Why is Apple Intelligence stuck on "Preparing" on my M1 MacBook?

There have been many discussions here on this very subject.

Some users have suggested setting the region to the United States and the language to English U.S.

What has worked for me?

First and foremost, you must establish your connection to a WiFi network 🛜, not simply a mobile hotspot.

If Apple Intelligence is stuck on your Mac:

1. Open Settings ➢ General ➢ Storage.
2. Scroll to the bottom and double-click ⚙️ macOS.
3. Apple Intelligence should be fully downloaded if it reads: 4.94 GB.

Now, go directly to Settings ➢ Apple Intelligence & Siri and you should find the prompt or switch to toggle on Apple Intelligence.

Please provide any feedback if this has helped so we can all learn from this.

Good Luck! 👋🏼😉

What can we do if #3, "Apple Intelligence should be fully downloaded if it reads: 4.94 GB" is not 4.94? Mine says 4.43. Its been stuck on preparing for well over a week. MacBook Air M3, just purchased last month. Thanks.

It appears that the download stopped for some reason.

Have you restarted the Mac and the WiFi network?

This is crazy. I updated to 15.1 on release date and turned on the Apple Intelligence toggle and my MacBook Air has been stuck on "Preparing" ever since. With today's 15.1.1 update I figured it would definitely be fixed and was shocked to see that it's not. What the heck!? Storage also still shows Apple Intelligence at 4.43GB.

Prior to today, I was able to get the Apple Intelligence toggle to show up again by doing the "change to another region and change back" thing and it went right back to "Preparing" with no change in the download size. I've also tried all the other ideas posted here - which shouldn't be required - and none worked.

Is it possible that this issue is only affecting a relatively small number of users so it's not high priority?

I have the same problem with my M1 MacBook Pro; the Apple Intelligence file size is 4.91GB, and it also shows Preparing, which is greyed out. I have tried the many suggestions online, and everything has stayed the same.

To Rick Rush and everyone posting here with your download not working:

I would like to recommend trying another Wifi network. 🛜

You can always use the free WiFi network at your local Apple Retail Store.

Good Luck! 👋🏼😉

My Apple Intelligence on two of my 'Mac's was stuck in the “preparing” phase for the last two weeks. Tried all the suggestions posted here, none of them worked for me. I contacted Apple Care, but they had no clue why this was happening.

I decided to take a full Time Machine backup, then factory reset my Mac, and restored it from the backup. And voila, within five minutes, I got a prompt to activate my Apple Intelligence—now it’s activated.

I repeated the same with my second device, and it worked this time too.

I'm trying to download and activate the publically released version of Apple Intelligence. (I am not the OP.)

Mine says 4.43, too. Stuck since release day.

After a couple of weeks "preparing" I am also showing 4.43GB.

Yes, Smilin-Brian, I've restarted both, again today and multiple times before today, including trying wifi hot-spot. Also changed languages, regions, and voices multiple times. Toggled Siri on and off. The only thing I can think of that I haven't tried is connecting to another Wifi network, as I don't have one available and would have to take computer to library or a friend's house. Other than that, I guess I'm waiting for 15.2 to come out, hoping it will trigger something. I'm not going to go to the extent of resetting computer just for this. (BTW, I am in US and my computer has always been in US.) thanks.

Both my M3 MacBook Pro and my son's M1 MacBook Air were stuck on "Preparing" since the day 15.1 came out. Nothing worked. So last night I did full Time Machine backups of both machines, did a reset and then a restore, and voila. Suddenly Apple Intelligence was ready to turn on after maybe 5-10 minutes back in action.

It could have been much worse if Time Machine wasn't so brilliant. 45 minutes later and it was like nothing even happened even though I had nuked my computer lol

Where are you located?

Which version are you trying to download ?

Apple Intelligence is fully downloaded (storage reads 4.94 GB), but "preparing" persists under Settings/Apple Intelligence and Siri. I have a Mac Mini M4 with Mac OS 15.1.