this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2026
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Exactly. I have always had Siri turned off, ever since my very first apple devices, and never had a reason to turn it on. Same with all the AI features. I don't want them so I keep all AI options turned off, always.
I still have a couple devices on the cloud but only for shit I don't actually care about, and whenever I get around to cleaning those up I'll get rid of it there as well. Still on the original 5GB, too: I don't believe in paying others to store my data when I can and should store it myself.
When it comes down to it I don't even know why I started turning all that shit off, beyond the fact I found it annoying to speak twice (or more) when I could just quietly type once. I'm no prescient genius, but I am now very glad of whatever luddite instinct made me shut it all off, lol.
I turned it all off as even to this day, I use obsolete kit. My newest Mac is a 2010 MacBook Pro, running dosdude1's unsupported Mojave, as I require the 32-bit support for my ancient copy of Photoshop CS3. Siri was a non-starter and I just brought that habit forward when I got my iPhone. I wouldn't say it's being a Luddite so much as it is making my machines run as quickly as they can with the OSes I installed. Gotta cut the telemetry and cloud shit out as much as possible.
Great minds think alike: I have a MBP only a few years younger running the exact same OS, but for CS5. I use old hardware for as long as I can keep it running. But yeah, all the bloat gets cut out or off, first thing. The MBP doesn't even hit the wider net unless I specifically allow it, so it makes sense to turn off anything that is forever phoning home (aside from the CS5). It's great having old machines like these around.
The only useful things I miss with Siri is starting timers when cooking, running quick match and conversions, and texting my wife that I’m on my way home when I forget to do it before starting to drive. All of those I can do without it, but I can’t deny was useful hands-free.