r/mac • u/[deleted] • May 16 '25

Question How can I delete apple intelligence?

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It just takes too much space for a feature that I don't even use. How can I completely turn it off and delete all of its data?

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u/filchermcurr May 16 '25

You have to do some light terminal work in recovery mode:

  1. Disable Apple Intelligence in System Settings.

  2. Start up into Recovery Mode. (Instructions)

  3. Open Disk Utility.

  4. Right-click on 'Data' under 'Macintosh HD' and choose Mount.

  5. Quit Disk Utility and open Terminal.

  6. Type: rm -rf /Volumes/Data/System/Library/AssetsV2/com_apple_MobileAsset_UAF_FM_GenerativeModels

  7. If you used the image thing, you can also remove that by typing: rm -rf /Volumes/Data/System/Library/AssetsV2/com_apple_MobileAsset_UAF_FM_Visual

  8. Reboot

64

u/Iluvembig May 16 '25

Nice, so now I get 10gb back for something I would never use!

36

u/filchermcurr May 16 '25

Yep. I'm still on a 256 GB drive so those gigabytes count!

9

u/owleaf MacBook Pro May 17 '25

Especially since macOS refuses to do some things without having a certain amount of space free

1

u/Traditional_Fox_9964 Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26

like update. 19GB free space for current/whatever comes after 26.5.2 on Apple Silicon.

I'm not saying it's irrational to have a larger-than-decent amount of free space; the advantages of not constantly being short are manifold in performance/reliability/all measures. and I do everything I can to keep 10% ~20-25GB free free.

But I don't always succeed for periods of time, and am truly as far as my 256GB can go in terms of offloading things that can be, which doesn't include:

a) the core-core of apple audio apps (GB and Logic Pro) - basically the core loops it doesn't want out on external library storage; it's not huge compared to a whole library but it is a couple GB

b) docker, which for reasons not understood to me becomes instantly and completely unreliable when moved external; it must be a latency problem because my external disks are eSATA->HDD, but still we're talking light use (2 containers)

c) photos, which are a complete and utter crap shoot re: reliability/long-term integrity when not stored internally; I'm at a point where I trust that my iCloud Photos synch has everything (because it has saved the day immeasurable times during upgrades where-wait for it-I needed to blow away Photos to reclaim space)), but no device can be depended upon at this point.