It seems there are two types of Mac users when it comes to Apple Intelligence. Those who are excited by it and can’t wait to see what it will be able to do in the future and those who would rather not have anything to do with it because they’re concerned about privacy or just don’t like the idea of AI in general. So, if you fall into the latter group, you may ask yourself, “Can I disable Apple Intelligence?” The answer is yes, and we’ll show you how to do it.

What is Apple Intelligence?

Apple Intelligence is a name Apple gives to a group of AI features on Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Here are just a few examples:

  • The ability to proofread and rewrite text and summarize long documents
  • Text-to-image features in a new Image Playground app, customized emoji, the prioritization of emails and messages, and an improved version of Siri
  • Tools for grouping and summarizing notifications
  • Features for editing photos in the Photos app using AI for removing objects

Why turn off Apple Intelligence?

Despite the fact that most Apple Intelligence features take place on your Mac and only resort to using Apple’s servers when they really need to, some people are worried about privacy. Some other people don’t trust it to get things right. This was illustrated in early 2025 when Apple turned off an AI feature that summarized notifications from apps because it had summarized them incorrectly, most damagingly in the news apps where it displayed summaries that incorrectly represented headlines. Others don’t like that Apple Intelligence is very demanding of their Mac’s resources, and some just feel they will never use it, so they might as well turn it off. By the way, if you’d like to keep using Apple Intelligence but feel compelled to turn it off because of the demands it places on your Mac, don’t skip the next part of the article.

How to keep your Mac running smoothly when using Apple Intelligence

If you decide that you want to use Apple Intelligence after all, it’s important that your Mac is running as smoothly as possible because Apple Intelligence places lots of demands on system resources. That means making sure your Mac is free from junk and clutter, such as duplicate files, scanning it for malware, reviewing login items, and updating applications. Just a few of us have enough time to do it manually. In fact, it can be so overwhelming that you just don’t bother.

Luckily, it doesn’t have to be difficult or time-consuming — CleanMyMac’s Smart Care tool can do all the hard work for you. It scans your Mac, looking for junk and clutter, scanning for malware, checking which applications have updates available, and reviewing login items and background extensions. When it’s finished, you can implement all of its recommendations with one click or review what it has found and choose for yourself what to do. It couldn’t be simpler. Start your free CleanMyMac trial, and all you need to do is open the app and click Smart Care > Scan > Run.

Now, let’s move to disabling Apple Intelligence.

How to turn off Apple Intelligence on Mac

There are a couple of different ways to turn off Apple Intelligence. You can turn off Apple Intelligence completely or you can use Screen Time to prevent specific services from being used. We’ll show you both. You should note that when you turn off Apple Intelligence, you turn off specific features like Writing Tools, Genmoji, and Image Playground. Some machine learning will still take place on your Mac for other features like Face ID.

How to disable Apple Intelligence completely

  1. Go to the main Apple menu and choose System Settings.
  2. Click Apple Intelligence & Siri.
  3. Set the switch to the off position.
  4. Click Turn Off Apple Intelligence to confirm.
  5. Quit System Settings.

How to disable Apple Intelligence feature by feature

  1. Go to System Settings > Screen Time.
  2. Select Content & Privacy under Restrictions and enable it.
  3. Choose Intelligence & Siri.
  4. Turn off the features you don’t want to use.
  5. Click Done.

If you want to turn it off on an iPhone or iPad, here are the steps to follow:

  1. Open the Settings app.
  2. Go to Apple Intelligence & Siri.
  3. Set the switch to off.
  4. Tap Turn Off to confirm.
  5. Close Settings.

Apple Intelligence is the name Apple has given to a group of new AI features in macOS Sequoia. If you’ve tried them and don’t want to use them or just don’t like the idea of AI, follow the steps above to turn off Apple Intelligence on your Mac.