A new open-source tool called RemoveMacAI addresses a limitation in macOS 27: Apple Intelligence models remain on disk even after the features are disabled through system settings.
According to the tool’s documentation, macOS 27 no longer offers a single switch to turn off Apple Intelligence entirely. RemoveMacAI closes this gap by turning off the features, removing the downloaded models, and blocking macOS from re-downloading them.
The tool can be installed via a one-line command or through Homebrew. It shows the current state of Apple Intelligence features, asks for confirmation, and then installs a configuration profile that macOS requires users to approve. The tool makes no network requests and collects no data.
Features disabled by RemoveMacAI include Siri, Writing Tools, Genmoji, Image Playground, the ChatGPT extension, summaries in Mail and Messages, Mail smart replies, inline text predictions, Spatial Photos, Photos Clean Up, and Xcode predictive code completion. The tool also removes the foundation models and specialized models for image generation, Genmoji, Spatial Photos, Photos Clean Up, and code completion.
The removal method preserves system security—System Integrity Protection remains enabled and no system files are directly modified. Instead, models are removed through Apple’s asset service, and the configuration profile redirects model downloads to a closed local port to prevent re-downloading.
Several features continue to work after removal. Dictation remains functional since its speech models are separate. Changes persist across macOS updates. However, Storage settings may still list Apple Intelligence temporarily until macOS completes its own file deletion schedule.
RemoveMacAI requires Apple silicon and is tested on macOS 27.0 and later (0.2.3 or later for 27.0.1). All changes can be reverted using the removemacai revert command. The tool supports granular control through commands like --keep to selectively disable only certain features and --dry-run to preview changes before applying them.
Key facts
- RemoveMacAI removes Apple Intelligence models from disk and prevents macOS 27 from re-downloading them
- The tool works by installing a configuration profile and redirecting model downloads to a closed local port
- Changes persist across macOS updates and are fully reversible
- Dictation and other non-AI features continue to work normally
- The tool makes no network requests and collects no data