How to Limit What Siri AI Can See in iOS 27

Apple Intelligence in iOS 27 reaches further than older Siri did. The settings paths that help, and the gaps they leave.

State of Surveillance

TL;DR: Apple's iOS 27 Siri AI (part of Apple's "Apple Intelligence" features) can be asked to summarize whatever is on screen, including Signal and WhatsApp chats, and can send data off the device to a service Apple calls Private Cloud Compute [1][2]. EFF documented the relevant settings paths on September 18, 2026 [1]. The practical controls are the per-app "Show Content in Search" toggle under Settings > Apps, the "Improve Siri & Dictation" opt-in switch, and a Settings > Screen Time option that pins you to "Siri Classic" [1]. You can turn Siri AI off entirely by choosing Siri Classic or by turning Siri off in Settings > Siri. Per EFF, only iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and all iPhone 16 models and newer support Apple's AI features [1]. The iOS 27.2 beta renames the App Access panel to "Excluded Apps" and lets you exclude multiple apps at once [3].

What Siri AI in iOS 27 Does That Old Siri Did Not

EFF describes the new Siri as resembling an AI chatbot more than the older voice assistant, with Siri and Spotlight combined into one interface [1]. Sometimes Siri processes data on the device; sometimes it uses Apple's Private Cloud Compute (PCC), which means the data is sent off the device to a cloud server [1][2]. That split is where the privacy questions sit.

EFF, in a step-by-step guide published September 18, 2026, listed the iOS 27 Siri AI capabilities that change the privacy picture [1]:

  • Siri AI searches through Apple apps like Notes, Messages, and Mail by default. Third-party apps can opt in.
  • "On-screen awareness" lets Siri AI read and summarize whatever is currently displayed on screen, including Signal or WhatsApp chats. There is no per-app block for this.
  • "Learn from this App" is mostly about tracking usage, such as how often an app is opened; Apple says these personalization features use on-device processing.
  • Some requests, including on-screen awareness requests, may be sent to Apple's Private Cloud Compute. There is no immediate visual indication when data leaves the device.
  • The "Apple Intelligence Report" can be used to try to work out what was sent to PCC.

On-screen awareness is the part that matters most for secure messaging. EFF's example: Siri can be asked to summarize or explain a Signal group chat on screen, or a meme in a WhatsApp chat, and the data from that interaction may be sent to PCC [1].

The first iOS 27.2 beta (September 16, 2026) makes Siri AI available in French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish. The same beta renames "App Access" to "Excluded Apps" and lets users exclude multiple apps at once [3].

First: Does Your iPhone Even Run This?

Apple Intelligence is not on every device that can install iOS 27. According to EFF, only iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and every iPhone 16 and newer model can run Apple's AI features [1].

If you are on an iPhone 14, an iPhone 15, or an iPhone 15 Plus, none of the rest of this article applies to your device. You get the older Siri and there is no on-device AI to turn off.

EFF also notes that, at the time of writing, "Siri AI is currently only available in English, and not available worldwide" [1]. The first iOS 27.2 beta adds French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish [3].

Setting One: Stop Siri From Searching App Content

Each app that lets Siri search its contents has a single switch that turns that off. The path, per EFF, is [1]:

Settings > Apps > [the app you do not want Siri to look through] > Search

Inside that screen, disable "Show Content in Search." EFF describes the toggle as controlling whether Siri surfaces app content in results [1]. It works per app.

Do this for every app that holds anything sensitive: Signal, WhatsApp, encrypted email, your banking app, your password manager, your cloud note app, anything you would not want summarized by an LLM that may also send the summary off-device. The kill switch is per-app, so the work is per-app too.

Setting Two: The App Access / Excluded Apps Panel

The second screen is the App Access panel, which the iOS 27.2 beta renames to "Excluded Apps" [1][3]. The path:

Settings > Siri > App Access (called "Excluded Apps" in iOS 27.2 [3])

The options depend on what each app supports. EFF describes these [1]:

  • Learn from this App: tracks usage, "mostly about tracking usage, like how often you open an app," according to EFF [1].
  • Show on Home Screen: whether the app appears in places such as a Home Screen widget of Siri-suggested apps.
  • Suggest App: whether the app is recommended inside another app, such as adding a date to a calendar from an email.
  • Suggest Notifications: whether the app is suggested in that place.

EFF is direct about what they do not do. The App Access panel is "more about some basic functionality with device personalization, not Siri's access to the contents of the app" [1]. Turning these off for an app does not stop on-screen awareness from reading that app when it is on screen. It only stops Siri from learning your habits and surfacing suggestions.

In the iOS 27.2 beta, "Add Apps" on the Excluded Apps screen lets you exclude multiple apps at once; MacRumors reports that adding an app to the list prevents it from showing up in Siri, Search, and suggestions [3].

Setting Three: Kill the "Improve Siri & Dictation" Opt-In

Apple's "Ask Siri, Dictation & Privacy" page lists what Apple can store and review when you use Siri or Dictation. With the "Improve Siri & Dictation" opt-in enabled, Apple stores audio of your interactions and may review a subset of them [4]. Apple ties the data to "a random, device-generated identifier that rotates multiple times per hour" and is not linked to your Apple Account or email [4]. The data can include [4]:

  • Audio recordings of Siri and Dictation interactions
  • Transcripts
  • Request category, completion status, device specs, performance statistics
  • Approximate device location at the time of the request
  • For reviewed interactions only, contact names and installed apps

Apple may retain the data for up to two years, with a small reviewed subset kept longer; audio review is conducted only by Apple employees under strict confidentiality obligations [4].

The opt-in switch is at Settings > Privacy & Security > Analytics & Improvements. Disable "Improve Siri & Dictation" [4]. This stops the additional collection but does not stop the base collection that happens when you use Siri or Dictation. To delete the Siri and Dictation transcripts stored on the device, go to Settings > Siri > Siri & Dictation History and tap Delete Siri & Dictation History [4].

Separately, EFF notes that when Siri uses Private Cloud Compute, "the data is sent off your device to a cloud server" [1]. The Improve Siri & Dictation toggle is for review-side data, not for whether requests go off-device.

Setting Four: Pin Yourself to the Old Siri

If you want the old Siri and not the AI version, there is a setting for that. Per EFF, the path is [1]:

Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions

  1. Enable "Content & Privacy Restrictions."
  2. Tap the Siri option, then "Allowed Siri Version."
  3. Select "Siri Classic."

EFF presents this as the option for anyone who wants nothing to do with the new Siri AI features but still wants Siri, for example for CarPlay [1]. You lose the new features, and the privacy surface that comes with them.

The other nuclear choice is in the same neighborhood. Settings > Siri > "Turn Off Siri" turns Siri off entirely [1]. You give up the assistant. You also give up any data flow into Siri AI.

What "Private Cloud Compute" Actually Means

When the on-device model cannot answer, the request is encrypted "directly to the public keys of the PCC nodes that it has first confirmed are valid and cryptographically certified," according to Apple's Private Cloud Compute blog [2]. The request passes through an OHTTP relay operated by a third party, which "hides the device's source IP address" [2]. The PCC nodes run a "hardened subset of the foundations of iOS and macOS tailored to support Large Language Model (LLM) inference workloads" with the Secure Enclave and Secure Boot [2].

Apple's published guarantees [2]:

  • Stateless computation: data on the PCC node exists only until the response is returned.
  • User data is never available to Apple, "even to staff with administrative access to the production service or hardware."
  • Privileged interfaces that could bypass the privacy promises are not in the system.
  • Software images of every production PCC build are to be made publicly available for security research, and devices refuse to send data to PCC nodes that cannot cryptographically attest to running that software.
  • Cryptographic erasure: the Secure Enclave randomizes data volume encryption keys on every reboot, so nothing written to disk persists across reboot.

EFF, in a parallel piece about the broader conflict between secure messaging and AI features, argues Trusted Execution Environments like PCC are "fundamentally different from actual encryption or running locally" because TEEs "rely on engineering" while encryption "relies on math" [5]. Every TEE system, the post argues, has had "quirks and bugs that have to be individually discovered and patched," and side-channel attacks can extract encryption keys because the keys are "physically right there on the device" [5]. EFF's practical guidance to users is to "turn off any automatic data sending features" and adds: "Take a second to think about how much you're willing to risk sending data when you choose to send it off the device." [5]

That is the disagreement in plain language: Apple says PCC is verifiable and cryptographically attested. EFF says verifiable is not the same as encrypted, and any code path that touches your prompts is a code path that can be subverted. The Settings paths above let you choose.

What You Cannot Fix in Settings

Three things on iOS 27 do not have a clean switch.

On-screen awareness has no app-level block. Apple ships no toggle that says "do not let Siri AI see what Signal is showing." The workaround is to physically close sensitive apps before invoking Siri, or to pin to Siri Classic [1].

Private Cloud Compute has no per-prompt consent. When the on-device model defers to PCC, there is no dialog asking "send this to Apple's cloud?" There is no immediate visual indication when data leaves the device. The Apple Intelligence Report can be used afterwards to try to work out what went to PCC [1].

Other apps can opt in. Third-party developers can choose to index their app's content, which makes it available to Siri AI. The per-app "Show Content in Search" switch is the lever for each one [1].

Those three gaps are why the practical recipe is: per-app Show Content in Search off, Improve Siri opt-in off, pin to Siri Classic, and close sensitive apps before invoking Siri. The settings shrink the surface; not invoking on-screen awareness over a sensitive chat avoids it.

Sources

  1. Thorin Klosowski, Electronic Frontier Foundation Deeplinks: How to Limit What Apple's New Siri AI Can Access in iOS 27, September 18, 2026. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/09/how-limit-what-apples-new-siri-ai-can-access-ios-27
  2. Apple Security Research: Private Cloud Compute, Apple Security Blog. https://security.apple.com/blog/private-cloud-compute/
  3. Juli Clover, MacRumors: Everything New in iOS 27.2 Beta 1, September 16, 2026. https://www.macrumors.com/guide/ios-27-2-beta-features/
  4. Apple Legal, Ask Siri, Dictation & Privacy: https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/data/en/ask-siri-dictation/ and Apple Legal, Improve Siri & Dictation: https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/data/en/improve-siri-dictation/
  5. Erica Portnoy and Thorin Klosowski, Electronic Frontier Foundation Deeplinks: Secure Messaging and AI Remain In Conflict Despite the Promise of TEEs, September 18, 2026. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/09/secure-messaging-and-ai-remain-conflict-despite-promise-tees