-Fi and power while models are downloading.”

• Micah Sargent [06:30]:
  “That is kind of another way to kind of confirm that it actually has changed.”

• Micah Sargent [07:20]:
  “If at any time you decide that it's not for you, you can turn off the Apple Intelligence features.”

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Additional Notes

• Excluded Content:
  The summary omits all advertisements, intros, outros, and non-content sections, focusing solely on the instructional and informative segments provided by Micah Sargent.

• Utility:
  This summary serves as a comprehensive guide for users looking to disable Apple Intelligence features on their devices, providing clear instructions and insights without the need to listen to the full podcast episode.

Transcript

[Micah Sargent]

Coming up on Hands On Mac, let's take a look at disabling the feature that is now enabled by default on your devices, Apple Intelligence. Stay tuned. Podcasts you love from people you trust.

[TWiT Host]

This is TWiT.

[Micah Sargent]

Welcome back to Hands On Mac. I am Micah Sargent and today we are taking a look at how to turn off Apple Intelligence on your various devices. This, of course, is a feature that is now enabled by default on your iPhone, your iPad. The feature, of course, gives you access to loads of Apple Intelligence features, including generating emoji using writing tools, being able to access ChatGPT via Siri, and so many more. But some people don't want to make use of these features and if you were looking to disable them, well, it is a possibility. So I'm going to show you how to do that. We'll start with macOS. Here we are on macOS, and the first thing we'll do, and pretty much the only thing we have to do is head into system settings and then where we would typically find the Siri section, we now see the Apple Intelligence and Siri section. From here we simply toggle off Apple Intelligence. You will get a prompt that says Apple Intelligence features like writing tools will not be available. If you continue, continue, Siri will also stop using the additional capabilities provided by Apple Intelligence. So from that point on, not only will you not have access to writing tools, but any of the new smarts that Siri is purported to have will not be part of the system. So we will choose turn off Apple Intelligence, at which point you will see that the only controls you have for Siri, the main controls, like actually using Siri in the first place, being able to access Siri via the keyboard shortcut, if Siri will listen out loud for you to communicate with it and the voice that you can choose for it at any time. If you decide you'd like to turn back on those Apple Intelligence controls, you simply need to head into your system settings, choose Apple Intelligence and turn those on from there. So what we're going to do now is we are going to close out of this and we are going to head to the iPhone.

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[Micah Sargent]

On the iPhone running the latest version of iOS and the way to turn off or disable Apple Intelligence on this device is similar to what you would do on the Mac. We head into Settings, we go to the main settings page and scroll down until we find Apple Intelligence and Siri. We tap on that and once again at the top we'll see Apple Intelligence. Now I want you to pay attention to something because there's one setting here that's going to change when we turn off Apple Intelligence. Right now on screen under Siri requests you will see a section marked Talk and type to Siri. When I turn off Apple Intelligence, I get that same prompt that I saw on macOS to basically say yes, I do want to turn off Apple Intelligence and when I do talk to Siri is the only option that presents itself to me. Talk and type to Siri is an Apple Intelligence feature for the most part and so if you want to re enable the ability to turn on or rather to actually type whenever you're communicating with Siri, then you'll need to use an accessibility preference instead of just using the Apple Intelligence features. Now if at any time I want to turn this back on, toggling it on causes the device to re download the Apple Intelligence on device models and so that will take time and you will likely see a prompt that says as this does downloading support for Apple Intelligence connect iPhone to Wi Fi and power while models are downloading and that is actually going to redownload those models to the device and give the phone the ability to do much of what it does directly on the device. Now let's take a look at how this works on iPad. As you might imagine, the process is pretty similar. We launch the settings app and we look for Apple Intelligence and Siri and we simply toggle off Apple Intelligence. We'll get another prompt, turn off Apple Intelligence and at which point it switches off and that talk to or type to Siri setting changes to just talk to Siri. That's kind of another way to kind of confirm that it actually has changed. Now if we tap this again, we're saying no, actually I want to use Apple Intelligence at that point. If Apple has removed, if the OS rather has removed the on device models, then those will need to be redownloaded. Removing those models will of course give you some space and some storage space that you can save. And I've found that kind of tapping out of that section and tapping back into it can sometimes kind of re trigger what the settings look like, including the Talk to Siri option, which of course if it is fully downloaded and Apple Intelligence is fully enabled, will have that and type to Siri option. So if we head back over to iOS now, I can see that talk and type to Siri are shown up and that gives me the ability to double tap the bottom edge of the iPhone to actually type out a message instead of communicating out loud with Siri. So that is how you disable Apple Intelligence on the iPhone and on the iPad. So that is how you turn off the Apple Intelligence features that have been decidedly turned on for you if at any time you decide that it's not for you. Thanks so much for tuning in to this week's episode of Hands on Mac. I'll be back next week with another episode, but until then I hope you have a great day night, whatever it happens, to be wherever you are whenever you're listening to this. Thanks. Bye bye.

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