Use Apple Intelligence on your Mac

Apple Intelligence is built into macOS Tahoe to help you communicate, create, and get things done with privacy in mind. This guide shows how to turn it on, what you can do in core apps, and when to pair it with Fenn for private file search that opens the exact page or timestamp.

Availability varies by Mac model, language, and region. Update macOS to the latest version before you begin.

Turn on Apple Intelligence

1. Open System Settings.

2. Click Apple Intelligence & Siri.

3. Choose Apple Intelligence and turn it on.

4. If you see Turn on Apple Intelligence, click it. The wording depends on your macOS version and whether you set it up before.

What Apple Intelligence can do ?

Communicate across languages

• Live Translation in Messages to translate conversations.

• Live captions and spoken translations in FaceTime and Phone.

Create one of a kind visuals

• Image Playground to generate images in a few seconds.

• Genmoji to make custom emoji from simple descriptions.

Do more with Siri

• A refreshed experience you can type or speak to.

• Ask for product help, system settings, or general answers.

• Keep working while the Siri field stays on screen.

Find the perfect words

• Writing Tools that summarize, proofread, rewrite, and adjust tone.

• Insert quick structures like Summary, Key Points, Table, or List.

Tap into ChatGPT

• Use ChatGPT from within Apple Intelligence experiences like Siri, Writing Tools, and Image Playground.

• You can use it without an account, or connect your ChatGPT account if you want requests saved to your chat history.

Use Apple Intelligence in built in apps

Mail

• See urgent emails first.

• Smart Reply for quick responses.

• Summarize long threads before you reply.

Messages

• Summaries of unread conversations.

• Create original images and customize backgrounds with Image Playground.

• Smart Reply suggestions to answer faster.

Notes

• Record audio, then generate a summary of the transcript.

• Use Writing Tools to refine notes or produce clean outlines.

Phone

• Summaries of recorded calls you make.

• Voicemail summaries so you can triage quickly.

Photos

• Natural language search to find people, places, or ideas.

• Clean Up to remove distracting objects.

• Create memory movies in a few taps.

Reminders

• Suggested reminders based on your activity.

• Auto categorize items into sections in a list.

Safari

• Web page summaries for faster research.

• Scan a long article, then decide what to read in depth.

Shortcuts

• Intelligent actions that can summarize text or create images.

• Build automations that tap into Apple Intelligence models.

Privacy and control

• Apple Intelligence is designed with privacy in mind and provides controls in Apple Intelligence & Siri settings.

• You choose when to send requests to ChatGPT. You are asked to confirm before sharing content unless you change that setting.

Activate the real Apple intelligence with Fenn

Apple Intelligence helps you compose, translate, summarize, and create. When you need to find something inside your own files privately, use Fenn.

What Fenn adds on your Mac

• Semantic search across any content, PDFs and Office docs, images and screenshots, long audio and video.

• Exact opens, go straight to the page, slide, frame, or timestamp you remember.

• Agentic Search for complex requests, ask in natural language and get verified results only. The agent finds likely files, reads their content, checks your conditions, then returns answers you can trust.

• On device by default, built for teams that handle confidential material.

Real world examples you can try

• “Find all restaurant invoices under 50 USD, Jan 1 to Jun 30, 2025, exclude July.”

• “Show slide decks that mention Series B and unit economics, created last quarter.”

• “Find every contract with a force majeure clause, updated after January 2023.”

• “Find screenshots that include the text Checkout in the iOS app folder.”

• “Find meeting recordings where latency budget is mentioned, return timestamps.”

• “Find photos that contain our CEO, Q4 2024 to Q1 2025.”

• “Trouve mes factures de déjeuner sous 30 EUR, mars à mai 2025, et exclure les brouillons.”

Practical combos to try

• Draft with Writing Tools, then use Fenn to pull exact pages and timestamps that support your argument.

• Translate a message in Messages, then use Fenn to locate the source contract and open at the right clause.

• Summarize a long Safari page, then use Fenn to find the original PDF in your archive and jump to the relevant section.

Troubleshooting

• Do not see Apple Intelligence in settings. Update macOS Tahoe to the latest version. Check that your Mac model and language are supported.

• ChatGPT is not appearing. Confirm it is available in your region and enabled in Apple Intelligence & Siri.

• Features missing in certain apps. Some features roll out by language or region. Update first, then try again later.