Requirements and availability

What's required

Ask, wherever you find it in the app, runs on Apple's on-device Foundation Models framework, which needs iOS or iPadOS 26 (or macOS 26 on a Catalyst Mac) and Apple Intelligence turned on in Settings. On a supported device, the model itself downloads once and then runs entirely offline afterward.

If it's unavailable

Colophon tells you plainly, rather than failing silently, when a requirement isn't met: that Apple Intelligence needs enabling in Settings, or that the model is still downloading. Everything else in the app, including search, works the same with or without Apple Intelligence turned on.

On a supported device, Ask my library is also available as a Shortcuts and Siri action, so you can query your library without opening the app; see Shortcuts, Siri & Spotlight.