Apple Intelligence arrived on the Mac in October 2024, and if you’ve been looking for it on your Mac and can’t find it, you’re probably not alone. It’s not as if there’s an app called Apple Intelligence on your Mac–it’s a set of features and services throughout macOS. Here’s how you can turn on Apple Intelligence on your Mac and tap into the new features.
What you need for Apple Intelligence
- An M-series Mac. Apple Intelligence does not run on Intel-based Macs.
- macOS Sequoia 15.1 or later. Apple has released new Apple Intelligence gradually, so you’ll need to update to the latest version of macOS to get the latest features. For example, Sequoia 15.1 includes the first set of features; Sequoia 15.2 added Image Playground and ChatGPT support.
- Apple Intelligence currently supports only localized English. Apple plans to add more language support beginning in April 2025, inlcuding Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, and Vietnamese. Also, the language you use on your Mac and the language you use with Siri must be the same.
What countries can run Apple Intelligence?
Apple Intelligence works in these English-speaking countries:
- Australia
- Canada
- Ireland
- New Zealand
- South Africa
- U.K.
- U.S.
If you travel to a non-English speaking region, Apple Intelligence will still work, so long as English is the language your Mac is set to use. In the European Union, M-series Macs running macOS Sequoia 15.1 or later can run Apple Intelligence while using a currently supported language.
Apple Intelligence does not work on Macs purchased in mainland China. If the Mac was bought outside of mainland China, your Apple Account Country/Region cannot be set to mainland China if you want Apple Intelligence to work.
How to turn on Apple Intelligence
To have Apple Intelligence features appear, it needs to be turned on. You can repeat this process to turn it off if you don’t want to use the features.
- Click on the Apple menu and select System Settings.
- In the left column, look for Apple Intelligence & Siri and click it.
- In the main section of the window, a switch for Apple Intelligence appears at the top. Click it once to turn it on.
Foundry
How to turn on ChatGPT
ChatGPT is a chatbot developed by OpenAI, a third-party company, and it can create responses that are human-like. Apple and OpenAI entered a partnership last year and ChatGPT support was introduced in macOS Sequoia 15.2. Apple may release its own chatbot in macOS 16, but for now ChatGPT is the only option.
To use ChatGPT, the ChatGPT extension needs to be activated. You can also turn it off whenever you want. Here’s how.
- Click on the Apple menu and select System Settings.
- In the left column, click on Apple Intelligence & Siri.
- In the main section of the window, look for the Extensions section at the bottom (you may have to scroll). Click ChatGPT.
- At the top, flip the switch for ChatGPT.
- If you have a ChatGPT account, you can log into it by clicking on the Sign In button in the ChatGPT Account section. This is not required to use ChatGPT features on the Mac but will open more advanced features.
- At the bottom of the main window, you can toggle a Siri setting for Confirm ChatGPT Requests. When enabled, it will ask you if it’s OK to send information to ChatGPT every time it needs to fulfill a Siri request.
Foundry
We have a guide on how ChatGPT is implemented and how it can be used. The guide is written for iOS, but the information applies to macOS Sequoia, as well.
What are the Apple Intelligence features on the Mac?
Many Apple Intelligence features don’t require you to do anything, such as summaries in Messages, Mail, and Notifications, as they appear automatically. As for features you can use on an as-needed basis, here’s a quick list.
Image Playground (macOS Sequoia 15.2)
Image Playground is a standalone Apple intelligence-powered app that is installed on your Mac when you upgrade to macOS Sequoia 15.2. The app creates illustrations based on descriptions based on text prompts. You can also upload photos of people as the basis for a new illustration. However, Image Playground does not create deepfake photo-like images or modify existing photos—it only creates illustrations.
The Image Playground app is part of macOS Sequoia 15.2
Foundry
Mail (macOS Sequoia 15.1)
There are a couple of new features in Mail powered by Apple Intelligence. A new Show Priority feature will display time-sensitive emails at the top of your inbox. Additionally, short summaries will appear under each email so you can see what’s inside at a glance, and when you open an email, a Summarize button can be used to generate a synopsis. Also, when composing messages, Mail has suggested replies as well as Writing Tools to help you clean up replies and refine the language of what you’ve written. And ChatGPT can compose text if you enable it above.
Photos Clean-up tool (macOS Sequoia 15.1)
In the Photos app, when editing a photo, you’ll find a Clean-Up button. With this tool, you can “erase” unwanted items, and Photos will fill in the background with its best guess about what would have been there. In the before and after images below, the Clean-up tool was used to remove objects and a sign in the background. Use the slider to see the difference.
Siri (macOS Sequoia 15.1)
Siri has a new wrap-around look on the edge of your Mac’s display, and it does a better job of understanding natural speaking, like if you stumble or restate when you are saying. Later in 2025, a new update will make Siri smarter and more screen-aware.
Writing Tools (macOS Sequoia 15.1)
In Mail, Pages, and other Apple apps, you’ll find new tools to help improve your writing. It can proofread, revise, and even offer rewrite suggestions. With ChatGPT enabled, you can also compose messages from scratch.
Foundry
Also read: Where is Apple Intelligence on an iPhone?