You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Apple Intelligence brings incredible new features across iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

The first set of features is now available, with many more rolling out in the coming months.

⏺ Overview

⏺ Compatible Devices

⏺ iOS 18

⏺ iPadOS 18

⏺ macOS Sequoia

lasinda80 Author

Level 1

5 points

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

Apple intelligence stuck on 'preparing' on macbook m1 for more than 10 days now. anybody know what to do?

[Re-Titled By Moderator]

Mac mini, macOS 15.1

Posted on Nov 4, 2024 9:14 PM

Top-ranking reply

Smilin-Brian

Level 9

56,179 points

Posted on Nov 10, 2024 6:25 AM

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:

Open Settings ➢ General ➢ Storage.
Scroll to the bottom and double-click ⚙️ macOS.
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! 👋🏼😉

View in context

24 replies

chrism60

Level 1

8 points

Nov 12, 2024 5:56 AM in response to Smilin-Brian

Yes, Smilin-Brian, I've restarted both, again today and multiple times before today, including trying wifi hot-spot. Also changed languages, regions, and voices multiple times. Toggled Siri on and off. The only thing I can think of that I haven't tried is connecting to another Wifi network, as I don't have one available and would have to take computer to library or a friend's house. Other than that, I guess I'm waiting for 15.2 to come out, hoping it will trigger something. I'm not going to go to the extent of resetting computer just for this. (BTW, I am in US and my computer has always been in US.) thanks.

Nov 21, 2024 2:47 PM in response to dcassam

Both my M3 MacBook Pro and my son's M1 MacBook Air were stuck on "Preparing" since the day 15.1 came out. Nothing worked. So last night I did full Time Machine backups of both machines, did a reset and then a restore, and voila. Suddenly Apple Intelligence was ready to turn on after maybe 5-10 minutes back in action.

It could have been much worse if Time Machine wasn't so brilliant. 45 minutes later and it was like nothing even happened even though I had nuked my computer lol

Nov 22, 2024 3:48 AM in response to Aaron Hokanson1

I reluctantly did the reset and restore from full Time Machine backup and it worked. First question to “smarter” Siri?

“Hey Siri, what took you so long?”

“I’m not sure I understand.”

🤣

Thanks for all the help here everyone.

Nov 5, 2024 6:47 PM in response to lasinda80

Where are you located?

Jeff Donald

Level 7

25,407 points

Nov 10, 2024 12:15 PM in response to chrism60

Which version are you trying to download ?

Nov 22, 2024 6:54 AM in response to Smilin-Brian

Apple Intelligence is fully downloaded (storage reads 4.49 GB), but "preparing" persists under Settings/Apple Intelligence and Siri. I have a Mac Mini M4 with Mac OS 15.1.

[Edited by Moderator]

Nov 21, 2024 4:54 PM in response to dcassam

This worked for me also and was quick and painless.

Nov 22, 2024 3:46 PM in response to clownfacee021234

I am also stuck at 4.91 on an M1 MacBook Pro and have been for weeks. This appears to be a thing...

Nov 22, 2024 9:21 PM in response to cmaverick

Ah... I misread the moderator comment as deleted not edited so reposted (didn't see it here when I looked) oops. In any case. There's a solution now.

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