Apple Intelligence on macOS 27 can no longer be switched off with a single toggle, and even when its individual features are disabled, the underlying AI models remain stored on disk. A new open-source tool called RemoveMacAI fixes both problems: it turns off every Apple Intelligence feature, deletes the associated models, and blocks macOS from silently re-downloading them, all through one reversible command.

Why a single switch disappeared in macOS 27

In earlier versions of macOS, Apple Intelligence could be turned off from one settings pane, and that was mostly the end of it. According to the RemoveMacAI project, macOS 27 changed this: the feature is now split across many individual toggles (Siri, Writing Tools, Genmoji, Mail summaries, Xcode predictive completion, and more), and disabling them does not remove the multi-gigabyte foundation models or feature-specific models Apple downloaded to support them. Users who want their storage back have had no built-in way to do so.

How RemoveMacAI actually works

RemoveMacAI is a script-based tool, not an installed application. Running it downloads the latest release, verifies its SHA-256 checksum, and executes it from a temporary directory, so nothing is permanently installed on the system. Every release is built directly from its source tag by GitHub Actions and includes a build provenance attestation, letting technically inclined users verify that a given download actually originated from the official repository.

Once running, the tool shows the current state of Apple Intelligence on the machine and asks the user to confirm before making changes. It then opens System Settings to install a configuration profile, a step macOS requires the user to manually approve, and proceeds to remove the downloaded models. The project states plainly that it makes no network requests and collects no data during this process.

What gets turned off and what gets deleted

The list of disabled features is broad: Siri (including “Hey Siri” and its menu bar icon), Writing Tools, Genmoji, Image Playground, the ChatGPT extension, AI-generated summaries in Mail, Messages, Safari, Notes and notifications, Mail smart replies, inline text predictions, Spatial Photos, Photos Clean Up, and Xcode’s predictive code completion.

On the storage side, RemoveMacAI removes the Apple Intelligence foundation models along with the separate models used for image generation and Genmoji, Spatial Photos, Photos Clean Up, and Xcode code completion. Because the configuration profile also blocks future downloads, the models stay gone even after macOS updates, a detail the project confirms explicitly: the profile, including its download block, persists across system updates.

What still works, and what breaks

Not everything tied to Siri or on-device intelligence disappears. Dictation is handled as a separate setting with its own speech models, and RemoveMacAI leaves it untouched. Users may also notice a process still named “Siri” running in Activity Monitor after using the tool; this is because in macOS 27 the Spotlight window itself runs under that process name, and some system services remain loaded because they are protected by System Integrity Protection.

On the other hand, removing the models does have real consequences for developers. Any app relying on Apple’s on-device models, including those built with the Foundation Models framework or the “Use Model” action in Shortcuts, stops functioning. Visual Intelligence and natural-language editing in Calendar also stop working, since they depend on the same underlying models.

One cosmetic quirk is worth noting: System Settings > General > Storage may continue to list Apple Intelligence models as taking up space even after they’ve been deleted. Per the project, Apple’s asset service releases the models immediately, but macOS cleans up the actual files on its own internal schedule, so the Storage pane can lag behind reality for a period of time.

Reversing the changes

Because RemoveMacAI installs nothing persistent beyond the configuration profile, undoing its effects is straightforward: running removemacai revert restores the previous state, and if the tool was installed via Homebrew, it can be removed afterward with brew uninstall removemacai.

The project credits its foundation to an existing tool called pared, built by a developer known as 4evy, which first mapped out Apple’s asset service, the relevant model sets, and the settings keys involved. RemoveMacAI builds on that groundwork, with licensing details documented in the repository’s third-party notices.

Frequently asked questions

Does this delete Siri’s dictation models too? No. Dictation is controlled by a separate setting, and its speech recognition models are not affected by RemoveMacAI.

Will a macOS update bring Apple Intelligence back? No. The configuration profile installed by the tool, including its block on re-downloading models, is designed to persist through system updates.

Is it safe to run, given it needs System Settings access? The tool requires manual user approval to install its configuration profile, as macOS mandates for any profile installation, and the project states it makes no network requests and collects no data beyond what’s needed to download and verify its own release.

Source: Turn off Apple Intelligence on macOS 27 and get its disk space back