How do you remove Apple Intelligence from an iPhone on iOS 26.5? It’s taking up almost 10GB despite never being “turned on” for more than a year.
429 Too Many Requests
Posted on Jun 30, 2026 6:53 AM
How do you remove Apple Intelligence from an iPhone on iOS 26.5? It’s taking up almost 10GB despite never being “turned on” for more than a year.
Posted on Jun 30, 2026 6:53 AM
Jun 30, 2026 8:07 AM in response to alreadydidthisonce
alreadydidthisonce wrote:
Thanks, Tim!
to have a phone without ai my only real option is downgrading to a 15 base or lower then, correct?
Even before Apple Intelligence, you've had AI on all iPhones since Siri was introduced in 2011 on iPhone 4. Searching for anything using search is actually AI. If you truly don't want anything to do with AI in the modern world, Kilted Tim is correct in advising you to go buy a dumb flip phone to simply make and receive phone calls.
Everyone is also correct that while you don't have to use Apple Intelligence, you cannot remove it. It is baked into the OS and as users Apple owns the OS for which we have a license to use. We cannot pick and choose which parts of the OS we want installed in the OS. No operating system works that way.
Jun 30, 2026 6:54 AM in response to alreadydidthisonce
It is integrated into iOS. You can't "remove" it. You can only turn it off.
Jun 30, 2026 7:25 AM in response to alreadydidthisonce
Sorry, but no, if you mean iOS 15, you can’t.
Sep 27, 2026 9:21 AM in response to udubec
udubec wrote:
I bought my Mac Book pro, i-pad and phone before the forced IOS AI intrusion. We are talking about six thousand dollars in purchases I have to junk because I did not buy AI? Surely you jest.
I doubt his post was in jest, in the least. You don't own the operating system on any of your devices. Apple does. If you're not happy with what Apple includes in their operating system, tell them --> Product Feedback - Apple
Jun 30, 2026 7:10 AM in response to alreadydidthisonce
That's correct. It does not remove it. You can not remove it.
Jun 30, 2026 8:16 AM in response to alreadydidthisonce
Amazing, thank you all for your answers. This really is unfortunate.
The issue wasn’t AI existing, but that it’s taking up too much space on my phone. Hopefully they’ll fix that at some point in the future since disabling doesn’t seem to actually do anything.
Jun 30, 2026 8:41 AM in response to alreadydidthisonce
alreadydidthisonce wrote:
Amazing, thank you all for your answers. This really is unfortunate.
The issue wasn’t AI existing, but that it’s taking up too much space on my phone. Hopefully they’ll fix that at some point in the future since disabling doesn’t seem to actually do anything.
I wouldn't expect the operating system to take up less space in the future. I'd expect it to take up more space as more and more features are added. This is why Apple no longer sells the current model iPhone with storage levels below 256GB. And I don't think that may be enough, which I now buy my iPhone's with 512GB. You can never have too much space. But once purchased, you cannot add space. Memory is one of the most overlooked considerations when buying a new phone. It's way more important than people think.
Jun 30, 2026 8:53 AM in response to lobsterghost1
lobsterghost1 wrote:
Memory is one of the most overlooked considerations when buying a new phone. It's way more important than people think.
Indeed, as Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor is credited with saying, “You can never be too rich, or too thin, or have too much storage."
Jun 30, 2026 7:07 AM in response to KiltedTim
Turning it off does not remove it from storage though. In fact, it’s grown from 9.36GB to 9.7 since I posted my question.
Jun 30, 2026 7:19 AM in response to KiltedTim
Thanks, Tim!
to have a phone without ai my only real option is downgrading to a 15 base or lower then, correct?
Jun 30, 2026 7:53 AM in response to alreadydidthisonce
Downgrading is not supported.
If you want to completely avoid AI, go buy a dumb phone. ALL smartphones have some kind of AI code built into them now.
Sep 27, 2026 9:14 AM in response to KiltedTim
I bought my Mac Book pro, i-pad and phone before the forced IOS AI intrusion. We are talking about six thousand dollars in purchases I have to junk because I did not buy AI? Surely you jest.
Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256319418