While most of us are have welcomed Apple Intelligence and are impatiently waiting for it to do more, there are some who’ve opted out. Some of these users are reporting that the latest macOS and iOS updates have re-enabled the feature.
While it’s clearly a bug, it’s not clear at this point what causes the unintended behavior, nor how widespread it is …
Apple Intelligence is an optional feature, and users should be asked whether or not they want to enable it when first updating to a supported version of macOS, iOS, or iPadOS.
Some who had been offered the feature in a previous update and declined are reporting that macOS 15.3.1 and iOS 18.3.1 are re-enabling it, without the usual Skip For Now option. Developer Jeff Johnson was one of those to experience it.
Some people who had previously disabled Apple Intelligence in macOS 15.3 and iOS 18.3 saw it re-enabled after updating to macOS 15.3.1 and iOS 18.3.1 today. In fact I personally have two different Apple silicon Macs running macOS Sequoia, and after I updated both Macs to 15.3.1, Apple Intelligence was re-enabled on my MacBook Pro but not on my Mac mini.
The difference in behavior appears to depend on whether the Setup Assistant and welcome screen is displayed after the update. On my MacBook Pro, but not my Mac mini, I saw the Setup Assistant.
He notes that security researcher Will Dormann experienced the same issue on iOS.
People who updated to iOS 18.3.1 today: Did you see a “Welcome” screen on reboot, and subsequently also an Apple Intelligence screen that automatically turns it on?
Out of my two iPhone devices (on two different Apple accounts), both of them got the multiple-language welcome screen. The one that was new enough to support Apple Intelligence also got the Apple Intelligence screen, which turned it on.
How to disable Apple Intelligence
If this has happened to you, you can of course easily disable it.
On Mac, go to > System Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri and flip the Apple Intelligence toggle to off.
On iPhone, open the Settings app then Apple Intelligence & Siri and flip the Apple Intelligence toggle to off.
We’d expect the issue to be resolved in the next updates.
Image: 9to5Mac
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