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Learn how to expand a photo by intelligently generating new content beyond its original boundaries using built-in Apple AI in iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27 Golden Gate.

By now, I’m sure you already know about the tons of AI tools, including Apple’s own Image Playground app, that can generate full images based on text prompts.

The latest Apple update adds a new ‘Extend‘ generative AI feature in the Photos app that’s related to the above AI tools, in the sense that it uses AI to fill in new content and add parts to a photo that were never there.

However, unlike the dedicated AI tools, the Extend feature doesn’t work on your text prompts, meaning you don’t have much control over it. You can, however, define how much of the photo you want to be created by using the basic zoom and crop tools. Secondly, it only generates up to a maximum of 25% extra photo per side.

I tried this with a few images, and the final image AI constructed was really impressive. However, in case the photo does not turn out nice for you, you can always revert the changes and get back the original picture.

Another important thing to know is that there is a limit on how many times you can use the Extend AI tool each day. Now, Apple doesn’t clearly define the limit, but it’s there. However, subscribing to iCloud+ or Apple One increases the daily limit for using all AI tools, including the new Extend feature. Again, we don’t know by how much it increases.

Supported devices

The new Extend feature uses Apple Intelligence, which is Apple’s take on AI. As a result, it’s only available on:

• iPhone 15 Pro and later running iOS 27.
• iPad mini with A17 Pro chip and iPad Air & iPad Pro with Apple silicon chip running iPadOS 27.
• Mac with an Apple silicon chip (M1, M2, M3, M4, M5, M6) or MacBook Neo with A18 Pro chip running macOS 27 Golden Gate. Intel Macs are not supported.

Use AI to extend a photo on iPhone or iPad

1) Open the iOS 27 Photos app and tap a picture you want to extend.

2) Tap the edit icon and then go to the Tools tab.

3) Select the Extend tool.

4) Use pinch to zoom or drag the tabs on the photo sides to adjust how much and how you want the photo to be created by AI. Then, tap the yellow Extend button.

5) Wait a while until AI extends the picture. Then tap the new photo to see the original and compare them.

6) If you’re happy with the results, tap the checkmark icon, followed by Done to save it.

The Extend tool works on the same original photo; it doesn’t create a copy. So, you’ll find it in the same spot in your photo library as before.

As of iOS 27 Beta 4, Apple has not added a dedicated ‘Extended‘ or ‘Modified‘ category in its Media Types or Utilities section of the Photos app, making it harder to see all retouched images in one spot.

However, you can swipe on a photo, and if it has been retouched by this AI tool, you’ll see a “Modified with Extend” label.

Extend a photo on Mac

The fundamentals are similar to iPhone and iPad.

1) Launch the macOS 27 Photos app and open a picture.

2) Click the Edit button at the top.

3) Go to the Tools tab at the top.

4) Click the Extend button.

5) Select an aspect ratio or drag the sides to extend them on the supposed canvas.

6) Click the Extend button and wait for Apple Intelligence to generate the photo sides.

7) Finally, click the Save Changes button at the top, followed by Done.

These AI-edited photos on Mac have a “Modified with Extend” label, which you can see by clicking the info icon ⓘ or by pressing the Command + I keys.

Revert the changes

If you change your mind, return to the editing screen in the Photos app on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, then tap the red Revert button.

Also, new in iOS 27:

• How to give 1 to 5 stars to your photos on iPhone, iPad, Mac
• How to create temporary shared iCloud album in iOS 27

Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2026/08/03/extend-photos-ios-mac/

Find out how to get rid of gigabytes of local Apple Intelligence files from your Mac to free up space (albeit temporarily, more on it below).

When you enable Apple Intelligence in Siri settings on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, the feature automatically downloads a lot of files and saves them to local storage. Among other things, the local files are used for tools like image cleanup that even work offline.

If you don’t care about Apple Intelligence, you can turn it off by going to System Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri. However, even after turning it off, the local files may stay on the internal disk, continuing to hog the space.

You can check how much space Apple Intelligence is using by going to System Settings > General > Storage, then clicking the info icon ⓘ next to macOS.

At the time of writing this guide, it showed that Apple Intelligence took 14.03 GB of space on my Mac. After following the method below, this number disappeared completely, as shown in the screenshot below.

But then, after a minute, it changed to 55 MB, and then a few hundred MBs.

And eventually it went past 14 GB. This happened even though I had not enabled Apple Intelligence, had not used Siri, and had not even used this Mac mini much, aside from booting it a couple of times to take some Apple TV screenshots.

I followed the same process a second time, and sure, the method explained below freed up space taken by Apple Intelligence. But soon after, my Mac downloaded the Apple Intelligence files over Wi-Fi, even though I had Apple Intelligence disabled.

So, I would say that while the method I’m going to show you works to free up the space, it may not be a permanent solution. Or, the Apple Intelligence numbers shown in macOS storage settings are just incorrect.

Therefore, before you begin, I’d ask you to turn off Apple Intelligence in System Settings or set different Siri and system languages, which will block Apple Intelligence, as shown in the screenshot below.

Then go to System Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy (enable it) > Intelligence & Siri or just Siri on macOS 27 and turn off all switches for all AI tools like Image Creation, Writing Tools/Writing Assistance, and Extensions.

After that, restart your Mac a couple of times and macOS should clear the local Apple Intelligence files (just as it clears unneeded cache and system files). Plus, if you’re low on storage, check out over 30 tips to make space on your Mac.

However, if the above tips don’t free up the storage on your Mac consumed by Apple Intelligence, follow the steps below. But before you do that, restart your Mac, then return to System Settings > General > Storage, click the info icon ⓘ next to macOS, and take a screenshot or photo to document how much space Apple Intelligence is gulping.

Remove Apple Intelligence files from Mac

1) Shut down your Mac and wait for a minute.

2) Enter recovery mode by pressing and holding the power button on your MacBook or Mac desktop until you see ‘Loading Startup Options‘ on the screen.

3) Click Options, and then Continue.

4) Once you’re past the Apple icon and the progress bar, select your Mac’s volume and click Next.

5) Now select a user, click Next, enter the password for that user account, and click Continue.

6) You should now see the usual recovery mode screen. Select Disk Utility from here and click Continue.

7) Expand your Mac’s volume, select the Data partition, and click Mount. Enter the user account password and then click Unlock.

8) Now, click Disk Utility in the top menu bar and choose Quit Disk Utility.

9) Click Utilities in the top menu bar and select Terminal.

10) Carefully type the following command and press the return / enter key.

rm -rf /Volumes/Data/System/Library/AssetsV2/com_apple_MobileAsset_UAF_FM_GenerativeModels

11) Now, enter the following command and press the return / enter key to get rid of files responsible for image tools.

rm -rf /Volumes/Data/System/Library/AssetsV2/com_apple_MobileAsset_UAF_FM_Visual

12) Click the Apple icon  and select Restart.

13) Once the system boots up, turn off Wi-Fi or unplug the Ethernet. Then, quickly go to System Settings > General > Storage and click the info icon ⓘ next to macOS. You’ll notice that Apple Intelligence no longer takes up space.

However, once you reconnect to Wi-Fi, it may download the Apple Intelligence files again, even if you have already turned off Apple Intelligence and its various tools (as mentioned above).

I really hope Apple adds an easy button to delete all local Apple Intelligence files! But until then, the above method is all we have.

Factory reset your Mac and start over

If you have backed up your data to an external drive with Time Machine or manually copied all important files to another external drive or to cloud storage, you can consider erasing your Mac and starting fresh. Our full step-by-step tutorial guides you through the entire process without facing errors.

After the factory restore, set up your Mac and do not enable Apple Intelligence on the initial setup screens (screenshot below) or later in System Settings. This should ensure your Mac doesn’t download 10+ GB of Apple Intelligence files locally to your internal drive, even if you have no use for it.

Also, check out: How to get the new Siri AI on iPhone, iPad, and Mac

Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2026/08/04/remove-apple-intelligence-files-mac/