How to Turn Off Siri AI and Get Siri Classic Back in iOS 27

Last updated: September 20, 2026

If you want to turn off Siri AI, Apple put the switch in Settings and it’s four taps. Siri AI arrived with iOS 27 on September 14, and you only have it if you tapped Try Siri AI (Beta) yourself. Apple’s requirements page lists it for the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPhone 16 or later, and says it isn’t available on iPhone in the EU.

I haven’t installed iOS 27 yet, so I haven’t flipped these switches myself, but every path below is from Apple’s own support pages, linked so you can check it. If you’re still deciding whether to update at all, that’s in my iOS 27 Siri AI beta guide.

How to Turn Off Siri AI and Switch to Siri Classic

Turn Siri off in Settings, then turn it back on and pick Siri Classic. The steps are from Apple’s guide to turning off Apple Intelligence features on iPhone.

1. Open the Settings app and tap Siri.
2. Scroll down and tap Turn Off Siri.
3. Tap Turn Off Siri again to confirm. Siri AI is off at this point.
4. To get the old assistant back, tap Turn on Siri.
5. Tap Siri Classic.

My own plan goes the other way. I think the old Siri is pretty bad, almost unusable, so I plan to install Siri AI when I update, because it can’t be any worse than the current one. I expect to leave it on. You might feel differently, and that’s who these steps are for.

What You Lose When You Turn Off Siri AI

Siri still works after you turn Siri AI off, and the extras that came with Siri AI go away. Apple describes Siri Classic as “the Siri you have when your device uses Apple Intelligence and Siri AI is not enabled,” and that’s the Siri you had before.

How to Switch Off Single AI Features

Each Apple Intelligence feature has its own toggle in Settings, and Screen Time can block Siri AI or single capabilities inside it. These come from the same Apple guide and all start in Settings.

• Message summaries: tap Apps, tap Messages, then turn off Summarize Messages.
• Email summaries: tap Apps, tap Mail, then turn off Summarize Message Previews.
• Notification summaries: tap Notifications, tap Summarize Notifications, then turn it off.
• Priority notifications: tap Notifications, tap Prioritize Notifications, then turn it off.
• Smart replies in Mail: tap Apps, tap Mail, then turn off Personalize Smart Replies.

Screen Time is the stricter option. Apple’s Screen Time guide says to tap Screen Time, tap Content & Privacy Restrictions, then tap Siri. From there you can tap Don’t Allow Siri, or Siri (Classic Version), or Siri AI (Beta), and you can Allow or Block single capabilities like Image Creation, Sensitive Topics and Explicit Language.

What Apple Says About Your Data

Apple says Siri AI requests that go to its servers aren’t kept. In its launch announcement, Apple wrote that when Private Cloud Compute handles a request, “their personal data is not stored nor made accessible to Apple or anyone else.”

I couldn’t find an Apple page that says what happens to your past Siri AI conversations when you turn it off, so I’m not going to guess.

If you change your mind, you turn it back on from the same Siri screen by tapping Try Siri AI (Beta). Apple says that “will add you to a waitlist, and wait times can vary,” so you may end up back in the line from my Siri AI waitlist guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related reading: Siri AI waitlist guide | iOS 27 Siri AI beta guide | The Apple and Gemini deal | New to AI? Start here