Why is Apple Intelligence stuck on "Preparing" on my M1 MacBook?

There have been many discussions here on this very subject.

Some users have suggested setting the region to the United States and the language to English U.S.

What has worked for me?

First and foremost, you must establish your connection to a WiFi network 🛜, not simply a mobile hotspot.

If Apple Intelligence is stuck on your Mac:

1. Open Settings ➢ General ➢ Storage.
2. Scroll to the bottom and double-click ⚙️ macOS.
3. Apple Intelligence should be fully downloaded if it reads: 4.94 GB.

Now, go directly to Settings ➢ Apple Intelligence & Siri and you should find the prompt or switch to toggle on Apple Intelligence.

Please provide any feedback if this has helped so we can all learn from this.

Good Luck! 👋🏼😉

What can we do if #3, "Apple Intelligence should be fully downloaded if it reads: 4.94 GB" is not 4.94? Mine says 4.43. Its been stuck on preparing for well over a week. MacBook Air M3, just purchased last month. Thanks.

This is crazy. I updated to 15.1 on release date and turned on the Apple Intelligence toggle and my MacBook Air has been stuck on "Preparing" ever since. With today's 15.1.1 update I figured it would definitely be fixed and was shocked to see that it's not. What the heck!? Storage also still shows Apple Intelligence at 4.43GB.

Prior to today, I was able to get the Apple Intelligence toggle to show up again by doing the "change to another region and change back" thing and it went right back to "Preparing" with no change in the download size. I've also tried all the other ideas posted here - which shouldn't be required - and none worked.

Is it possible that this issue is only affecting a relatively small number of users so it's not high priority?

I have the same problem with my M1 MacBook Pro; the Apple Intelligence file size is 4.91GB, and it also shows Preparing, which is greyed out. I have tried the many suggestions online, and everything has stayed the same.

To Rick Rush and everyone posting here with your download not working:

I would like to recommend trying another Wifi network. 🛜

You can always use the free WiFi network at your local Apple Retail Store.

Good Luck! 👋🏼😉

⇡ You are on a waiting list. ⇣

Once your time has arrived, Apple Intelligence should be available to you.

It appears that the download stopped for some reason.

Have you restarted the Mac and the WiFi network?

Mine says 4.43, too. Stuck since release day.

I also went ahead and performed a factory reset on my Mac M1. After running the upgrade to Sequoia, Apple Intelligence is up and running.

My Apple Intelligence on two of my 'Mac's was stuck in the “preparing” phase for the last two weeks. Tried all the suggestions posted here, none of them worked for me. I contacted Apple Care, but they had no clue why this was happening.

I decided to take a full Time Machine backup, then factory reset my Mac, and restored it from the backup. And voila, within five minutes, I got a prompt to activate my Apple Intelligence—now it’s activated.

I repeated the same with my second device, and it worked this time too.

I'm trying to download and activate the publically released version of Apple Intelligence. (I am not the OP.)

After a couple of weeks "preparing" I am also showing 4.43GB.

same. m1 macbook pro also. 4.91GB

Just found a solution that worked for me.

Language was set to an invisible null option in a dropdown. Clicking on it made it look like I was set to English, but I wasn't. Also my "Voice" was locked on British-1 with no other options,. Trying to select English(US) will give you an error, and you'll have to back out and come back in. BUT then if you select say French(Canada), it will disable your Apple Intelligence Options. Then you can set the language back to English(US) which will bring back the Apple Intelligence dropdown. Once enabled you'll click through the startup boxes and then it's just fine. You'll even have the voice options back (multiples of American, Australian, British, Indian, Irish and South African).

[Edited by Moderator]

I found a solution on reddit that worked for me!!!

Go into the Siri and AI setting panel.

Language was set to an invisible null option in a dropdown.

Clicking on it made it look like it was set to "English", but it wasn't. Also my "Voice" was locked on British-1 with no other options.

What you have to do is reset the Language to anything that isn't English(US). Trying to select English(US) will give you an error, and you'll have to back out and come back in. BUT then if you select say French(Canada), it will disable your Apple Intelligence Options. Then you can set the language back to English(US) which will bring back the Apple Intelligence dropdown. Now you'll be able to turn the Apple Intelligence switch on and it should just go. Once enabled you'll click through the startup boxes and then it's just fine. You'll even have the voice options back (multiples of American, Australian, British, Indian, Irish and South African).