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Siri AI reads your apps, how to rein it in

Once switched on, Siri AI reads whatever your apps open up to it. The macOS 27 and iOS 27 settings to rein it in, and the blind spots left.

On September 14, macOS 27 and iOS 27 shipped with Siri AI, the assistant that digs through your digital life to answer you. The day you turn it on, it sees whatever your apps agree to show it, and you are not the one deciding.


What Siri AI reads once it is on


To turn it on, go to Settings > Siri, tap “Try Siri AI (Beta)”, then wait on a waitlist.


That is where it gets tricky. It draws on your personal context, Messages, Mail, Calendar, Notes, Reminders, Photos, and Apple cautiously adds “and more”. Third-party apps too, if their developer planned for it. And it reads what is on your screen when you ask it to.


Who decides what an app opens up to it? The EFF put it bluntly in its September 18 guide. By default, it is not you, it is the developer. If an app indexes its content for search, Siri AI has access to it.


Only new ground here. The Apple Intelligence switch, “Improve Siri & Dictation”, ChatGPT and Apple’s servers are taken apart in our dedicated article.


Read also, Apple Intelligence, what’s really leaving your Mac


Siri AI only speaks English for now, your device and Siri must be set to English, on Mac as on iPhone. French is announced for October, which says nothing about its availability on iPhone in the EU.


On the Mac, a few switches and a hole


On the Mac, Siri AI runs in the EU too. Even with a European Apple Account, your Mac and Siri just need to be set to English. You need an M1 Mac or later, or a MacBook Neo.


“App Access”, the short version. System Settings > Siri > App Access. One or two switches depending on the app, “Learn from this application” and sometimes “Show Siri Suggestions in application”. Apple describes it itself, it is about using your usage data to make suggestions. Nothing says they stop Siri AI from reading the content.


Back to the old Siri. System Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Siri > Allowed Siri Version. Three choices, “Don’t Allow Siri”, “Siri AI (Beta)”, “Siri Classic”. The first time, Apple offers to track your activity, “Later” will do. Apple also documents a shortcut in System Settings > Siri (“Use Siri Classic”). You can also keep it while removing some capabilities, such as writing help or image creation. Managing your own privacy from the parental control tool, who would have thought.


The hole, no app-by-app setting. This is the Mac’s blind spot. No documented equivalent of “Show Content in Search”. System Settings > Spotlight only offers result categories, not a per-app choice, and Apple draws no link with Siri AI.


On the screen side, Siri AI reads your active windows, the Finder and your screenshots, with no dedicated documented switch.


So on the Mac, you choose between everything and next to nothing. Siri AI with whatever access your apps grant it, or Siri Classic. Very handy on a work machine full of client emails, isn’t it?


On the iPhone, three settings and a blind spot


Outside the European Union only, the box below explains why. You need an iPhone 15 Pro, an iPhone 16 or later, or an iPhone Air.


The real tap, app by app. Settings > Apps > [app] > Search, then turn off “Show Content in Search”. Siri AI can no longer draw on that app’s content to answer you. Switch off Messages, and it no longer knows what your business partner wrote to you yesterday. Tedious, but it is the only setting that touches content. Side effect, confirmed by Apple, the app’s content also disappears from your search results.


“App Access”, a misleading name. Settings > Siri > App Access, then pick an app. Up to four switches depending on the app, “Learn from this App”, “Show on Home Screen”, “Suggest App”, “Suggestion Notifications”. Apple presents it as the screen where you choose which apps Siri can access. According to the EFF, this screen governs personalization, not Siri’s access to the app’s content, and Apple says this processing stays on the iPhone. Switch things off if the suggestions annoy you, but do not think you have closed the door.


Back to the old Siri. Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions, turn on the restrictions, otherwise everything stays grayed out, then Siri > Allowed Siri Version, then “Siri Classic”. You get the old Siri back, with its legendary limits. On the same screen, you can also keep Siri AI while removing general knowledge, writing help, math help or image creation.


The blind spot, your screen. Siri AI’s reading of the screen cannot be turned off, neither by you nor by the app’s developer, according to the EFF. Whatever is displayed, Siri AI can see as soon as you call on it. The only workaround is not to call on it in front of a sensitive screen, not to turn Siri AI on, or to go back to Siri Classic.


Siri AI and Europe, still at a standstill. iOS 27 shipped on September 14 without Siri AI on iPhone or iPad in the EU, and Apple gives no timeline. As for the criterion, Apple points to your Apple Account region. Switzerland is not affected.


The tug-of-war between Apple and Brussels, we took it apart in June.


Read also, Siri AI blocked in EU, privacy signed Google


Siri AI does not snoop behind your back, it reads what it is handed. The trouble is that by default, you are not the one doing the handing. For the rest of your Mac’s privacy settings, the essentials are in our guide.


Read also, Privacy on macOS, safeguarding your digital life


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