Apple has published more about Apple Intelligence data handling in footnotes than in documentation. Eight questions a buyer could reasonably ask on the week iOS 27 ships have no answer anywhere on Apple’s pages, and that absence is the clearest thing anyone can report today.
This is not a complaint about secrecy. Apple states two firm claims and a handful of terms, and everything else people assume about Apple Intelligence comes from somewhere other than Apple. Below is the line between the two, ahead of the September 14 software release.
Key facts
| Item | Status |
|---|---|
| Data claim | Published: personal data “is not stored nor made accessible to Apple or anyone else” |
| Verification claim | Published: “outside experts can continue to verify this privacy promise at any time” |
| Server model term | Published: “AFM 3 Cloud models,” in a Shortcuts footnote |
| Future charge | Published: “expanded access to such features will be available for a fee in the future” |
| Price or date for that tier | Not published |
| iOS 27 security content page | Not yet listed in Apple’s security releases index |
| Support documents for the September 9 hardware | Not published |
| Siri AI in China | Nothing published |
What Apple does publish about data handling
The complete published record for consumers is short. Apple’s next-generation Apple Foundation Models run on device and on servers through Private Cloud Compute. Personal data is not stored nor made accessible to Apple or anyone else. Outside experts can continue to verify that promise at any time. Certain features that rely on server-side models carry daily usage limits.
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On the Watch, Apple adds one more: Audio Intelligence audio is handled in a Secure Exclave, which it calls a dedicated hardware-isolated compartment, with no audio recordings stored. Everything else is inference, and inference is exactly what a claim like this should not rest on.
The words Apple uses but never defines
- “AFM 3 Cloud models,” Apple’s third-generation foundation model naming, which appears in a consumer footnote about Shortcuts and nowhere else.
- The “System Orchestrator,” which Apple says routes Siri AI requests using the on-device Spotlight index.
- The “App Toolbox,” named as the other thing the orchestrator draws on, with no published contents.
- The “Secure Exclave” on the S11 chip, defined only as a dedicated hardware-isolated compartment.
The paid tier, and the documents that do not exist yet
The paid tier is real and confirmed, and it lives entirely in a footnote: “expanded access to such features will be available for a fee in the future.” Apple has published no price, no date, no feature list and no statement about whether paid requests are handled differently from free ones.
The documentation gap is broader. Apple’s security releases index does not yet list an iOS 27 entry, there is no About iOS 27 Updates document, and Apple has published no tech-spec support documents for anything announced on September 9, including the iPhone 18 Pro and Apple Watch Series 12. Apple usually publishes those at or just before release, so their absence today is expected rather than unusual.
Where Apple has published nothing at all
Two regions stand out. On the EU, Apple does have a sentence, and it is pointed: Siri AI will not be available initially in the EU on iOS, iPadOS and watchOS, along with features that rely on Siri AI, and Apple says it is working hard to find a path forward that preserves its users’ privacy and security. No date accompanies it.
On China, there is no sentence at all. Apple names China in the hardware launch lists for both new iPhones, including the iPhone Duo, and has published nothing about whether Siri AI or Apple Intelligence will run there.
| Question | What Apple publishes | Where it appears |
|---|---|---|
| Where does a Siri AI request run? | On device and Private Cloud Compute, with no per-feature map | Apple Intelligence page |
| How long is a request kept? | Nothing published | Not published |
| What is an “AFM 3 Cloud model”? | Named, never defined | Daily-limits footnote |
| What will expanded access cost? | “Available for a fee in the future” | Same footnote |
| What are the daily limits? | Vary “by feature, request complexity, system demand, system policies” | Same footnote |
| Who verifies the privacy promise? | “Outside experts,” unnamed | Apple Intelligence page |
| Is Siri AI coming to China? | Nothing published | Not published |
| When does the EU get it? | No date, only a statement of intent | iPhone 18 Pro press release, footnote 3 |
What Apple has not said
Apple has not committed to publishing any of the above. There is no promised document, no stated date for a fuller data-handling description, and no consumer-facing report from the outside experts its verification claim refers to. The one scheduled moment that could change the record is the release itself.
iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27 Golden Gate, watchOS 27 and visionOS 27 all arrive on Monday, September 14, with Siri AI in beta in English. Apple’s security content page for the release, if it follows the usual pattern, appears the same day. Our event recap covers everything else announced on September 9.
