Apple’s AI revolution has arrived—but not without a cost. While the Cupertino giant has been teasing us with Apple Intelligence features like smarter Siri interactions, ChatGPT integration, Genmoji, and real-time notification summaries, your iPhone might be paying the price—literally in gigabytes. The latest iOS 18.2 update now requires a massive 7GB of free space for Apple Intelligence to function. That’s nearly double what it needed just a few months ago with iOS 18.1.
Why is Apple Intelligence taking up so much space?
Apple’s AI strategy is all about running features locally on your device—for speed, privacy, and smoother performance. But that also means your iPhone needs to store those large AI models on-device. Unlike cloud-based tools, these features sit quietly on your phone, hoarding storage even when you’re not actively using them.
With tools like Writing Tools for editing, Visual Intelligence for detecting images, and ChatGPT-based enhancements for Siri, the AI experience is richer than ever. But each new rollout brings more storage demands. And with more features coming in iOS 18.4 and beyond—like Siri app integration and enhanced on-screen awareness—expect the storage requirement to rise again.
Can you get that space back?
Yes—and fairly easily. If you’re not using these AI features or simply need to free up space, you can turn off Apple Intelligence under Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri. Doing so can help you reclaim those 7GB for more useful things like photos, videos, or apps you actually use.+
But here’s the tradeoff: disabling Apple Intelligence means saying goodbye to features that could genuinely enhance your productivity and personalisation. So, it’s really a question of value—is 7GB worth the AI magic?
Whether you embrace it or erase it, one thing’s clear: Apple’s future is AI-first—and your phone better be ready to make room for it.
