How to Turn Off and Restrict Apple Intelligence on Mac

Apple Intelligence has become a core part of the macOS experience, bringing generative writing tools, notification summaries, and smarter Siri interactions to compatible Macs. Yet for many users, the level of system integration feels intrusive. Whether you are concerned about privacy, battery life, or simply prefer a more predictable workflow, macOS provides several ways to turn off and restrict Apple Intelligence features.

Disabling Apple Intelligence at the System Level

The most direct route is through System Settings. Open the Apple menu, go to System Settings, and scroll to Apple Intelligence & Siri. Toggle off Apple Intelligence. This action disables the on-device generative models that power Writing Tools, Image Playground, Genmoji, and notification summaries. You will be prompted to confirm, and the system will stop processing requests through Apple's Private Cloud Compute servers. Note that turning it off does not delete any data already generated, but it prevents future processing. After disabling, you may also want to turn off Siri entirely if you do not use voice commands.

Restricting Specific Features and Apps

Even with Apple Intelligence off, some features may remain active. For instance, Writing Tools can still appear in apps like Mail and Notes. To restrict them, go to System Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri > Writing Tools and disable the toggle. Similarly, you can manage notification summaries by going to Notifications > Summarize Notifications and turning it off per app. If you want to prevent Apple Intelligence from being re-enabled by other users, you can use Screen Time restrictions. Navigate to Screen Time > Content & Privacy > App & Feature Restrictions and toggle off Apple Intelligence. This is particularly useful on shared Macs.

What You Lose and What You Gain

Disabling Apple Intelligence means losing conveniences like automatic email summaries, AI-generated image edits, and advanced Siri context awareness. However, you regain full manual control, reduce background processing, and eliminate any data leaving your device for Private Cloud Compute. Battery life may improve slightly on Intel-based Macs, though Apple Silicon models show minimal difference. For users who value privacy above all, the trade-off is often worth it. Apple has confirmed that these settings persist across reboots and system updates, so you won't need to reconfigure after every macOS upgrade.

As Apple continues to refine its AI strategy, expect more granular controls in future macOS versions. For now, the options above give you a clear path to opt out.