Manage Apple Intelligence Features Using Intune

The advancement of AI took a significant leap with the unveiling of Apple Intelligence at WWDC in 2024. With Microsoft Intune offering management for iPhone, iPad and macOS, organisations are eager to explore and implement features that align with privacy and security standards. In this post we look at what Apple Intelligence does, then walk through how to enable and disable features on supervised iPhones using Microsoft Intune.

Apple's different approach

A standout aspect of Apple Intelligence is its seamless integration of AI directly into the operating system. Many features run on-device, so personal data isn't shared with external servers — a significant advantage for many organisations compared with cloud-based assistants. Where on-device isn't enough, Apple's Private Cloud Compute extends processing without compromising the same privacy guarantees.

The product brief is simple: simplify iPhone usage and improve productivity — advanced proofreading, more capable Siri, summarised notifications, and visual intelligence through the camera.

Core features you can expect

Apple Intelligence is rolling out across iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia and watchOS 11. Highlights include:

• Webpage summaries in Safari for a quick read of long pages.
• Writing tools — summarise, proofread and rephrase across Mail, Messages and Notes.
• Smart notifications that summarise and prioritise so users see what matters.
• Visual intelligence — identify objects, plants and animals via the camera; the Image Playground app for personalised images and Genmoji.
• Focus and prioritisation to manage distractions and surface important alerts.
• ChatGPT integration in Siri and Writing Tools (iOS 18.1 onward), with explicit user consent.

Feature breakdown across iOS versions

• iOS 18.1 (Oct 2024) — Writing Tools, Smart Notifications, Visual Intelligence, Smart Replies, Focus Mode.
• iOS 18.2 (Dec 2024) — Clean Up Photos, Image Playground, Genmoji, Natural Language Search in Photos, Memories.
• iOS 18.3 (Feb 2025) — Camera Control, ChatGPT integration in Writing Tools and Siri, enhanced Siri with better context and Type to Siri.
• iOS 18.4 (expected Mar 2025) — advanced photo editing, expanded language support (including Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish and Vietnamese), improved search suggestions.

Managing Apple Intelligence with Intune

There are hardware requirements: only iPhones with the A17 Pro chip (and later) can fully use Apple Intelligence. Older iPhones — including your trusty XR test device — will still receive the policy, but the features simply won't function, so filtering becomes important.

Apple has exposed an MDM API that lets Intune enable or disable Apple Intelligence features on supervised devices via the Settings Catalog (Microsoft is gradually migrating standard templates into the Settings Catalog). Options are available for iOS, iPadOS and macOS — iOS currently has the widest set of controls.

To configure the policy:

• Go to Intune > Devices > iOS/iPadOS > Configuration > New Policy
• Choose Settings Catalog
• Search for Restrictions and pick the Apple Intelligence settings you want to enforce
• Assign to your target group and review

For MAM (app protection) scenarios, only the Writing Tools feature is currently available — most controls require supervised devices.

Use filters to target the right hardware

Because Apple Intelligence requires specific chips, the recommended pattern is to wrap your policy in a device filter so only capable hardware receives it. This avoids unpredictable behaviour or perceived performance issues on devices that can never use the features.

• Navigate to Devices > Filters > Create
• Choose Managed devices
• Filter by device model property and add the compatible iPhone models (15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, all 16 models, and later)
• Apply the filter to your Apple Intelligence configuration assignment

In conclusion

Apple Intelligence gives admins a clean interface within Intune to enable or disable features and settings. The features genuinely enhance everyday iPhone use, and Apple's on-device processing helps with the privacy story. With granular controls in the Settings Catalog plus filters for hardware targeting, you can roll Apple Intelligence out confidently to the users (and devices) that benefit.

We'll keep documenting new capabilities as Apple and Microsoft expand the controls. If you'd like help shaping your Apple device strategy in Intune, our Modern Endpoint Management practice can help — get in touch.