Apple Intelligence rolled out last year, bringing AI-powered notifications, ChatGPT integration, and more to iPhones, iPads, and Macs. While these new features promise to revolutionize the Apple experience, they come with a catch—they’re eating up a massive 7GB of your device’s storage. That’s nearly double the original 4GB storage requirement when Apple Intelligence first launched!
The Growing Storage Demand for AI
The extra space is necessary to support new AI features in iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS Sequoia 15.2. These updates include ChatGPT-powered Siri, Genmoji, Image Playground, and Visual Intelligence, all of which demand additional local storage. Apple has long preferred on-device AI processing for faster response times and enhanced privacy, but the trade-off is that these AI models take up valuable storage space.
Apple’s storage requirements page originally included a disclaimer stating that “storage requirements for on-device Apple Intelligence models will increase as more features roll out.” That note has since disappeared, but with iOS 18.3 and iOS 18.4 on the horizon—both expected to bring even smarter Siri enhancements and app integrations—it’s very possible that storage demands will continue to grow.
How to Free Up Storage
If you’re running out of space and don’t want Apple Intelligence eating up precious gigabytes, you can turn it off completely. Head to Settings on your iPhone or iPad (or System Settings on your Mac), go to Apple Intelligence & Siri, and toggle it off. Just like that, you’re reclaiming your storage!
But there’s a catch—disabling Apple Intelligence means losing access to all AI-powered features. That includes Writing Tools, Smart Notifications, Image Playground, and more. If you love these features but still need extra space, Apple also provides storage management suggestions under Settings > General > Storage, allowing you to offload unused apps, media, and data.
Is Apple Intelligence Worth the Storage Sacrifice?
The big question remains: is AI really worth 7GB of your precious storage? Apple Intelligence brings some cool new tools to the table, but if you’re constantly running out of space, it might not be worth the trade-off. With even more AI updates expected in future iOS releases, users will have to decide if these features justify the increasing storage demands—or if it’s time to hit that off switch.
