omlahore/RemoveMacAI

What it does

Two presets get you started. Recommended turns Apple Intelligence, analytics and ads off and removes the pop-ups, and leaves alone anything you rely on. Maximum privacy adds Game Center and Safari's search suggestions. Both add to what is already applied, and nothing changes until you review it.

• Apple Intelligence — Siri, Writing Tools, Genmoji, Image Playground, ChatGPT, summaries in Mail, Messages, Safari, Notes and notifications, inline predictions, Spatial Photos, Photos Clean Up, Xcode p
• Privacy — Mac Analytics, personalized ads, Improve Siri and Dictation, Improve Search, Spotlight internet results, Look Up suggestions, Safari search suggestions, Game Center
• Annoyances — Clicking the wallpaper hiding every window, desktop widgets, the media keys, all Music launches (including AirPods; opt-in), iPhone Mirroring
• Apple apps — Apple Music in the Music app, the Book Store, unused Apple apps in the Dock
• Finder — File extensions, hidden files, the path and status bars, folders first, searching the current folder, the extension warning, .DSStore files on network drives, emptying the Trash after 30 days
• Dock and windows — Recent apps, the auto-hide delay, bouncing icons, minimizing into the app icon, window animations, gaps between tiled windows, screenshot shadows
• Typing — Autocorrect, smart quotes and dashes, the double-space period, automatic capitals, the accent menu on held keys
• Background items — Updaters and helpers other apps install, such as Google's updater, shown with what they run and switched off one by one
• Storage — Old macOS installers, aerial wallpaper videos, iPhone and iPad update files, Xcode build data and device support, unavailable simulators, app caches, Time Machine local snapshots, and Apple'

What it doesn't do

• Delete Apple's built-in apps. They live on the sealed system volume. Removing them needs System Integrity Protection off, and a failed attempt can leave the Mac unable to start. RemoveMacAI quiets the
• Mass-disable Apple's background services. With System Integrity Protection on, macOS refuses to unload most of them, and many start again whenever an app asks for them. RemoveMacAI switches off the on

Uninstall

Run removemacai revert or click Undo Everything in the app, then delete the app or run brew uninstall removemacai.

Requirements

• 27 — Supported, tested on 27.0. On 27.0.1, use 0.2.3 or later.
• 26 — Runs since 1.1.0. Most of the testing has been on 27.
• 15.1 and later (Sequoia) — In testing, use 1.2.0-beta.1. Spatial Photos isn't on 15, so it's left out there.
• 15.0 and earlier — Not supported, Apple Intelligence starts in 15.1

How it works

System Integrity Protection stays on, nothing under /System is modified, and RemoveMacAI makes no network requests and collects no data.

• Locked settings (Apple Intelligence and the tweaks marked with a lock) go in one configuration profile that you approve in System Settings, because macOS requires that. Removing the profile undoes all
• Other settings are written the way defaults write writes them. RemoveMacAI first records each setting's previous value in ~/Library/Application Support/RemoveMacAI/journal.json, and undo puts back exa
• Models are removed through Apple's asset service, and the profile points their downloads at a closed local port so macOS doesn't fetch them again.
• Storage cleanup moves files to the Trash, so they aren't gone until you empty it. Unavailable simulators and Time Machine local snapshots are deleted right away by simctl and tmutil.

FAQ

Does dictation still work? Yes. Dictation is a separate setting, and its speech models are not removed.

Where do I use Photos Clean Up after keeping it enabled? Open a photo in Photos, choose Edit, then Tools > Clean Up. Photos Clean Up is not a separate switch in System Settings.

Do macOS updates undo the changes? The profile persists across updates. If an update resets one of the other settings, RemoveMacAI shows it as not applied and you can apply it again.

Storage settings still lists Apple Intelligence after the models were deleted. Apple's asset service releases the models right away, but macOS deletes the files on its own schedule. Until then, System Settings > General > Storage keeps counting them under Apple Intelligence.

The app

Open Terminal (Applications > Utilities), paste this line and press Return:

It downloads the latest release, checks its SHA-256 checksum, puts RemoveMacAI in Applications and opens it.

To download it yourself instead, get RemoveMacAI.zip from the latest release, unzip it and drag RemoveMacAI to Applications. The app is not notarized, so the first time you open it macOS says it can't verify it. Open System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll down and click Open Anyway.

The command line

This runs the command-line version from a temporary folder and installs nothing. With Homebrew:

The app and the command line are the same program and share the same undo history.