Apple Intelligence now switches on automatically on eligible Apple devices, so owners, IT teams and developers need clear facts on which devices qualify, where it works and where their data goes. Apple Intelligence is Apple's personal intelligence system for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Vision Pro and Apple Watch, announced on 10 June 2024, which combines generative models on the device with larger models running on Apple's Private Cloud Compute servers. This page sets out the supported devices and storage needs for the 27 releases, the supported languages and regional rules (including the EU and mainland China), the features that run on each device, usage limits, the developer framework, and how Private Cloud Compute is designed. It draws only on Apple's own support pages, newsroom posts, developer documentation and security research blog, and is written for everyday users, IT and mobile device teams, privacy officers and app developers.
Last checked: 2026-11-15.
This is an independent reference page from NHI Mgmt Group based on public provider documentation; it is not sponsored or endorsed by any provider. It is based on Apple's public support documentation as of November 2026. Product features change, so confirm settings against Apple's current documentation.
Key takeaways
- On by default after the 27 update. Apple says the next generation of Apple Intelligence is included in the OS and turns on automatically on eligible devices when they update to the 27.0 releases, in supported languages and regions.
- Device list is chip led. iPhone 15 Pro and later qualifying iPhones, iPad and Mac with M1 or later, iPad mini with A17 Pro or A20 Pro, MacBook Neo (A18 Pro), Apple Vision Pro, and Apple Watch Series 9 or later, Ultra 2 or later and SE 3 paired with an eligible iPhone.
- Storage of up to 14 GB. Apple lists up to 14 GB for the newest high memory devices, up to 8 GB for other supported iPhone, iPad, Mac and Vision Pro models, and up to 1.5 GB for Apple Watch.
- Server features have daily limits. Features that rely on server models, such as Siri AI, Image Playground and intelligent photo editing tools, have daily limits, and Apple states that expanded access will be offered for a fee in the future.
- Private Cloud Compute is stateless by design. Apple says data sent to Private Cloud Compute is used only to fulfil the request, is not stored or made accessible to Apple, and that devices send data only to servers running publicly logged software.
What is Apple Intelligence?
Apple describes Apple Intelligence as its personal intelligence system, combining generative models with a user's personal context. Many tasks run entirely on the device. Requests that need more computing power go to Private Cloud Compute (PCC), Apple's own server platform built on Apple silicon. A separate, optional extension can send selected requests to ChatGPT, where the ChatGPT app and service are available.
| Field | Value (as of 2026-11-15) |
|---|---|
| Provider | Apple |
| Announced | 10 June 2024 (WWDC, Cupertino) |
| First public release | 28 October 2024, with iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1, US English |
| Current releases | iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27 Golden Gate, visionOS 27, watchOS 27 |
| Where it runs | On the device, and on Private Cloud Compute for larger server models |
| Model names Apple uses | AFM Core Advanced (on the device) and AFM 3 Cloud models (named in Shortcuts) |
| Price | Included in the OS; server features carry daily limits, with paid expanded access announced for the future |
| Languages (iOS, iPadOS, macOS 27) | 16 |
| Mainland China | Not currently supported on devices bought in mainland China |
| Developer access | Foundation Models framework (on-device and Private Cloud Compute models) |
| Minimum age for Siri AI | 13 |
Which devices support Apple Intelligence?
Apple's support article for the 27 releases (published 5 November 2026) lists the following. Apple Watch models must be paired with an Apple Intelligence enabled iPhone, and some watch features need that iPhone nearby.
| Device family | Supported models (27 releases) | Storage needed |
|---|---|---|
| iPhone | iPhone Duo, iPhone 16 models and later, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone Air | Up to 14 GB on iPhone Duo, iPhone 17 Pro models and later and iPhone Air; up to 8 GB on other supported iPhone models |
| iPad | iPad mini (A17 Pro and A20 Pro), iPad with M1 or later | Up to 14 GB on iPad with M4 or later and at least 12 GB unified memory; up to 8 GB otherwise |
| Mac | MacBook Neo (A18 Pro), Mac with M1 or later | Up to 14 GB on Mac with M3 or later and at least 12 GB unified memory; up to 8 GB otherwise |
| Apple Vision Pro | Apple Vision Pro | Up to 14 GB on Apple Vision Pro (M5); up to 8 GB on other models |
| Apple Watch | Series 9 or later, Ultra 2 or later, SE 3, paired with a supported iPhone | Up to 1.5 GB |
Two practical points from the same article. First, storage use can temporarily exceed these figures during and shortly after an update, while new models download and older ones are removed. Second, the device language and the Siri language must match and be a supported language; changing the Siri language can make Apple Intelligence unavailable until the new Siri language finishes downloading.
For comparison with the original launch: the June 2024 announcement named iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPad and Mac with M1 or later, and the October 2024 release added the iPhone 16 series and iPad with A17 Pro.
Which languages and regions are supported?
Languages
- iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and macOS 27: English, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Vietnamese, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Japanese and Korean.
- visionOS 27: English, French, German, Italian, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Japanese, Korean and Spanish.
- watchOS 27: some features are available in the supported languages when the watch is paired with an Apple Intelligence enabled iPhone.
- Siri AI (beta): English, French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish, with availability varying by region and platform; English only on Apple HomeView.
Apple notes that some features are not available in every region or language, and that Apple Intelligence keeps working when a user travels.
Regional rules
| Region | What Apple states (as of 2026-11-15) |
|---|---|
| European Union | Advanced photo editing, the reimagined Image Playground and intelligent browsing features are available to EU users on iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27 Golden Gate and visionOS 27. Siri AI is not available on iOS, iPadOS or watchOS in the EU; it is available on macOS 27 and visionOS 27 when the Apple Account region is in the EU and languages match. |
| Mainland China | Supported devices bought in mainland China do not currently support Apple Intelligence. Supported devices bought elsewhere do not work in mainland China if the Apple Account country or region is also mainland China. When available, previously purchased supported devices can activate a core set of features; Apple says new features will not come to China while it works through regulatory requirements. |
| Other regions | Available in supported languages; individual features vary by region and language. |
What features does Apple Intelligence include?
Apple's 27 support article groups features by the release that introduced them. The tables below summarise the main features and the devices Apple lists for each. Features marked with limits rely on server models and count towards daily usage limits.
New with the 27 releases
| Feature | Devices | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Photo editing: Spatial Reframing, Extend, improved Clean Up | iPhone, iPad, Mac | Usage limits may apply |
| Reimagined Image Playground | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro | Usage limits may apply |
| Describe a shortcut in natural language | iPhone, iPad, Mac | Usage limits may apply |
| Safari: Notify Me, Describe an Extension, organise tabs by topic | iPhone, iPad, Mac | Vision Pro organises bookmarks and reading lists by topic |
| Mail suggestions and Personalized Smart Reply | iPhone, iPad, Mac | Mail suggestions in English only |
| Automatic proofreading | iPhone, iPad, Mac | |
| Call Context | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch | |
| Natural language entry for Calendar events and reminders | iPhone, iPad, Mac | |
| Finder file and folder name suggestions | iPhone, iPad, Mac | |
| HomeKit Secure Video AI Search and Captions | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro | Usage limits; needs a home hub and an eligible iCloud+ plan |
| Enhanced Workout Buddy without iPhone nearby | iPhone, Apple Watch | English and Spanish only |
| Accessibility: VoiceOver image and scene descriptions, Accessibility Reader summaries | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro | Voice Control flexible item names on iPhone and iPad in English (US, UK, Canada, Australia) |
Carried forward from the 26 releases
- Writing and summaries: Writing Tools, summaries in Mail and Messages, notification summaries, voicemail summaries and Notes transcription summaries.
- Live Translation: in Messages, Phone and FaceTime, and with supported AirPods (AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation and later, AirPods Pro 2 and later, AirPods Max 2) paired with a supported iPhone.
- Images: Image Playground, Genmoji, Image Wand, Memory movies and natural language search in Photos.
- Focus and mail triage: Reduce Interruptions Focus, Intelligent Breakthrough and Silencing, and Priority messages in Mail.
- Automation: Apple Intelligence models in Shortcuts and Reminders auto-categorisation.
- ChatGPT extension: on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Vision Pro, only where the ChatGPT app and service are available.
Siri AI (beta)
Siri AI is a new version of Siri powered by the next generation of Apple Intelligence. Apple says it can answer general questions, search a user's personal context across apps such as Messages and Mail, use information on screen and take actions in apps, and it adds a Siri app whose conversation history syncs through iCloud. It is in beta on iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27 Golden Gate, visionOS 27, tvOS 27.2.1, HomeView software 27.2 and watchOS 27. Users opt in from Settings, then Siri, then Try Siri AI (Beta); during high demand a waitlist may apply.
How much does Apple Intelligence cost?
Apple Intelligence is included in the operating system, and Apple described the original launch as a free update. The 27 support article adds usage limits: features that rely on server models have daily limits, which vary by feature, request complexity, system demand and system policies. Apple names Siri AI, intelligent photo editing tools, Image Playground and AFM 3 Cloud models in Shortcuts as examples, and states that expanded access will be offered for a fee in the future. Apple has not published a price for expanded access as of 15 November 2026. Use is subject to the Apple Intelligence Terms and Conditions. HomeKit Secure Video descriptions also need an eligible iCloud+ plan, and the ChatGPT extension's paid features depend on the user's own ChatGPT subscription.
How does Private Cloud Compute work?
Apple's security research blog introduced Private Cloud Compute on 10 June 2024 as the system that handles Apple Intelligence requests needing larger foundation models. Apple set five core requirements for it.
| Requirement | What Apple says it means |
|---|---|
| Stateless computation | Personal data is used only to fulfil the request and is not retained, including through logs or debugging, after the response is returned. |
| Enforceable guarantees | Guarantees are technically enforced and do not depend on external components such as a TLS-terminating load balancer. |
| No privileged runtime access | No remote shell, no interactive debugging and no general purpose logging; only pre-specified, structured, audited logs and metrics leave a node. |
| Non-targetability | An attacker should not be able to single out a specific user's data without a broad compromise of the system. |
| Verifiable transparency | Researchers can verify the guarantees and confirm that production software matches what they inspected. |
- Hardware and OS: custom servers on Apple silicon with the Secure Enclave and Secure Boot, running a hardened subset of iOS and macOS foundations. Only Apple-signed code on an approved trust cache can run.
- Data erasure: the Secure Enclave randomises the data volume's encryption keys on every reboot and does not persist them, so data is cryptographically erased on reboot.
- Device verification: a device sends data only to nodes whose attested measurements match a software release in a public, append-only transparency log, and encrypts requests to those nodes' public keys so load balancers and gateways cannot decrypt them.
- Network privacy: requests pass through a third party Oblivious HTTP (OHTTP) relay that hides the device's IP address, and use a single-use RSA Blind Signature credential to limit metadata.
- Research access: Apple publishes PCC software images for inspection, provides a Virtual Research Environment that runs on a Mac with Apple silicon, publishes a subset of security-critical source code, and includes the PCC stack in the Apple Security Bounty.
The enterprise implications of these claims, and how to manage them, are covered in the Apple Intelligence Enterprise Security guide; the wider trade-offs of local versus server inference are in the On-Device AI Security Guide.
What happens to my data?
Apple's Apple Intelligence privacy notice describes four routes for data.
| Route | What Apple states | User control |
|---|---|---|
| On the device | Many models run entirely on the device, so tasks finish without data leaving it. | Device eligibility and language settings |
| Private Cloud Compute | Data processed in PCC is not stored or made accessible to Apple; results return to the device and are not retained. Apple may collect limited metadata (approximate request and response size, features used, completion time) that excludes content and is not linked to the Apple Account. | Apple Intelligence & PCC Report lists off-device requests |
| Private Information Retrieval | The device can fetch matching content, such as suggested images and Genmoji, from a hosted database without revealing the query to Apple. | Not stated by Apple |
| Device Analytics | If the user opts in, Apple may use privacy-preserving techniques to gather aggregated trends, including about content processed by Apple Intelligence. | Settings, Privacy & Security, Analytics & Improvements |
- Transparency report: on iOS, iPadOS or visionOS go to Settings, Privacy & Security, Apple Intelligence & PCC Report; on a Mac, System Settings, Privacy & Security, Apple Intelligence & PCC Report. Choose a report duration and export the file. It lists requests sent to PCC, including from watchOS, and requests to Apple Intelligence Extensions if enabled.
- ChatGPT extension: Apple's launch announcement said Siri asks permission before sending questions, documents or photos to ChatGPT, that IP addresses are obscured and that OpenAI will not store requests; for users who connect a ChatGPT account, ChatGPT's own data use policies apply.
- Siri AI personal context: drawn from the user's messages, emails and photos, with Siri app history synced through iCloud.
- Shortcuts: the Use Broad World Knowledge option in Shortcuts, Apple Intelligence, Use Model controls whether a shortcut can use broad world knowledge.
Organisations that need to restrict features, including external intelligence integrations, on managed devices should use Apple's declarative and MDM configurations; the Apple Intelligence Enterprise Security guide covers the control set, and the Apple Declarative Device Management and Managed Device Attestation Guide covers the delivery mechanism.
Are Apple Intelligence images labelled as AI generated?
Labelling of images made with Image Playground, Genmoji or the 27 photo editing tools, for example through C2PA Content Credentials or an invisible watermark, is not stated by Apple in the support, privacy and developer pages listed under Standards and references. Anyone who needs provenance for published images should not assume a label is present and should apply their own process. The AI Content Provenance and C2PA Guide explains how Content Credentials work and how to verify them.
What can developers build with it?
Apple's Foundation Models framework gives apps access to the on-device and Private Cloud Compute models designed for Apple Intelligence. Apple's documentation lists:
- On-device model:
SystemLanguageModel, for summarisation, entity extraction, text and image understanding, refinement, game dialogue and creative content. - Server model:
PrivateCloudComputeLanguageModel, which Apple describes as giving a larger context window and stronger reasoning by routing session requests through PCC, gated by thecom.apple.developer.private-cloud-computeentitlement. - Guided generation: the
@Generablemacro, with which the framework guarantees the model generates instances of the developer's Swift type. - Tool calling: the
Toolprotocol lets the model call app-defined tools, for example to search a local or online database. - Multimodal prompts and dynamic profiles: image attachments, and runtime selection of instructions and tools.
- Custom providers: a
LanguageModelprotocol, including running an open source model exported with Core AI inside a Foundation Models session.
Apps can only use Apple Foundation Models on a device that supports Apple Intelligence, so developers need a fallback path for ineligible devices, devices where Apple Intelligence is off, and devices still downloading models.
When was Apple Intelligence released, and how has it changed?
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 10 June 2024 | Apple Intelligence announced for iPhone, iPad and Mac; Private Cloud Compute described on Apple's security research blog | Apple Newsroom; Apple Security Research |
| 28 October 2024 | First features ship with iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1 in US English: Writing Tools, redesigned Siri, Clean Up, Memory movies, Mail summaries, notification summaries | Apple Newsroom |
| December 2024 (announced) | Localised English for Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa and the UK; ChatGPT in Writing Tools and Siri; visual intelligence with Camera Control on iPhone 16 | Apple Newsroom, October 2024 |
| April 2025 (announced) | Expanded languages including Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish and Vietnamese | Apple Newsroom, October 2024 |
| 26 releases | Live Translation, Apple Intelligence models in Shortcuts, Workout Buddy, Intelligent Poll Suggestions | Apple Support 121115 |
| 27 releases (support article 5 November 2026) | Turns on automatically after update; 16 languages; new photo editing, Safari and Mail features; daily limits on server features | Apple Support 121115 |
| 12 November 2026 | Siri AI (beta) support article published | Apple Support 127893 |
What are the limits?
- Daily caps: server-model features stop when the daily limit is reached; Apple does not publish fixed numbers because limits vary with demand and request complexity.
- Language lock: device and Siri language must match a supported language.
- Feature language gaps: Mail suggestions and Personalized Smart Reply in Messages are English only; enhanced order tracking in Wallet is English (US and UK) only.
- Accuracy: generative output, including summaries and Siri answers, can be wrong; check important facts at the source.
Where identity and security fit
Apple Intelligence draws on personal context from mail, messages and photos, and Siri AI can take actions in apps. That makes the Apple Account and device unlock the real gatekeepers: a compromised account or an unlocked, unmanaged device exposes the same context the assistant uses. Strengthen the account with the Securing Your Apple ID and Google Account Guide, and set organisational rules for staff use of consumer assistants with the Safe Use of AI Chatbots Guide.
Practitioner checklist
- Inventory devices against Apple's 27 support list, including chip and unified memory, before promising features to users.
- Check device and Siri language settings in your fleet; a mismatch silently disables Apple Intelligence.
- For EU and mainland China users, document which features are unavailable and set expectations.
- Decide whether the ChatGPT extension and other external intelligence integrations are allowed on managed devices, and enforce it through MDM.
- Show users how to export the Apple Intelligence & PCC Report so privacy teams can see which requests left the device.
- Do not assume AI-generated or AI-edited images carry a provenance label; apply your own disclosure process.
- Developers: build a fallback for devices without Apple Foundation Models and test with Apple Intelligence turned off.
- Recheck Apple's support pages before decisions, since device lists, languages and limits change with each release.
Standards and references
- Apple Support: How to get Apple Intelligence
- Apple Support: How to get Siri AI (Beta)
- Apple Security Research: Private Cloud Compute, a new frontier for AI privacy in the cloud
- Apple: Apple Intelligence and privacy
- Apple Developer: Foundation Models framework
- Apple Newsroom: Introducing Apple Intelligence for iPhone, iPad and Mac
- Apple Newsroom: Apple Intelligence is available today on iPhone, iPad and Mac
Related NHI Mgmt Group resources: On-Device AI and AI PCs Hub · Securing Your Apple ID and Google Account Guide · Apple Intelligence Enterprise Security · Apple Platform Security Explained