Upgrading to iOS 27 is leaving some iPhone users with up to 15GB less free space due to Apple Intelligence. The most commonly reported usage is around 15GB, but on individual devices the value drops to 9GB. Phones in the European Union are also affected, where Apple Intelligence for iPhone is not available. On some 128GB versions of the iPhone 16, the operating system and AI components take up about 30% of the memory, in addition to the space the system reserves for future updates. Turning off Apple Intelligence or Siri does not automatically restore the freed space. Changing the region of your Apple account is also not a practical solution, as it may require you to cancel subscriptions or use up your available balance before switching to another region.
Apple states that Apple Intelligence can use “up to 8 GB” of memory on some compatible devices, and up to 14 GB on some newer models. The company also specifies that immediately after an update, temporary usage may exceed these values while new models are downloaded and old ones are removed. Users on Reddit have found a workaround by selecting an unsupported Apple Intelligence variant of the English language for Siri.
The variants in question are Canadian, Irish, South African, and New Zealand English. This allows Siri to continue to work in English, but Apple Intelligence features are disabled or limited. The effect does not completely eliminate all system overhead and may limit access to AI features, but it frees up almost all of the space previously occupied by the models. Apple Intelligence is only available on compatible models, language settings, and regions, and Apple notes that features may vary by country and language. For iPhones in the European Union, the new Siri AI features are not initially available.