How to Turn Off Apple Intelligence on Your iPhone: A Complete Guide

Apple Intelligence powers many of the smart features on your iPhone, making the device more personalized, efficient, and intuitive to use. It leverages on-device machine learning to analyze your habits, preferences, and routines, offering suggestions and predictive assistance from Siri recommendations to smarter search results and personalized photo memories.

However, not everyone is comfortable with their iPhone collecting and using personal data for these intelligent features. Some users may prefer more privacy or simply want to regain manual control over their device’s behavior. If you are one of them, you might be wondering: How do I turn off Apple Intelligence on my iPhone?

In this article, we will explore what Apple Intelligence really is, what features it controls, and how you can disable these features on your iPhone for enhanced privacy or a more straightforward user experience.

What Is Apple Intelligence on iPhone?

Apple Intelligence is a set of smart features that use machine learning and on-device data processing to offer personalized experiences. Instead of sending your data to Apple servers, much of this intelligence works locally on your iPhone to enhance privacy.

Some examples of Apple Intelligence features include:

• Siri Suggestions: Personalized app and action suggestions based on your usage.
• Search Suggestions: When you swipe down on your Home Screen, your iPhone suggests apps, contacts, news, or locations based on your habits.
• Smart Photo Features: Such as automatically creating Memories or identifying objects and people in your Photos.
• Predictive Text and Keyboard Suggestions: Offering words or phrases as you type.
• App Suggestions in the Dock or on the Lock Screen: Frequently used or contextually relevant apps are suggested for quick access.

While these features are designed to make your iPhone smarter and easier to use, they rely on analyzing your device activity. If you prefer to keep this data private or reduce automatic behavior, you can turn these features off.

Why Would You Want to Turn Off Apple Intelligence?

There are several reasons you might want to disable Apple Intelligence on your iPhone:

1. Privacy Concerns: Even though Apple processes data locally, some users prefer not to have their usage habits analyzed.
2. Reduce Distractions: Suggestions and predictive behaviors can sometimes be distracting or irrelevant.
3. Simplify User Experience: Turning off intelligent features can create a more manual and straightforward interface.
4. Performance and Battery: Although minor, disabling some intelligent features can potentially save some battery life and reduce background activity.

How to Turn Off Apple Intelligence Features on Your iPhone

Apple doesn’t provide a single toggle to disable all intelligence features at once, but you can turn off each aspect individually. Here’s how to do it step-by-step:

1. Disable Siri & Search Suggestions

Siri Suggestions are one of the most prominent intelligence features. They offer app suggestions, shortcuts, and relevant information throughout your iPhone experience.

• Open the Settings app.
• Scroll down and tap Siri & Search.
• Here, you’ll see options like:
  • Suggestions in Search
  • Suggestions in Look Up
  • Suggestions on Lock Screen

Turn off all these toggles to prevent Siri from providing proactive suggestions.

If you want to stop Siri and Dictation entirely:

• At the top of the Siri & Search page, toggle off Listen for "Hey Siri" and Press Side Button for Siri.
• Then, disable Allow Siri When Locked.
• Scroll down and turn off Siri & Dictation History to clear past data.

2. Turn Off Siri Suggestions for Individual Apps

If you prefer to disable suggestions only for certain apps:

• In Settings > Siri & Search, scroll down to the list of apps.
• Tap any app you want to adjust.
• Disable Show Suggestions from App and Learn from this App.

3. Disable Search Suggestions in Photos

Photos app also uses Apple Intelligence to suggest Memories, categorize photos, and more.

• Open Settings.
• Scroll down and tap Photos.
• Turn off Show Siri Suggestions and Show Memories if available.

This stops your iPhone from suggesting photos or automatically creating Memories using AI.

4. Turn Off Predictive Text and Keyboard Suggestions

The keyboard’s predictive text feature learns from your typing habits to suggest words.

• Open Settings.
• Tap General.
• Tap Keyboard.
• Toggle off Predictive.

This will stop the keyboard from displaying suggested words or phrases as you type.

5. Disable App Suggestions on the Home Screen and Lock Screen

Your iPhone may show frequently used or suggested apps on the Home Screen dock or Lock Screen.

• Open Settings.
• Tap Home Screen & Dock (on some iOS versions) or Home Screen.
• Turn off Show Suggested and Recent Apps or similar options.

Additional Privacy Settings to Consider

Besides turning off Apple Intelligence features, consider the following to further protect your privacy:

• Limit Ad Tracking:
  Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Apple Advertising, and turn off Personalized Ads.
• Limit Location Sharing:
  In Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services, restrict apps’ access to your location.
• Review Analytics & Improvements:
  Under Settings > Privacy & Security > Analytics & Improvements, turn off Share iPhone Analytics.

What Happens After You Turn Off Apple Intelligence?

Once you disable these features:

• Your iPhone will no longer proactively suggest apps, contacts, or information based on your habits.
• You won’t see predictive text or personalized keyboard suggestions.
• Siri won’t offer suggestions or shortcuts.
• Photos app will stop making AI-powered Memories or suggestions.
• Your overall user experience will be more manual and less tailored.

Keep in mind, turning off Apple Intelligence does not affect the core functionality of your iPhone or apps only the smart, predictive features.

Can You Turn Apple Intelligence Back On?

Yes! If you change your mind later, you can easily re-enable any of the features by going back to the same settings and toggling them on. Apple Intelligence is designed to be flexible, letting users choose the level of personalization they want.

Final Thoughts

Apple Intelligence enhances your iPhone experience by making it more personal and proactive. However, if you value privacy, want to reduce distractions, or prefer a simpler interface, you can turn off these smart features in just a few steps.

By following the guide above, you can disable Siri Suggestions, predictive text, photo suggestions, and app recommendations effectively turning off Apple Intelligence on your iPhone.

Taking control of these settings lets you use your iPhone exactly the way you want, with fewer automatic interruptions and more privacy.