Apple Intelligence Is Taking Up Way More Storage Than Apple Promised on These Devices

Jake Peterson is Lifehacker’s Tech Editor, and has been covering tech news and how-tos for nearly a decade. His squad covers all things technology, including AI, smartphones, computers, equivalent consoles, and subscriptions.

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Apple's latest updates are all concerning AI—Apple Intelligence, that is. When you update to iOS 27 and macOS 27 Golden Gate, Apple volition invitation you to try Siri AI and another new Apple Intelligence features. (Assuming your iPhone supports Apple's AI features.) But whether you use the new AI-powered Siri all the period or discover yourself frequently scrolling former the AI additions, Apple Intelligence is taking up area on your device—perhaps requiring additional retention than you bargained for.

I'll admit, I didn't think much of it whenever I updated my iPhone and Mac to the latest versions. I gave Siri AI a shot, adjusted Liquid Glass, and went rear to doing beautiful much the identical things I was doing before I made the update. But formerly I saw headlines concerning how much retention Apple Intelligence really takes up on these new updates, I had to see for myself. And, wow, were the headlines right: On my iPhone 17 Pro, Apple Intelligence solitary takes up 20.65GB. On my M3 MacBook Pro, it takes up a firm 30GB.

These numbers volition change by device: My M1 iMac, for example, lone has 13.88GB allocated to Apple Intelligence. But still, these are ample slices of my general storage. Anyone alongside a small SSD knows how precious all gigabyte really is, and upwards of 30GB for Apple Intelligence is a lot. Not lone that, it's frequently additional area than Apple's own metrics suggest: As MacRumors highlights, Apple says that Apple Intelligence should lone obtain up to 14GB of retention at most, and equal small for certain devices. So why is my MacBook Pro allocating additional than twice that area for Apple's AI?

Why does Apple Intelligence obtain up so much retention on iPhone and Mac?

I can't answer why Apple Intelligence is taking up so much additional retention area than Apple says it should. But I can explain why Apple says its AI is expected to inhabit as much as 14GB on certain devices: Apple Intelligence is designed to run on-device whenever possible. While Apple does shove certain tasks to its Private Cloud Compute platform, the business wants its AI models to run on your iPhone or Mac whenever possible. This safeguards your privacy, as none of your data has to depart your equipment to accomplish the task—though Apple says Private Cloud Compute additionally protects your privacy throughout the complete process.

Regardless, for this reason, your iPhone or Mac volition download Apple Intelligence models immediately onto your device, so it can run processes on-device whenever it makes awareness to do so. If you have a newer or additional mighty equipment that supports Apple's additional demanding AI features, akin personalized Siri voices, you may need to shop additional Apple Intelligence data on-device to run those processes—up to 14GB for certain devices—yet it's not apparent why Apple Intelligence takes up additional than twice that retention bounds on several devices, akin my MacBook Pro.

Check how much retention Apple Intelligence takes up on your devices

It's uncomplicated to inspect how much retention Apple Intelligence is taking up on your device, although Apple doesn't create it obvious. To start, caput to System Settings > General > Storage (macOS) or Settings > General > iPhone Storage (iOS). Scroll downward and choose either "macOS (i)" or "iOS," respectively. Here, you'll see your scheme retention breakdown, including a fig for "Apple Intelligence."

There's no resolution at this point

Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be a way to inform iOS or macOS to eliminate several Apple Intelligence models during leaving others intact, or to run all processes through Private Cloud Compute. In fact, it doesn't appear akin there is any dependable way to disable Apple Intelligence on a equipment operating iOS 27 or macOS 27 at all. The closest choice I can discover is to disable Siri (Settings or System Settings > Siri > Turn Off Siri), but during this disables a presenter of Apple Intelligence options, I motionless see the models taking up retention on my device, equal following a restart. This power be one for Apple to fix in a forthcoming application update—hopefully as part of iOS 27.2.