Apple slipped daily usage limits for Siri AI and intelligent photo tools into the iOS 27 fine print yesterday, and with the update landing Monday, September 14, now is the time to understand what you are actually getting for free. I mentioned changes were coming a while ago because of how AI uses tokens. Now it is just a matter of figuring out how much this will cost us (again).
Again, I’m not surprised at all about this. All public AI systems have usage meters, and we all seem to dread the “you’re out of usage” message popping up. I do hope that Apple is clear and transparent about the costs, as well as exposes usage easily instead of burying it in a setting somewhere. Dimming out functionality is fine, provided there is context.
Users will need to choose AI-powered apps and services carefully. Also remember that this is cross-device usage. If you have Apple/Siri Intelligence active across multiple devices (e.g., iPhone, iPad, laptop), you’ll quickly realize you need to budget your usage (or dip into your tech budget to upgrade to a higher tier).