Apple Intelligence on-device — what actually runs locally in 2025

Apple’s on‑device AI is no longer a demo. In 2025, everyday features — rewrite, summarize, prioritize, search in photos, audio cleanup — run directly on the Neural Engine, with spillover to Private Cloud Compute (PCC) for heavy tasks. Below is a practical breakdown for power users.

What runs on device vs PCC

• On device (fastest, private): text rewrite/summarize, email triage, notification priority, Spotlight natural language, local photo search, voice isolation, and basic transcription.
• Private Cloud Compute (opt‑in, end‑to‑end verified): long document reasoning, complex image edits, cross‑app automations, heavy code refactors. Requests are stripped of identity and processed in verifiable PCC data centers.

Setup checklist

1. Update to the latest iOS/macOS and enable Apple Intelligence in Settings.
2. Turn on “Improve Siri & Dictation” only if you’re comfortable sharing anonymous snippets.
3. Allow per‑app access to on‑device features (Mail, Notes, Photos, Safari).

Daily workflows that shine

• Email cleanup: Highlight an inbox thread, choose Rewrite → TL;DR; add “Action items” at the end.
• Notes to outline: Paste research, ask for a two‑level outline and a reading time estimate.
• Photos: Search in natural language — “blue jacket meeting last week” — and refine results with people and place.
• Audio: Use voice isolation/live captions in calls and for quick podcast raw tracks.

Privacy details you care about

• On‑device models are sandboxed and don’t leave your phone or Mac.
• PCC uses stateless containers with attestation; no request is stored by default.
• You can disable PCC entirely; on‑device features still work.

Power tips

• For better context, start requests from inside the app you’re in (Mail/Notes) — you’ll get smarter suggestions.
• Use Shortcuts to chain Apple Intelligence steps with third‑party apps for publishing, invoices, or summaries.
• For long documents, split into sections and ask for a combined outline first, then per‑section detail.

Limitations in 2025

• Code‑aware refactors still route to PCC.
• Vision tasks with many high‑res images may feel slow on older devices; batch them.

FAQs

• Does it train on my data? No. On‑device features don’t send data for training; PCC is ephemeral.
• Can I use it offline? Yes — for the on‑device set. PCC requires connectivity.

Top picks (affiliate-ready)

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