Tech > Services & Software > Operating Systems<\/p>\n
You can enable, disable or revert Siri through a few quick steps in the Settings menu.<\/p>\n
You\u2019d be forgiven if you thought that the iOS 27 update, which Apple announced at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June, only brought Siri AI to your device. WWDC was largely focused on the digital assistant, prompting some readers to reach out to me and ask what to do if they don\u2019t want to leap into Siri AI.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For the record, iOS 27 does bring more than just Siri AI, though a lot of the upgrades are under the hood. But the good news is that you don\u2019t have to enable Siri AI on your device if you don\u2019t want to.<\/p>\n
The iOS 27 beta doesn\u2019t automatically put Siri AI on your iPhone. You have to enable it, which involves signing up for a waitlist. So if you don\u2019t want Siri AI but want to download the beta, there\u2019s a path for that. I\u2019ll walk through all the different scenarios: enabling Siri AI, disabling Siri AI and bringing back the old-fashioned Siri.<\/p>\n
I recommend downloading on something other than your primary device. This isn\u2019t the final version of iOS 27, so the update might be buggy or affect battery life, so it\u2019s best to keep those troubles on a secondary device.<\/p>\n
Once I updated to the iOS 27 beta, I had to sign up for the Siri AI waitlist even though I had already enabled Apple Intelligence on my device prior to the update. If you do want to use Siri AI, here\u2019s how to join the waitlist.<\/p>\n
Then follow the onscreen prompts, and you\u2019ll be enrolled in the waitlist. Your iPhone will notify you when you\u2019ve been accepted, but be aware: That could be a few minutes, hours or longer. I waited a couple hours, but some folks on Reddit report waiting up to five days.<\/p>\n
Once accepted, you can start using the new digital assistant, and you\u2019ll get a new Siri AI app on your home screen.<\/p>\n
If you do get access to Siri AI and want to turn it back off, here\u2019s how to do that.<\/p>\n
The popup menu that appears right before you turn off Siri AI details all the features that will be limited or not functional if you go through with this change, including not being able to start conversations in Siri AI.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While I understand Apple wanting to highlight the centerpiece of its new operating system, I don\u2019t like the full-screen double confirmation for disabling Siri AI. I disabled a few other features, including Sensitive Content Warnings, to see if a similar menu popped up and none did, and disabling or restricting Siri on older iOS versions opened a much smaller pop-up asking if you\u2019re sure. I appreciate additional confirmations for irreversible decisions, like resetting a device, but the full-screen confirmation felt more like an unnecessary guilt trip.<\/p>\n
Luckily, you\u2019re not stuck between using Siri AI and not using Siri at all. There\u2019s a third option that lets you use the old version of Siri, minus the AI. Here\u2019s how to enable it.<\/p>\n
Once you\u2019ve gained access to Siri AI, there\u2019s only one way I\u2019m aware of that allows you to gain access to the pre-iOS 27 Siri without resetting your device to a previous backup. First, you have to turn Siri AI off, following the above steps. From there:<\/p>\n
Now Siri will be just Siri and not Siri AI. If you want to enable Siri AI later \u2014 like after Apple hammers out some bugs and releases iOS 27 to the general public \u2014 you can do so by going to Settings > Siri > Try Siri AI (Beta).\u00a0<\/p>\n