How to turn off Apple Intelligence on iPhone, iPad, and Mac

Apple Intelligence is Apple’s built-in generative AI system designed to help you write, summarize, create images, use Siri, and complete tasks across Apple devices. It is enabled by default on compatible devices and runs across more of your experience than you might realize — from notifications to calls and messages.

If you prefer to limit these features for privacy, reduce distractions, or have more control over how AI is used on your device, you can turn off Apple Intelligence.

• How can you turn off Apple Intelligence?
• How to turn off Apple Intelligence via Screen Time
• How to turn off Apple Intelligence in Settings
• How to disable Apple Intelligence features
• Why you should disable Apple Intelligence
• Choose AI that keeps you in control
• Frequently asked questions

How can you turn off Apple Intelligence?

There are two main ways to disable Apple Intelligence: through a Settings toggle or several Screen Time restrictions:

• The Settings toggle switches Apple Intelligence off entirely, in one step, so it is the fastest option if you just want it gone. But it does not remove some AI elements from the interface — they become non-functional but can add clutter to your Apple experience.
• Screen Time restrictions let you block specific features (like Image Creation and Writing Tools) individually, and they also strip away the related icons and menu options.

If you want all AI elements powered by Apple Intelligence gone from your interface, Screen Time is the better route.

How to turn off Apple Intelligence via Screen Time

In Screen Time, you can block specific Apple Intelligence features at the system level, including interface elements like the Genmoji picker and Writing Tools. This is the most thorough way to remove Apple Intelligence from your device, including any leftovers.

On iPhone and iPad

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Go to Screen Time → Content & Privacy Restrictions.

3. Toggle on Content & Privacy Restrictions and tap Intelligence & Siri.

4. Select each feature below and change its setting to Don’t Allow:
   • Image Creation — It controls access to Genmoji (creates custom emoji from a description), Image Playground (creates images from descriptions, themes, or people in your photo library), and Image Wand (turns sketches or surrounding content in Notes into generated images).
   • Writing Tools — It includes AI composing, proofreading, and rewriting features in most places you can type, including many third-party apps and websites.
   • Intelligence Extensions — It allows the use of third-party AI integrations, such as ChatGPT.

On Mac

1. Click the Apple icon in the menu bar, then select System Settings.
2. Go to Screen Time → Content & Privacy.

3. Toggle on Content & Privacy and select Intelligence & Siri.

4. Toggle off Image Creation, Writing Tools, and Intelligence Extensions and click Done.

These changes may take a while to come into effect, and you may need to restart your device or affected apps.

How to turn off Apple Intelligence in Settings 

If you want to disable Apple Intelligence without removing its interface elements, you can do so directly in Settings. This is a quicker method, though it won’t strip features like Genmoji from the interface. Additionally, some features like Call Screening are managed independently of this toggle and will have to be disabled separately.

On iPhone and iPad

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap Apple Intelligence & Siri.
3. Toggle off Apple Intelligence.

On Mac

1. Click the Apple icon in the menu bar, then select System Settings.
2. Click Apple Intelligence & Siri.
3. Toggle off Apple Intelligence.

How to disable Apple Intelligence features

You can turn off Apple Intelligence features, one at a time:

Turn off Visual Intelligence 

Visual Intelligence analyzes content on your iPhone’s screen and can use your camera to analyze your physical surroundings. With this feature, you can identify plants and animals, translate text in real time, and look up business details. You can launch it using Camera Control on supported iPhones, from a screenshot, or through a shortcut added to the Lock Screen, Control Center, or Action Button.

Unfortunately, there is no way to disable Visual Intelligence alone, so you need to disable Apple Intelligence in Settings. Alternatively, you can reduce the chance of accidental activation by removing Visual Intelligence shortcuts and disabling Camera Control. 

Here’s how to disable Camera Control:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Go to Accessibility → Camera Control.

3. Toggle off Camera Control.

Here’s how to disable automatic Visual Intelligence suggestions on screenshots:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Go to General → Screen Capture.
3. Toggle off Automatic Visual Look Up. If Apple Intelligence was already turned off, this setting will not appear.

Turn off the ChatGPT extension 

When Apple Intelligence and Siri can’t answer a question, it may offer to send your query to ChatGPT. While this expands on what Apple Intelligence can do, queries sent via this extension are processed by OpenAI, meaning your data leaves Apple’s ecosystem and is subject to ChatGPT’s privacy policy instead.

If you prefer to keep your queries within Apple’s infrastructure, here’s how to disable the ChatGPT extension:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Go to Apple Intelligence & Siri → ChatGPT Extension.
3. Toggle off Use ChatGPT.

Turn off Call Screening and Hold Assist 

With Call Screening, Apple Intelligence automatically answers calls on your behalf, prompts the caller to state their name and reason for calling, and displays a live transcript on your screen so you can decide whether to pick up. Hold Assist detects when you’ve been placed on hold and monitors the call in the background, notifying you when an agent is available.

Both features require Apple Intelligence to process phone call audio, which Apple claims happens on-device. 

Here’s how to turn off Call Screening and Hold Assist:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Select Apps → Phone.
3. Toggle off Hold Assist Detection.

4. Under Screen Unknown Callers, select Never.

Turn off Genmoji 

There is no standalone setting to disable Genmoji, but you can do so via either of the following methods:

• Disable Image Creation via Screen Time. This removes Genmoji from all interface elements, while allowing you to continue using Writing Tools and Intelligence Extensions. Note that all image creation features, including Image Playground and Image Wand, will also be disabled.
• Disable Apple Intelligence via Settings. This turns off all AI features but leaves Genmoji visible in the interface.

Writing Tools 

Like Genmoji, there is no standalone setting to disable Writing Tools. You can:

• Disable Writing Tools using Screen Time. This removes Writing Tools across your device while keeping other Apple Intelligence features enabled.
• Disable Apple Intelligence via Settings, which turns off all AI features but leaves Writing Tools visible in the interface.

Why you should disable Apple Intelligence 

Apple Intelligence integrates deeply into how your device works, which can have a range of privacy and experiential concerns. Here are a few reasons you might want to dial it back:

Reclaim storage space: As part of Apple’s privacy-driven approach, AI models are downloaded locally to enable on-device processing. The trade-off is that they require a massive amount of available storage. Currently, Apple Intelligence requires at least 7GB of free storage(nuova finestra) on each device to run, and it is likely to increase as more features and updates are rolled out.

Limit AI access: Even with on-device processing, Apple Intelligence still touches a significant amount of your personal activity. Visual Intelligence can scan your screen, Call Screening listens to phone calls, and Writing Tools processes your text. Turning off features you don’t want means less of your data is shared with AI.

Prevent third-party data sharing: While most of Apple Intelligence is built within the Apple ecosystem, features like the ChatGPT extension require sending your queries to OpenAI. Third-party sharing means you’re handing data over to yet another company, and you cannot guarantee that they share Apple’s privacy policy. With more AI integrations coming to Apple Intelligence(nuova finestra), a simple first step to protecting your data is to disable Intelligence Extensions.

Conserve battery life: This one’s anecdotal but worth mentioning. Some users report noticeable battery drain(nuova finestra) when Apple Intelligence is active, particularly with background features running. Disabling AI features you don’t need may help extend battery life, though results will vary by device and usage.

Choose AI that keeps you in control

Disabling Apple Intelligence gives you back control over what runs on your device and what accesses your data. But it also leaves a gap — you lose writing assistance, smart suggestions, and other features that can genuinely be useful day to day.

If you want the benefits and conveniences of AI without trade-offs, Proton’s AI assistant(nuova finestra), Lumo, is built on the same privacy-first principles that underpin all of Proton’s products. Lumo doesn’t log your data or build a profile on you, doesn’t share your data with third parties, and never ties your conversations to advertising. You can use Lumo on all your devices, including a web app for Mac and a native iOS app, so you can get reliable AI assistance anytime, anywhere.

Frequently asked questions