🗂️Keep in Mind Apple Intelligence Is Now on by Default, but You Can Turn It Off

[_=*Croft*=_]

Apple Intelligence had a slow rollout, launching with a waitlist and only recently allowing access to AI images and its emoji generator. But now, it seems Apple is finally ready to follow Microsoft and Google’s leads and start putting its AI features front-and-center.

According to the release notes for the iOS 18.3 release candidate, the final beta for the latest iPhone update before it goes live in (likely to be a few days), Apple Intelligence will be going from an opt-in feature to an opt-out one. In other words, if you have an AI-compatible iPhone (meaning the iPhone 15 Pro and above), Apple Intelligence will be toggled on by default.

Here’s Apple explaining it in the company’s own words:

For users new or upgrading to iOS 18.3, Apple Intelligence will be enabled automatically during iPhone onboarding. Users will have access to Apple Intelligence features after setting up their devices. To disable Apple Intelligence, users will need to navigate to the Apple Intelligence & Siri Settings pane and turn off the Apple Intelligence toggle. This will disable Apple Intelligence features on their device.

It’s a major last-minute change to what has been a fairly boring update so far—although unlike Google’s plan to eventually replace Google Assistant with Gemini, at least Apple still gives you the option to opt out. That tracks with Apple’s other big change for the patch, which sees the company rolling back some of the features associated with Apple Intelligence’s AI-generated notification summaries.

Apple Intelligence isn’t without its perks, although for me, the biggest difference I’ve seen since enabling it is that Siri’s UI looks a little different. It’s still got more features on the way, including the ability for Siri to natively pull context from your phone’s screen and your messages, so it’ll presumably get better, but it’s understandable if you’d rather hold off for now.

How to opt out of Apple Intelligence in iOS 18.3​

To ensure you’ve got Apple Intelligence disabled once iOS 18.3 goes live, keep an eye on your phone. If summoning Siri turns on a purple border all around your phone’s screen, you’ve been opted into AI.

To opt out of Apple Intelligence and go back to the standard, AI-less experience, navigate to Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri and flip off the Apple Intelligence toggle at the top of the page.
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