macOS 27 users find workaround to skip forced AI model downloads
A community-discovered workaround lets Mac users avoid mandatory Apple Intelligence/Siri AI model downloads that eat into local storage.
What to know
- macOS 27 downloads Apple Intelligence/Siri AI models by default, using significant local storage.
- A community workaround shared on r/MacOSBeta and amplified on Hacker News shows how to block or remove these downloads.
- Users say Apple removed a straightforward opt-out toggle, folding Apple Intelligence into 'Siri AI' and requiring convoluted region/privacy-setting changes to disable it.
- Experiences with the new Siri are split: some find it genuinely useful for local-data tasks, others report it performing worse than before, including hallucinated answers.
The dispute Whether the new Siri/Apple Intelligence is an improvement worth keeping or a degraded, unwanted addition that should be removable. · positions read across 15 posts and comments
Apple should not force-install AI models or hide the opt-out; users must retain easy control.
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“I wasn't expecting Apple to force-feed the AI into my mouth with this new Siri release, but turning "Apple Intelligence" into "Siri AI" and removing the opt-out toggle is gross.”
nunez · Hacker News ↗
The new on-device Siri/AI is genuinely useful for practical tasks despite not being state-of-the-art.
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“Obviously it's not a state of the art LLM, but it's good enough, and the fact that it can search and take actions on your local data makes it incredibly useful.”
hbn · Hacker News ↗
The new Siri is a functional regression compared to the old one.
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“The new Siri was worse for everything I use it for before I turned it off.”
lynndotpy · Hacker News ↗
This fits a broader pattern of Apple limiting user control to push its own services (e.g., storage/cloud).
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“I've always been frustrated by Apple's refusal to allow sorting photos/videos by file size. It feels like a blatant push to force users towards paying for their cloud storage.”
jleehn · Hacker News ↗
Apple Maker of macOS 27 and Apple Intelligence/Siri AInunez Hacker News commenterhbn Hacker News commenterlynndotpy Hacker News commenteralwillis Hacker News commenter
How it unfolded 4 developments, newest first · click a bar or a number to jump articlespostscomments
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Users report sharply divergent experiences with the new Siri
Some commenters praise the new Siri for searching and acting on local data, while others say it performs worse than before, citing failures on basic queries like weather and air quality.
“The new Siri was worse for everything I use it for before I turned it off... new Siri would hallucinate an incorrect and fixed value.”
— lynndotpy -
I get that these are things you might do regularly and feel more empowered to use Siri for them... but they're rather banal and could be done with literally a one or two step process previously, especially if you're already using Apple's first-party apps which seem to be a requirement here. In both email cases, Spotlight handles searches like that…
2 more of the top 3 · 6 posts in this stretch
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> I'll say they definitely need to let people disable/offload the modelIf you have used mac/iOS (esp. Mac; well, because on iOS you can't do anything other than what's on screen essentially) for a long time you might realise Apple, at this point, is simply not capable of even developing those features that will allow users to do such things. And…
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Our experiences diverge surprisingly far. The new Siri was worse for everything I use it for before I turned it off.The new Siri can not reliably return the weather (it seems it's prompting on the literal text of the town and asks for a clarification sometimes about whether I am in the United States or United Kingdom), and when I ask "what is the…
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Commenters object to loss of an Apple Intelligence opt-out toggle
Users argue macOS 27 merged Apple Intelligence into 'Siri AI' and removed the simple toggle to disable it, requiring workarounds like changing Siri's region/language and adjusting Content & Privacy Restrictions.
“I wasn't expecting Apple to force-feed the AI into my mouth with this new Siri release, but turning "Apple Intelligence" into "Siri AI" and removing the opt-out toggle is gross.”
— nunez -
Siri AI is very capable, but *I* should have control over when and whether *I* decide to enable or completely delete it.I wasn't expecting Apple to force-feed the AI into my mouth with this new Siri release, but turning "Apple Intelligence" into "Siri AI" and removing the opt-out toggle is gross.(You can't disable all of other fka Apple…
2 more of the top 3 · 3 posts in this stretch
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Tangentially related, I've always been frustrated by Apple's refusal to allow sorting photos/videos by file size. It feels like a blatant push to force users towards paying for their cloud storage.
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If Siri and Apple Intelligence is disabled in the settings, does it still do the download?
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Commenter surfaces separate guide to disable Apple Intelligence on Mac
HN user alwillis links a related discussion, "Turn off and restrict access to Apple Intelligence features on Mac," describing it as a workable list of settings from Apple.
“I'll say they definitely need to let people disable/offload the model, but if you haven't tried the new Siri, it's been great.”
— hbn, Hacker News commenter · source -
I'll say they definitely need to let people disable/offload the model, but if you haven't tried the new Siri, it's been great. Obviously it's not a state of the art LLM, but it's good enough, and the fact that it can search and take actions on your local data makes it incredibly useful. I definitely use it more on my iPhone where it's slower to…
2 more of the top 3 · 4 posts in this stretch
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A couple of things I've done with Apple Intelligence on the Mac:* When I need a prescription refilled, the quickest way is to message my doctor using the patient portal. I created a Shortcut that lets me pick among 5 medications; Apple Intelligence then generates a message with the request to the clipboard which I paste into the message field and…
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Posted: "Turn off and restrict access to Apple Intelligence features on Mac" - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49790409Not a bad list from Apple.
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Reddit workaround to block macOS 27 AI model downloads surfaces on HN
A post on r/MacOSBeta describing a method to prevent macOS 27 from downloading Apple Intelligence/Siri AI models and reclaim storage space reaches Hacker News front page.
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first by HN Frontpage, 2d ago
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I am tired to fight against every platform that I have to useDe macify Mac Degoogle Android Demacify ipad DeLLM chrome browsers local llmCan we expect sane decisions from corpos about what we want rather than what latest thing they want to push on us?
1 more of the top 2 · 2 posts in this stretch
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This type of stuff gives me PTSD flashbacks from trying timo de-crapify Windows.
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What people are saying 4 voices from 1 site · best of 15 · verbatim
- Does the AI model still download in the background even if Siri and Apple Intelligence are disabled in settings?
- Sep 22
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Tried new Siri to set the timer when cooking- it failed to deliver.First, it’s unreliable in when to say what you want after Hey Siri, then it just didn’t do anything, and the third time it silently set the timer but didn’t confirm anything so I have then set another timer manually to only find out later that they both run.Hard to trust this…
- Sep 21
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> "What was the quote for my insurance claim?" - it'll look through your emails and pull the number with the source email so you can jump right to it.> The other day I asked "when did I arrive and leave Mexico City on my trip at the end of 2024?" and it nailed it based off my flight receipt.Where you see convenience, I see a security nightmare.
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Worth pointing out that the Foundational Models can be used by more than just Siri - apps, shortcuts, etc can call/run those models for local inference.
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They need an option to completely disable and delete Apple Intelligence.A 256GB Mac Mini is effectively unable to use macOS 27 due to this bloated nonsense.