Apple Intelligence now consumes more storage on iPhone. Here’s how to disable it

If your iPhone or iPad lacks free storage, you might think twice before enabling Apple Intelligence. When the first features were made available in iOS 18.1, Apple stated that Apple Intelligence features required at least 4 GB of space. Now with iOS 18.2this requirement has I went to 7 GB. What is happening?

Since much of the processing features like text summaries, Picture PlaygroundImage Wand, Writing Tools, and Genmoji happen on the device, iOS must store the AI ​​libraries locally and uses some of the storage for caches and other temporary files. This makes things tighter if you’re already running up against the limits of your device’s storage.

See also: How to recover iCloud storage.

It could also be that you simply aren’t interested, which would put you in the majority. A new survey carried out by SellCell reports that 73% of Apple users think AI adds little or no value to the phone experience, while CNET found that 25% of smartphone owners are not interested at all.

If you’re not interested in Apple Intelligence, or would rather wait for the technology to mature a little more, it’s easy to turn it off completely or selectively disable certain features.

I’m not a fan of AI: I like features like notification summaries and Cleaning tool in the Photos app. And yet Apple Intelligence is also a work in progress, an evolving set of features that Apple is pushing forward while gradually building out. I won’t hold it against you if you don’t want to be distracted or feel like you’re doing Apple’s tests for them (that’s what the developers and public betas are for).

Remember, Apple Intelligence only works on iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro, or M series Macs and iPads (as well as the latest iPad mini). And if you’ve already done it updated to iOS 18.2you must add yourself to the queue to access new features.

Here’s what you need to know to turn it off.

How to Completely Disable Apple Intelligence (iPhone, iPad, and Mac)

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

Here’s what you lose:

(Oddly enough, the Photos cleanup tool remains present even when Apple Intelligence is turned off, perhaps because the first time you use it, the app downloads resources for it.)

How to disable individual Apple Intelligence features

Maybe you find some Apple Intelligence features useful while others are annoying (or just very amusing). You can disable specific features in the settings of the apps to which they apply.

For example, to turn off text summaries in Messages notifications, go to Settings > Apps > Messages and turn it off Summarize messages option.

Some features are not as application specific. Writing Tools, which uses Apple Intelligence to check or rewrite text, appears as an option when you select text in any app. To disable this feature, you must disable Apple Intelligence system-wide.

Also note that almost all apps include an Apple Intelligence and Siri option in Settings, with a Learn from this app option (enabled by default). This only applies to whether Apple Intelligence and Siri can monitor how you use it to make suggestions; This does not affect any particular functionality of Apple Intelligence.

How to view the amount of storage used by Apple Intelligence

If you’re concerned about Apple Intelligence’s storage needs, 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 tests it doesn’t seem like turning off Apple Intelligence recovers this storage space: after doing this and restarting my devices, the Apple Intelligence the item and the amount remain unchanged.

To learn more about iOS 18.2, see how the Mail app in iOS 18.2 sorts messages into categories And if you haven’t already upgraded, make a good backup first.