EFF Publishes Guide to Limiting Siri AI Access in iOS 27

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has published a step-by-step guide to limiting what the rebuilt Siri AI can reach inside iOS 27, arguing that the assistant's deeper access to personal data comes with privacy trade-offs users should manage themselves. The guide arrives as the update reaches users, and it lays out which settings actually restrict the assistant and which ones do not. It also flags a feature that neither users nor app developers can currently block.

The central control is buried in each app's settings. Under Settings, then Apps, then the app in question, then Search, users can turn off "Show Content in Search," which the guide says keeps that app's details out of Siri's answers to general questions. The EFF gives the example of disabling the option for Messages, which prevents Siri from reading message conversations. By default, whether Siri can index an app's contents is the developer's choice, so apps that never add support stay out of reach unless their content appears on screen.

Read more: Apple Rolls Out Child Safety Features With iOS 27

A separate App Access screen under Settings, then Siri, sounds like the place to revoke an app's access, but the EFF says it is not. That page covers personalization, including a "Learn from this App" toggle that mostly tracks usage, plus options such as "Show on Home Screen," "Suggest App," and "Suggest Notifications". Apple says those features process data on the device and do not store it on servers.

The feature the EFF singles out as hardest to contain is on-screen awareness, which lets users ask Siri to explain or act on whatever is visible, from summarizing a web page to adding a calendar event. The same tool can be pointed at a Signal group chat or a WhatsApp meme, and that data may be sent to Apple's Private Cloud Compute. There is currently no way for users or developers to block it, so the EFF's advice is simply not to invoke it around sensitive conversations.

Training data is easier to address. Siri AI does not collect interaction data for training by default, but setup offers an opt-in that users may have accepted without noticing. To revoke it, the guide points to Settings, then Privacy & Security, then Analytics & Improvements, and turning off "Improve Siri & Dictation," which Apple's documentation says should cut off training access to audio and text from the Siri app.

For those who want the assistant gone but still need Siri for CarPlay, the EFF describes a workaround through Settings, then Screen Time, then Content & Privacy Restrictions, where enabling the toggle and choosing "Allowed Siri Version" offers a "Siri Classic" option. The same screen can turn off writing and math assistance, image creation, and extensions. Disabling Apple Intelligence entirely is no longer a one-tap affair in Settings.

The guide also notes the hardware and language limits on Apple's AI features: only iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, plus all iPhone 16 models and newer, support them, and Siri AI is currently English-only and not available worldwide. The EFF's broader point is that users cannot tell from the interface whether a request is handled on the device or sent to a cloud server, even though Apple says data sent to Private Cloud Compute is not stored after processing. The guide does not say whether Apple plans to give developers a way to block on-screen awareness, an improvement the EFF argues would meaningfully help secure chat apps.

The publication of the walkthrough follows the iOS 27 rollout that brought Siri AI to users as a beta in English, with additional languages promised for October and no initial release for iOS, iPadOS, or watchOS users in the EU. The rebuilt assistant was first opened to public beta testers in July, when access required joining a waitlist from a new Siri tab in Settings.