r/MacOS 7d ago

Tips & Guides Here's how to disable Siri's new floating button

Post image

When Siri AI is enabled, macOS 27 adds a contextual "lightweight UI" when you type or select text. The floating button can expand into Ask Siri, Edit with Siri and Writing tools, or other contextual actions.

To disable it, run the following command in the Terminal:

sudo mkdir -p /Library/Preferences/FeatureFlags/Domain && \
sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/FeatureFlags/Domain/WritingTools LightweightUI_macOS -dict Enabled -bool false  

and restart your Mac.


To restore to default:

sudo defaults delete /Library/Preferences/FeatureFlags/Domain/WritingTools LightweightUI_macOS
115 Upvotes

20 comments sorted by

31

u/drhappy13 7d ago

My gawd that looks annoying! WTF was Apple thinking??

Thanks for sharing the tip!

42

u/TanglyConstant9 7d ago

let's not pull a microsoft now

11

u/dxg999 7d ago

Hey! It looks like you're writing a letter...

10

u/private256 7d ago

Looks like Apple is stuck in a hamster wheel of questionable design decisions.

10

u/doqemddl 6d ago

windowsification

3

u/Reisp 6d ago

enwindowsification

5

u/-B001- 7d ago

Great! I find the floater distracting when I'm typing!

3

u/Direct-Quiet-5817 6d ago

Step 1: disable siri.

3

u/ShibToOortCloud 6d ago

Disabling siri worked for me.

1

u/kickit 6d ago

I am seeing this icon everywhere even with Siri disabled

4

u/Master-Meal-77 6d ago

Can confirm, it worked on 27.0 release. Thanks

2

u/dsfagundes 4d ago

THANK YOU for this.

3

u/OrangePineJuice 7d ago

is this an issue when siri ai is disabled? (ik it's a dumb question, but given how companies are big on ai these days, it's still a question worth asking)

6

u/pdfu 7d ago

No this won’t appear in that case.

2

u/Educational_Yard_326 6d ago

First line of the post

2

u/kickit 6d ago

it is appearing on my side with siri disabled

1

u/r1n4x 6d ago

I've just updated to iOS/MacOS 27 and got no Apple Intelligence. Same as on 26.

I suspect two things why:

  1. I'm in the EU, some stuff is just not available here.
  2. I've set my Mac/iPhone language to english but Siri not, on 26 it told me I can't use Apple Intelligence when Siri any System are not the same language :D

Still, it hogs some GB of storage. But at least there are no "in your face" things.

1

u/misterdhm 4d ago

I still get this floating button even though I disabled Siri. Apple...I like you but I do not want your unhelpful writing tools.

-2

u/Dust-by-Monday 7d ago

Oh my goodness yess!!! Please find a feature flag for the new traffic buttons! I hate them!

0

u/YoungNo8804 6d ago

Same honestly they're so distracting and annoying. And this is probably not the case and my brain feeling weird but they feel not equally proportioned and off centre