How to disable Apple Intelligence on Mac and free storage

Apple Intelligence turns itself on the moment an eligible device updates to version 27.0 across iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and visionOS, provided the language and region are supported (Apple Support, three weeks ago). Nobody flips a switch for it. That automatic rollout is exactly why a growing number of Mac owners are now searching for ways to disable Apple Intelligence on Mac and claw back the storage it quietly claimed.

The numbers explain the frustration. Apple says the feature can take up to 14GB on newer, higher-memory hardware and up to 8GB on other eligible iPhones, iPads, and Macs, a jump from the 7GB ceiling under macOS 26 (Apple Support, three weeks ago; 9to5Mac, yesterday). On macOS 27, there's no official control that deletes the downloaded models, and no single Settings location turns Apple Intelligence off entirely, according to AppleInsider. A newly published, independent script called RemoveMacAI claims to do what Settings can't: switch the features off and remove the models left behind (9to5Mac, yesterday). It isn't an Apple product, and everything known about how it works comes from the developer's own description, not independent testing.

The short version: there's no Apple-built way to remove Apple Intelligence models from macOS. The one documented method to free up Apple Intelligence storage on Mac is this third-party script, it disables a long list of features to get there, and nobody outside the developer has independently verified the mechanism. What follows walks through what's confirmed, what the tool changes, and what to check before running anything.

This guide focuses on macOS 27, where verified settings and a documented workaround both exist. A shorter section near the end covers iPhone, where Apple's documentation confirms a privacy toggle but doesn't describe any way to remove the models themselves.

Check your tier, your region, and your language first

Before worrying about a 14GB hit, confirm it applies. Automatic Apple Intelligence availability reaches eligible hardware running supported languages, including English, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Vietnamese, Chinese (simplified and traditional), Japanese, and Korean, and some features vary further by platform and region (Apple Support, three weeks ago).

Apple's official storage tiers break down by hardware class:

• Up to 14GB: iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, iPhone Air, iPads and Macs with M4/M3 or later and at least 12GB of unified memory, and Vision Pro (M5)
• Up to 8GB: other eligible iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Vision Pro models
• Up to 1.5GB: Apple Watch

(Apple Support, three weeks ago)

That 14GB ceiling is new to macOS 27. The same feature topped out at 7GB under macOS 26 (9to5Mac, yesterday).

"Up to" means a maximum, not a guaranteed installed amount. The roughly 12GB figure attached to RemoveMacAI reflects what the tool's own pre-removal summary showed on one specific Mac, as described by the developer and relayed by AppleInsider, not an Apple-published total.

To get a sense of actual usage, open Apple menu > About This Mac > Storage and check available space. macOS doesn't break out Apple Intelligence model storage as its own category there. AppleInsider reports that RemoveMacAI's preview screen shows how much space the models are using before anything changes, though that figure comes from the tool itself, not from Apple.

How to turn off Apple Intelligence on Mac: what settings can and can't do

Two controls exist in ordinary System Settings on an unmanaged Mac, and it helps to know exactly what each one does before looking anywhere else.

Turning off Siri in System Settings stops it from running, but according to AppleInsider, it doesn't remove the underlying model files or free any storage. Separately, the Improve Siri & Apple Intelligence toggle can be switched off at any time. It only stops Apple from storing and reviewing samples of Siri, Dictation, and Translate interactions used for model development. It installs nothing and deletes nothing (Apple Support, three weeks ago).

Under macOS 27, there's no single menu location that disables Apple Intelligence entirely, and no Settings option to delete the downloaded models, AppleInsider notes. Hiding Siri and opting out of data sharing are the two confirmed outcomes available through ordinary Settings. Deleting the models is a separate claim entirely, and it depends on the workaround covered next.

What RemoveMacAI changes and removes

RemoveMacAI is a free, open-source project built by independent developer Om Lahore and published on GitHub under the MIT license last week (9to5Mac, yesterday). It claims to turn off Apple Intelligence on macOS 27 and remove its downloaded models, according to the developer's own project description.

Lahore's documentation describes the mechanism in detail. The tool installs a configuration profile that applies Apple's own restriction keys, then uses Apple's asset service to delete the downloaded models and redirect future download attempts to a closed local port. System Integrity Protection stays enabled and system files remain untouched throughout (9to5Mac, yesterday).

Running it reportedly disables a long list of features. Writing and communication tools go first: Writing Tools, the ChatGPT extension, inline text predictions, Mail Smart Replies, and summaries across Mail, Messages, Safari, Notes, and notifications all stop working (9to5Mac, yesterday). Photos and visual features follow: Genmoji, Image Playground, Spatial Photos, and Photos Clean Up get disabled, along with Visual Intelligence and natural-language editing in Calendar.

The biggest loss for power users is probably Siri and automation. Siri and "Hey Siri" turn off completely, and so does anything built on Apple's Foundation Models framework, including the Use Model action in Shortcuts and Xcode's predictive code completion (9to5Mac, yesterday). Anyone who leans on Shortcuts automations or Xcode completion while coding should weigh that loss carefully before touching this tool.

Not everything goes dark. Dictation reportedly keeps working, since its speech models are stored separately from the ones the tool removes.

This feature list, not the install command, is the real decision point. If Mail or Safari summaries, Shortcuts automations, or Xcode completion matter day to day, trying to free up Apple Intelligence storage on Mac this way may cost more than it saves.

Should you run it?

Treat this as advanced and unsupported. It works by running a one-line curl command piped into bash, not through anything Apple ships or reviews, AppleInsider's walkthrough makes clear.

There's a technical gap worth understanding before trusting it. Apple's own deployment documentation states that its granular Apple Intelligence restriction keys, the ones covering Genmoji, Image Playground, Writing Tools, Visual Intelligence, Smart Replies, and more, require a supervised device enrolled through Device Enrollment or Automated Device Enrollment (Apple Support Deployment Guide, three weeks ago). Those are management paths built for IT-administered fleets, not standard personal Macs. RemoveMacAI reportedly applies similar restriction keys on ordinary, unmanaged consumer Macs, and neither 9to5Mac nor AppleInsider explains how it does that without supervision. That's an unresolved question, not a minor footnote.

Four things should be true before running anything. The Mac needs to be genuinely space-constrained, something like a 256GB SSD where every gigabyte counts, as AppleInsider frames it. None of the features covered above should matter to daily use. There has to be acceptance that Apple could change the profiles, restriction keys, or system services the tool relies on, which may cause its block on redownloads to stop working later (9to5Mac, yesterday). And a current full backup should already exist, since a reversible configuration profile doesn't protect against a failed script or unexpected system behavior.

Confirm the exact install command on the RemoveMacAI GitHub page immediately before running anything, since repository contents can change. Reading through the script first is reasonable for anyone comfortable with shell scripts, though doing so hasn't been shown to make the outcome any safer. It just lets a technically skilled reader see what they're about to run.

Once started, the script reports how many features are active and how much storage the models are using, then asks "Turn Apple Intelligence off? [Y/N]," per AppleInsider's account. Approving that prompt triggers a Device Management pop-up; clicking Install applies the configuration profile and begins deleting the models.

How to undo it

Running the install script again with a revert argument removes the configuration profile, restores the previous settings, and lets the models redownload, according to the developer and both outlets (9to5Mac, yesterday). That reversal still depends on the same unaudited script, and it assumes Apple hasn't changed the underlying services since the profile was installed.

Disable Apple Intelligence features on iPhone

None of the Mac steps above apply to iPhone, and the gap is worth being direct about.

The same kind of storage tiers apply there: up to 14GB on iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air, and up to 8GB on other eligible iPhone models (Apple Support, three weeks ago).

Apple's documentation describes an Improve Siri & Apple Intelligence toggle available on iPhone too, adjustable at any time, but it only governs whether Apple reviews samples of Siri, Dictation, and Translate interactions for model training. It doesn't disable Apple Intelligence, remove any model, or reduce storage use (Apple Support, three weeks ago). Treat it as a privacy choice, not a storage fix.

That same documentation describes the privacy setting in detail but doesn't describe any built-in way to delete Apple Intelligence models on iPhone, and nothing in current reporting documents a RemoveMacAI-style workaround for iOS. That's a gap in what's been published, not confirmation that no option will ever exist.

Regional availability adds another wrinkle. Apple Intelligence features don't currently work on supported devices purchased in mainland China. For eligible devices bought elsewhere, the features also won't work if the user is physically in mainland China and their Apple Account country or region is set to mainland China (Apple Support, three weeks ago). Feature sets vary further by language outside that.

The Mac Terminal steps covered above have no iPhone equivalent. Don't attempt them on an iPhone.

What to do now

Three groups of readers land here, and each has a different answer.

• Plenty of free space, or daily reliance on Siri, Writing Tools, Shortcuts automations, or Xcode completion: skip RemoveMacAI entirely. The feature loss outweighs the storage gain.
• Genuinely tight on storage and willing to lose that feature list: back up the Mac first, check the current RemoveMacAI GitHub repository immediately before running anything, and go in accepting an unaudited script along with an unresolved question about how it applies supervised-device restrictions to an unmanaged Mac.
• On iPhone: adjust the Improve Siri & Apple Intelligence toggle if limiting what Apple reviews matters, but don't expect it to touch storage. Check Apple's official support pages for the specific region and language before assuming a workaround is on the way.