Apple Intelligence off switch is gone in macOS 27: what you can still turn off, and what won't free your storage

On macOS 26 Tahoe, turning off Apple Intelligence took one switch. On macOS 27 Golden Gate, that switch is gone. If you went looking for it after updating, you did not miss it: several outlets, including MacRumors, report that Apple removed the master toggle, and that the on-device models now download automatically after the update whether you plan to use them or not.

That leaves two separate questions, and they have different answers. Can you turn the features off? Yes, one by one. Can you get the disk space back? Apple does not document a way to.

What changed from Tahoe

In Tahoe, System Settings had an Apple Intelligence & Siri pane with a single on/off switch at the top. In Golden Gate, Apple replaced it with per-feature controls. Apple's own support page, titled "Turn off and restrict access to Apple Intelligence features on Mac," walks through those controls rather than offering one global button. Coverage of the page counts roughly ten separate settings spread across System Settings and individual apps.

Two side effects are worth knowing about:

• Your old choice may not carry over. Some users report that Apple Intelligence was active again after upgrading even though they had switched it off in Tahoe. Check after the update instead of assuming.
• Managed Macs are harder. Reports citing Apple's documentation say disabling it through device management requires a supervised device, which many organizations do not use on every Mac.

What you can still turn off

These are the controls Apple's guide and the coverage of it describe. Exact labels can differ a little by Mac and region, and Apple notes that Apple Intelligence on macOS 27 is not available in every language or region, so you may not see all of them.

1. Siri AI. Open System Settings > Siri and choose Turn Off Siri, then confirm.
2. Siri Classic instead of the new Siri. Turn Siri off as above, turn it back on, and pick Use Siri Classic when asked. This keeps the voice assistant without the AI features.
3. Siri suggestions in apps. In the same Siri settings, switch off app suggestions from Siri if you do not want them.
4. Summaries. Notification, Messages, and Mail summaries are controlled separately. Check each of those places and turn summaries off where you see them.
5. Writing and image tools, and the ChatGPT extension. These have their own switches in the apps and settings that offer them.
6. Screen Time restrictions. Under Content & Privacy Restrictions you can allow or block specific Siri AI capabilities, such as image creation, sensitive topics, or explicit language. This is the closest thing to a central control, and it is useful for a shared or family Mac.

None of these remove the models from your disk. They stop features from being offered or used. Apple's guide does not claim to reclaim storage.

Does turning it off free space?

No, and the numbers are bigger than Apple's own estimate. Apple's documentation lists up to 14 GB for Macs with an M3 or later and at least 12 GB of memory, and up to 8 GB for other supported Macs. Independent measurements have been higher:

Another test on an M1 MacBook Air found roughly 17 GB more disk use than Tahoe with the feature off. Apple has not said whether the gap comes from the models themselves, leftover caches, or other system data being counted in the same category.

Check your own number first. Open System Settings > General > Storage and click the info button next to macOS. Not every Mac shows a separate Apple Intelligence line, and a large System Data figure alone does not prove the models are the cause. For that case, see our System Data guide.

The "delete the models" trick, explained

You may have seen posts claiming a command can switch Apple Intelligence off and delete about 12 GB of models. The only documented method we found comes from one AppleInsider test, and it is not an Apple-supported procedure:

• The tester booted into Recovery and used Terminal to delete a single folder named com_apple_MobileAsset_UAF_FM_GenerativeModels inside the AssetsV2 folder on the Data volume.
• The Storage pane reading for Apple Intelligence dropped from about 27.6 GB to about 3 GB, but real free space rose by only about 14 GB (from 337 GB to 351 GB). The pane and the actual disk do not match one to one.
• The Mac restarted normally. One beta tester separately reported that macOS downloaded the models again later.

We are not printing the commands, and we do not recommend this. It is irreversible, it touches system folders from Recovery, one wrong path or wildcard can delete the wrong thing, and one successful test does not show it survives the next update. If you are not in a genuine low-storage emergency, skip it.

The Siri language tip from Reddit

One popular Reddit post claims that changing Siri's language to Chinese freed 18 to 19 GB. We could not verify it, and Apple does not document it. Forum reports on iOS 27 describe a related effect: switching Siri to a language where the AI features are unavailable can shrink the Apple Intelligence storage line without fully clearing it. It also changes how Siri works for you. Treat it as an experiment you can reverse, not a fix.

What to do instead

• Turn off what you do not want, feature by feature, and re-check after each macOS update.
• Free other space first. Clear old installers, large downloads, and unused apps. See how much space Golden Gate needs and our Apple Intelligence storage guide.
• Keep headroom on small drives. On a 256 GB Mac, 20 GB is close to 8 percent of the disk.
• Wait for a point release before touching system folders. Apple has not published a fix or explanation. Our macOS 27.1 guide tracks what to expect.
• If the missing switch is a dealbreaker, staying on Tahoe is a legitimate choice, as long as you install the security patch (see which update your Mac needs).

The short version

• macOS 27 has no master Apple Intelligence switch. You disable features individually.
• Siri Classic and Screen Time restrictions are the main tools. Neither frees disk space.
• Real usage on many Macs runs well above Apple's 8 to 14 GB estimate.
• The Recovery Terminal method is unsupported and risky. Do not use it unless storage is critical and you have a backup.