Apple Intelligence: What Runs on the Device and What Does Not

Apple's approach to AI is defined by where the computation happens. Small models handle tasks locally; larger requests route to servers Apple operates with a stated privacy design.

On-device tasks

• Text summarisation and rewriting in system apps.
• Notification prioritisation and smart replies.
• Local semantic search across photos and messages.
• Image cleanup and basic generation on supported hardware.

Server-assisted tasks

Requests requiring a larger model are sent to Apple's infrastructure, where the company states that inputs are not retained and are not accessible to Apple staff. Independent verification of those claims is limited, which is a fair criticism even from supporters.

What this means for users

Hardware generation determines which features are available at all, and feature availability by language and region remains uneven. For privacy-sensitive work, local features are the safer default — but they are also the least capable.