Apple’s latest iOS 27 update is creating storage problems for iPhone users. Apple Intelligence reportedly takes up around 15GB of internal storage on some devices. Several users have shared their experiences online after installing the update. However, the amount of storage consumed varies between devices. Some users report losing access to 16GB, while others see around 9GB occupied.
The problem also affects users in regions where Apple Intelligence is unavailable. For example, iPhone owners in the European Union cannot access the AI features. Despite this restriction, their devices still allocate storage to Apple Intelligence.
Older iPhones with limited storage face even bigger problems. The iPhone 16, for instance, has several 128GB models affected by the issue. In some cases, iOS and Apple Intelligence occupy around 30% of the available storage. This comes on top of the space reserved for future updates.
Disabling Apple Intelligence or Siri does not appear to free up the occupied storage. Changing the Apple Account region is another possible option, but it comes with complications. Users may need to cancel subscriptions or spend their remaining account balance before switching regions.
Fortunately, Reddit users have discovered a workaround that appears to reduce the storage usage. It involves changing Siri’s language to an unsupported English variant.
Apple Intelligence and Siri’s AI features currently work with US or UK English. However, users can select Canadian, Irish, South African, or New Zealand English for Siri. This change reportedly reduces Apple Intelligence’s storage footprint to around 100MB.
We also tested South African English on Siri and found that it resolved the issue after restarting the iPhone. The workaround does not remove Apple Intelligence completely, but it significantly reduces its storage requirements.
Interestingly, Apple has also started showing more aggressive advertisements for its iCloud storage service. These promotions encourage users to subscribe and back up their data to iCloud. The timing has raised questions among users already dealing with limited storage. However, Apple has yet to address the reported storage issue publicly.
