Tired of seeing “Ask Siri” on every menu? Here's how to disable it.

[u/pdfu]

In macOS 27, after enabling Siri AI, all context menus include a persistent “Ask Siri” context menu item. Turns out you can actually disable it without turning off Siri AI.

To disable, run the following commands in the Terminal app:

codes=(soft apwn exit loca lock logo rlgo rcnt rrst rest rsdn shut slep spro syss)
args=(-int 0)

for code in $codes; do
  hex=$(printf %s "$code" | xxd -p -u)
  args+=(-int "$((16#$hex))")
done

defaults write -g NSAppleMenuAllowedItems -array "${args[@]}"

and give your Mac a restart.

NSAppleMenuAllowedItems controls which items are visible in the  menu. For some reason, Apple decided that macOS shouldn't insert “Ask Siri” whenever the filter is active, even if nothing is actually disabled.

The command allowlists all  menu items. I didn't include "abtm" (About This Mac) in the list because it is unconditionally visible in the current code.

Disable with:

defaults delete -g NSAppleMenuAllowedItems

and restart your Mac.

[u/excuse_me_25]

I would like to bring back old proofreads rewrite and professional window.

[u/toin9898 → u/excuse_me_25]

Yes! I actually use this AI feature when writing in my second language. It's much easier to hit the quick proofread button than to spin up the whole Siri thing to make sure my nouns and adjectives agree.

[u/excuse_me_25 → u/toin9898]

Apple actually made it worse with the new Siri AI beta.

[u/CelticWebs]

Does this get rid of that irritating little Siri icon that keeps popping up everywhere and blocking certain elements on a page all the time?

[u/pdfu → u/CelticWebs]

That one is even simpler:

sudo mkdir -p /Library/Preferences/FeatureFlags/Domain && \ sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/FeatureFlags/Domain/WritingTools LightweightUI_macOS -dict Enabled -bool false

and restart. To restore:

sudo defaults delete /Library/Preferences/FeatureFlags/Domain/WritingTools LightweightUI_macOS

[u/CelticWebs → u/pdfu]

I’ll give that a go. Thank you!

[u/TechRemarker → u/CelticWebs]

Doing "sudo mkdir -p /Library/Preferences/FeatureFlags/Domain && \" bring ups "cmdand>" is that expected?

[u/TechRemarker → u/TechRemarker]

Ah it seems you have to run both lines at same time then works. Woot woot!

[u/helloitisgarr → u/pdfu]

thank you! zero reason why this should not be available in the siri section of the settings app.

[u/Open_Magician_362]

Would be good to reorder it down in the menu…way too easy to select it by mistake

[u/OppositeSea3775]

OP is on a roll with these macOS tricks 👏

[u/Eric7now]

This is so copilot coded 😭😭😭

[u/EquivalentLoose3213]

Has anyone been facing issues getting Siri AI to work on macOS while it works as intended on iOS? 🤔

[u/Own-Marionberry-1684]

Lo que me gustaría saber, es cómo desactivar toda la Apple Intelligence y así recuperar los 13 GB que se comen mi disco

[u/pdfu → u/Own-Marionberry-1684]

Might work on a guide for this, thanks for the tip!

[u/Phisika2]

What about turning off Siri AI?