iOS 18 Software Updates Keep Re-Enabling Apple Intelligence for Users Who Had Turned It Off

Juli Clover, writing for MacRumors last week:

With new iOS software updates, Apple has been automatically turning Apple Intelligence on again even for users who have disabled it, a decision that has become increasingly frustrating for those that don’t want to use Apple Intelligence .

After installing iOS 18.3.2, iPhone users have noticed that Apple Intelligence is automatically turned on, regardless of whether it was turned off prior to the update being installed. There is an Apple Intelligence splash screen that comes up after updating, and there is no option other than tapping “Continue,” which turns on Apple Intelligence .

If you’ve updated to iOS 18.3.2 and do not want Apple Intelligence enabled, you will need to go the Settings app, tap on Apple Intelligence, and then toggle it off. When Apple Intelligence is enabled, it consumes up to 7GB of storage space for local AI models, which is an inconvenience when storage space is limited.

I’d been seeing complaints about this, including from some friends who are developers and/or had previously worked on iOS as engineers at Apple. A bunch of regular DF readers have written to complain about it too. I wouldn’t call it a deluge, but I’ve gotten an unusual number of complaints about this. (And at CNet, Jeff Carlson reports the same thing happening with MacOS 15.3.2.)

I hadn’t experienced it personally because I have Apple Intelligence enabled on my iPhone. But my year-old iPhone 15 Pro was still running iOS 18.2. So I disabled Apple Intelligence on that phone, then updated it to 18.3.2. When it finished, Apple Intelligence was re-enabled. I also tried this on my iPhone 16e review unit, which was still running iOS 18.3.1 (albeit a version of 18.3.1 with a unique build number for the 16e). I turned Apple Intelligence off, upgraded to 18.3.2, and on that iPhone, Apple Intelligence remained off after the software upgrade completed.

So I don’t know if this is a bug that only affects some iPhones, or a deliberate growth hacking decision from Apple to keep turning this back on for people who have explicitly turned it off. But it’s definitely happening.

And while the 7 GB of storage space required for the model is a legitimate technical reason to turn it off, I think (judging from my email from DF readers) the main reason people disable Apple Intelligence is that they don’t like it, don’t trust it, and to some degree object to it. It could take up no additional storage space at all and they’d still want it disabled on their devices, and they are fucking angry that Apple’s own software updates keep turning it back on. Put aside the quality or utility of Apple Intelligence as it stands today, and there are people who object to the whole thing on principle or, I don’t know, just vibes alone. Feelings are strong about this. Turning it back on automatically, after a user had turned it off manually, leads those users to correctly distrust Apple Intelligence specifically and Apple in general.

If it’s a bug, it’s a bug that makes Apple look like a bunch of gross shysters. If it’s not a bug, it means Apple is a bunch of gross shysters. I’d wager on bug — especially after seeing it not happen on my 16e review unit. I’m thinking it’s something where it’s supposed to be enabled by default, once, for people who’ve never explicitly turned Apple Intelligence on or off previously, but that for some devices where it has been turned off explicitly, somehow the software update is mistaking it for the setting never having been touched. Apple needs to get it together on this one.

★ Friday, 21 March 2025