Good Luck Trying to Get off the Apple Intelligence Waitlist

The much-awaited highlight of the new iPhone 16, Apple Intelligence, was finally released on October 28. However, not everyone received immediate access to it; some users were added to a waitlist, and it looks like they will stay there for a while.

While Apple did tell us there would be a waitlist for the new Apple Intelligence features, it was estimated to be a few hours. But there’s a longer delay in getting users on the platform. According to a non-Apple server engineer (via Apple tipster Brandon Butch), the delay is due to Apple enrolling you in Private Cloud Compute. That is where the more complex requests you send to Apple Intelligence are handled, while the less complex ones are carried out locally. On the Cloud, Apple utilizes custom server hardware to help protect your privacy. You can read more about how your requests are handled here.

So, Apple has to individually register everyone on the Cloud and limit the traffic so that its servers aren’t overloaded beyond capacity. The engineer pointed out, “They are probably limiting the number of people they let in the door so they can ensure it scales healthily.”

Most users currently misunderstand the delay as being due to the huge size of the AI model that needs to be installed on our phones. The brief report by the server engineer dismisses that misconception and clarifies that the regular OS updates we routinely download on our iPhones are much larger than this one.

Some users are also experiencing rejections from the waitlist. As explained by the engineer, a possible cause for this is that our phones likely have to go through an initial authentication process called the PCC Identity Service. It theorizes that there are probably some anti-fraud measures in place, such as verifying your carrier details, that Apple is executing with the help of a third-party service. This could also be a reason behind the delay.

9to5Mac has a slightly different theory behind the waitlist delay. It attributes the waiting time to “the nascency of these features.” The outlet claims it’s because the AI features are all in their beta status that they need to be rolled out over a period of time. According to an Apple support page, “Apple Intelligence uses generative models, and outputs may be inaccurate, unexpected, or offensive.” The logic is that by gradually releasing the features to the public, Apple can better control their results and ensure accuracy.