AI · Guide

There Is No Single Switch to Turn Off Apple Intelligence

Apple's iOS 27 guide lists nine separate settings, not one switch. Its own footnote adds that a fee for expanded access is coming.

Nadia RoyAI analystUpdated Nov 9, 20265 min · 1,176 words · no filler
Nine separate Apple Intelligence settings on iPhone, shown as a grid of tiles, each with its place in the Settings app: Siri AI under Siri; notification summaries and priority notifications under Notifications; Messages summaries under Apps and Messages; email summaries and Mail smart replies under Apps and Mail; voicemail suggestions under Apps and Phone; Call Context cards under Siri and Excluded Apps; and Journal writing prompts under Apps and Journal. Apple's footnote says expanded access will be available for a fee in the future.
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Update, 9 November 2026. We re-read every Apple page this guide cites. Apple’s guide now sends Call Context cards to Siri’s Excluded Apps setting rather than a switch in the Phone app, and calls the Mail setting “Email summaries”. Apple’s storage article (published 5 November) now gives the 14GB figure for the iPhone Duo, iPhone 17 Pro models and later and the iPhone Air. The fee footnote now also names Intelligent Photo Editing Tools and AFM 3 Cloud models in Shortcuts. New: what Apple documents for Messages, the Screen Time route, and an FAQ.

Apple does not give you one switch. To turn off Apple Intelligence on an iPhone running iOS 27, you turn off nine separate settings, each in a different part of the Settings app. Apple’s own guide is a table of them, and the full list with paths is below.

The same page ends with a footnote worth reading before you decide whether to keep any of it: Apple says expanded access to its server-side features “will be available for a fee in the future.”

The nine settings, and where each one is

All of these start in the Settings app. Apple’s names are in the first column.

Setting Where it lives in Settings What turning it off does
Siri AI (Beta) Siri, then Turn Off Siri (tap it again to confirm) Turns Siri off; Siri Classic is the way back
Messages summaries Apps, Messages, then Summarize Messages Turns off summaries in Messages
Email summaries Apps, Mail, then Summarize Message Previews Turns off summarised previews in Mail
Notification summaries Notifications, Summarize Notifications, then Summarize Notifications Turns off notification summaries
Priority notifications Notifications, Prioritize Notifications, then Prioritize Notifications Turns off prioritised notifications
Personalized Smart Replies in Mail Apps, Mail, then Personalize Smart Replies Turns off personalised replies in Mail
Voicemail suggestions in Phone Apps, Phone, then Suggestions in Voicemail Turns off suggestions in voicemail
Call Context cards Siri, Excluded Apps, then Add Apps Excluded apps “aren’t available to Siri, Search, or suggestions”
Writing Prompts in Journal Apps, Journal, then Get Writing Prompts Turns off writing prompts in Journal

For Call Context, Apple’s guide no longer gives a switch of its own: it points to the Excluded Apps section of its Siri settings page, which applies to Siri, Search and suggestions as a whole rather than to Call Context alone.

To keep priority notifications for some apps and not others, or to turn them off from the Lock Screen, see how to turn off priority notifications.

Turning off Siri AI turns off Siri. Apple’s way back to an assistant is to turn Siri on again and choose Siri Classic, which is the previous Siri rather than no Siri.

Siri Suggestions are not on Apple’s list; they have switches of their own, set out in how to turn off Siri Suggestions.

On a Mac, Apple’s guide lists eight settings, most of them inside the apps’ own Settings menus: turning off Apple Intelligence on a Mac.

AI replies and summaries in Messages

Two Apple Intelligence features show up in Messages. Summaries have a switch: Apps, then Messages, then Summarize Messages.

Suggested replies do not appear on Apple’s turn-off list. Apple’s feature list names “Personalized Smart Reply in Messages (English only)”, and its Messages guide says to “tap a suggested reply above the keyboard”, but the turn-off table’s only smart-reply row is for Mail.

The nearest switch Apple documents is in Siri’s Suggestions settings: tap Messages, then turn off Show in App “to prevent suggestions from appearing in the Messages app.” Apple does not say whether that includes Apple Intelligence’s replies, so treat it as something to try rather than a confirmed fix.

Restricting Siri AI with Screen Time

For restricting rather than switching off one by one, Apple points to Screen Time, the same place parents set limits. Go to Screen Time, then Content & Privacy Restrictions, then Siri. There you can choose Don’t Allow Siri, Siri (Classic Version) for Siri without AI capabilities, or Siri AI with individual capabilities, such as Image Creation, allowed or blocked. That covers Siri; the summaries and replies above keep their own switches.

Why it may be worth doing on some phones

Apple states that Apple Intelligence can use up to 14GB of storage on the iPhone Duo, iPhone 17 Pro models and later (including the iPhone 17 Pro Max (affiliate link to Amazon, opens in a new tab), spec sheet) and the iPhone Air (affiliate link to Amazon, opens in a new tab) (its specs), and up to 8GB on other eligible models, which by Apple’s two lists takes in the iPhone 17. On an iPhone that is already short of space, that is not a rounding error, and it is worth knowing before you go hunting for the storage labelled Other.

Apple describes Apple Intelligence as part of the operating system, available “when you update to the 27.0 software releases”, and its pages describe turning features off, not removing them. They do not say whether switching features off gives any of that storage back.

The footnote about paying

Apple’s footnote says features that rely on its servers, “including but not limited to Siri AI, Intelligent Photo Editing Tools, Image Playground, and AFM 3 Cloud models in Shortcuts”, “are subject to daily usage limits”, and that “expanded access to such features will be available for a fee in the future.”

That changes the comparison we made in what phone AI actually costs, where Apple’s column read as no subscription at all. It is still no subscription today. Apple has now said in writing that it will not stay entirely that way.

All of this assumes an iPhone that Apple Intelligence supports. Apple’s guide names the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max and iPhone 16 models or later, so an iPhone 15 or 15 Plus on iOS 27 does not get these features; the device lines are in which iPhones get iOS 27, and which get Siri AI.

The setting that is about your recordings, not the features

Separately from all of the above, Apple asks whether it may store and review a sample of your audio recordings and transcripts to improve Siri, and says that if you opt in to Improve Siri & Apple Intelligence it “can also use this data to train foundation models.” That is under Privacy & Security, then Analytics & Improvements, then Improve Siri & Apple Intelligence. Turning features off does not change it, and turning it off does not remove any feature.

It is the same distinction we drew for whether ChatGPT trains on your chats: using an assistant and letting its maker learn from you are two different agreements, and each has its own switch.

Questions people ask

How do I turn off Apple Intelligence on my iPhone?

There is no single switch in iOS 27. Apple’s guide lists nine settings in the Settings app, from Siri (Turn Off Siri) to Notifications, and Apps for Messages, Mail, Phone and Journal. Turn each one off. Screen Time, under Content & Privacy Restrictions then Siri, can also restrict Siri AI.

How do I turn off AI responses in iMessage?

Apple’s turn-off guide has a switch for summaries in Messages (Apps, Messages, Summarize Messages) but no row for the suggested replies Apple Intelligence shows above the keyboard. The nearest documented switch is Siri, Suggestions, Messages, Show in App; Apple does not say whether that covers AI replies.

Can I remove Apple Intelligence from my iPhone?

Apple does not describe a way to uninstall it. Its support pages call Apple Intelligence part of the operating system on eligible iPhones running iOS 27, and describe turning features off one by one. Apple does not say whether turning them off frees any of the up to 14GB or 8GB of storage it lists.

How do I disable Apple Intelligence on a child’s iPhone?

Apple’s route for restricting rather than switching off is Screen Time. Under Content & Privacy Restrictions, then Siri, you can choose Don’t Allow Siri, Siri (Classic Version), or Siri AI with individual capabilities such as Image Creation allowed or blocked.

Does turning off Siri turn off Apple Intelligence?

It turns off Siri AI, because Apple’s instruction for that is Turn Off Siri. The other eight settings, including Messages, Mail and notification summaries, are separate switches and stay as they were. To keep an assistant, turn Siri back on and choose Siri Classic.

Does turning off Apple Intelligence stop Apple reviewing my recordings?

No, that is a separate setting. Improve Siri & Apple Intelligence, under Privacy & Security then Analytics & Improvements, decides whether Apple may store and review samples of your requests, and Apple says it can also use them to train foundation models.

How we researched this

No one at bitcritiq has handled this product. Everything here comes from published sources, listed below.

What this cannot tell you
Menu paths change between releases, and Apple's page offers a version picker for exactly that reason; this describes iOS 27, and the Call Context path changed between our first reading in September and this one. Apple does not say whether the Messages “Show in App” switch covers Apple Intelligence's suggested replies, and we have not tested it. Some features vary by language and region, and Siri AI is not initially available in the EU on iPhone. We have not measured how much storage Apple Intelligence uses on any particular iPhone, or whether turning features off frees any; the figures are Apple's stated maximums.
How we chose this, and what we did
Why this subject
iOS 27 put Apple Intelligence on every eligible iPhone that updates, and the question that follows every release is how to turn it off. Search Console, 28 days to 8 November 2026, shows readers arriving with “turn off ai responses imessage”, so this refresh adds what Apple documents for Messages, and answers the standard wordings (turn off, disable, remove) in the FAQ.
How we looked at it
First written on 15 September 2026; every Apple page re-read through a browser on 9 November 2026. The nine settings and their paths are quoted from Apple's iPhone User Guide page on turning off and restricting Apple Intelligence, with the iOS 27 version selected in its version picker. The Call Context row now points to the “Exclude apps from Siri, Search, and suggestions” section of Apple's Change Siri settings page, which is where the Excluded Apps path and the Messages “Show in App” switch are quoted from. The Screen Time route is from the Block or allow Siri and Apple Intelligence features section of Apple's Screen Time page. Storage figures, the feature list (including Personalized Smart Reply in Messages) and the usage-limit footnote are from Apple Support 121115, published 5 November 2026. Suggested replies in Messages are from Apple's Send and reply to messages page. The recording-review setting is from Apple Support 127070. The statement that Apple's turn-off guide has no row for Messages smart replies has a control: the same table carries a row for Personalized Smart Replies in Mail, so a Messages row would sit beside it. The statement that Apple does not describe uninstalling Apple Intelligence rests on 121115 and the turn-off guide, which both describe it as part of the operating system with features that are turned off; neither mentions removing it.

What this rests on

6 claims, all official. Nothing here was measured by bitcritiq — see how we test for why. Open a claim to read the source it came from.

  • Apple's iOS 27 guide offers no single switch for Apple Intelligence; it lists separate settings for each feature.Official

    Apple's page says “You can turn off Apple Intelligence features like Siri AI (Beta), summarization features, and more”, then gives a table of individual settings, each with its own path in the Settings app.

  • Turning off Siri AI means turning Siri off, with Siri Classic offered as the way back.Official

    “Tap Siri, scroll down, then tap Turn Off Siri. Tap Turn Off Siri again to confirm.” and “To use Siri Classic instead of Siri AI, follow the steps above to turn off Siri. Tap Turn on Siri, then tap Siri Classic.”

  • Messages summaries have their own switch, but Apple's turn-off guide lists no switch for suggested replies in Messages.Official

    The guide's rows include “Tap Apps, tap Messages, then turn off Summarize Messages” and “Personalized Smart Replies in Mail: Tap Apps, tap Mail, then turn Personalize Smart Replies on or off”, with no Messages smart-reply row. Apple Support 121115 lists “Personalized Smart Reply in Messages (English only)”, and Apple's Messages guide says “Just tap a suggested reply above the keyboard.”

  • Apple's guide now points Call Context cards to Siri's Excluded Apps setting.Official

    Turn-off guide: “Call Context cards: See Exclude apps from Siri, Search, and suggestions.” Change Siri settings: “Tap Siri. Tap Excluded Apps.” and “Excluded apps aren't available to Siri, Search, or suggestions.”

  • Apple Intelligence can use up to 14GB of storage on some iPhones and up to 8GB on others.Official

    Apple Support 121115: “Up to 14 GB of storage on device for iPhone Duo, iPhone 17 Pro models and later, iPhone Air…” and “Up to 8 GB of storage for other Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro models”.

  • Server-side Apple Intelligence features have daily usage limits, and Apple says expanded access will cost a fee in the future.Official

    “Certain Apple Intelligence features that rely on server-side models are subject to daily usage limits, including but not limited to Siri AI, Intelligent Photo Editing Tools, Image Playground, and AFM 3 Cloud models in Shortcuts.” and “Expanded access to such features will be available for a fee in the future.”

Sources 6

  1. Turn off and restrict access to Apple Intelligence features on iPhone (iOS 27) — Apple SupportOfficialaccessed Nov 9, 2026
  2. Get started with the next generation of Apple Intelligence — Apple Support 121115 (published 5 November 2026)Officialaccessed Nov 9, 2026
  3. Turn Improve Siri & Apple Intelligence or Improve Siri & Dictation on or off — Apple SupportOfficialaccessed Nov 9, 2026
  4. Change Siri settings on iPhone (iOS 27) — iPhone User GuideOfficialaccessed Nov 9, 2026
Show 2 more · 2 official or standards
  1. Send and reply to messages on iPhone — iPhone User GuideOfficialaccessed Nov 9, 2026
  2. Block features or content with Screen Time on iPhone (iOS 27) — iPhone User GuideOfficialaccessed Nov 9, 2026

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