Apple Intelligence now requires at least 7 GB of space on each device

If you’ve been using Apple Intelligence on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, you’ll need to free up a little more space to use Apple’s AI features. At the time of launch, the minimum system requirements for Apple Intelligence included 4 GB of memory, but in latest updatenoticed 9to5Mac. At the time of writing, each device using Apple Intelligence requires a minimum of 7 GB of free space.

Why Apple Intelligence needs storage space

Because much of Apple Intelligence’s processing takes place on the device, it needs to store data on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. The amount of memory required for Apple Intelligence will continue to increase as Apple adds new features to its AI portfolio. Starting with iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS 15.2, this is the full list of Apple Intelligence features:

• Genmoji

• Image Playground

• Image Wand in the Apple Pencil tool palette

• Tools for writing

• Cleaning in photos

• Create a memory movie in Photos

• Natural language search in photos

• Summary of messages

• Reduce interruptions. Concentrate

• Intellectual breakthrough and jamming in focus

• Priority messages in Mail

• Fast response in mail and messages

• Results in mail and messages

• Siri improvements, including product information, typing into Siri, and more

• ChatGPT integration with Siri and Writing Tools

Minimum memory requirements have increased with additional AI features launched with iOS 18.2. You can expect it to go even further in the future if and when Apple Intelligence gets more features.

How to check how much space Apple Intelligence takes up on your iPhone, iPad, Mac

You can easily see how much space Apple Intelligence is taking up on your devices. On your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > General > iPhone/iPad Storage > iOS/iPadOS. On your Mac, you can visit System Preferences > General > Memory > macOS. On my Mac, just a few weeks ago, Apple Intelligence was about 3.1 GB, and today that number has increased to 5.5 GB.

Credit: Pranay Parab

Can I delete Apple Intelligence data from my device?

There is no easy way to remove Apple Intelligence data from your device. It seems to take up a lot of space even if you turn it off or if it’s not available in your iPhone’s language. Having said that, some Reddit users reported that they discovered a hack that deletes Apple Intelligence storage data from their devices. For this to work, you need to turn off Apple Intelligence on your device first. On your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, you can go to Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri and turn off Apple Intelligence. After that, if your Apple device is about to run out of memory, it will automatically offload Apple Intelligence data and free up precious space.

I wish there was a way to manually remove Apple Intelligence data or remove individual components that I don’t use. For example, if I turn off consolidated messages or means of writingApple should allow me to remove the storage associated with these features. At this point, the hack to free up memory is a bit extreme as it requires you to completely forego the use of AI functions.