Hello to all
I have a 15 pro running iOS 27 and am really enjoying the new image description feature. My question is, can this feature be offline? Currently it seems to only work online. The only setting I found was under VO>recogntion>mode on device toggle. But when turned on, I get a notification saying that "An error has occurred" when ever I try to use image description, no matter if I choose describe screen or describe object. It seems to only work online. Can anyone confirm this? Any help is appreciated. Because I would like to try this with personal documents and don't want to have my personal information sent to a server. Thanks in advance.
Have a great day
Fritz
Comments
16 pro and up
I think the AI works better in the above.
Having the same issue on 16e
Thing is, if the feature will only be available offline on the 16 Pro and newer, why do we even have that toggle in the first place? I'd been getting errors until I found and disabled the on-device switch, which shouldn't have been present at all if it won't really work on my device then.
iOS 27.2Re: Having the same issue on 16e
Perhaps a bug if not, apple wants people to get the new phone.
Intelligent Image Descriptions Not Available Offline
It is my understanding that Intelligent Image Descriptions are not available offline. When the "On-Device Mode" option is enabled, VoiceOver appears to fall back to the pre-iOS 27 image descriptions.
Maybe only on the newest phones?
I've asked this question a couple times out of curiosity.
The newest generation iPhones (17/18 Pro, iPhone Air and iPhone Duo), have more advanced on-device models because they have more ram. AFAIK,, Apple has only said this enables a few things like the better dictation and the expressive Siri voices. But those are things that the mainstream would care about.
I'm wondering if the more advanced models that the newer phones have would mean the native image descriptions could be generated on-device. I also have a 15 Pro, and it does seem like maybe Apple might be using their private cloud compute servers to generate the image descriptions for VO. I've tried having a picture described with airplane mode on, and when I didn't have good cell signal one day, and in both cases, it kept playing the sound that the description was being generated, and either came back with an error, or just the shorter descriptions we've been getting since around 2021.
Does the same thing happen if you're using a 17/18 Pro or an iPhone Air?
Works here on my 16 pro
I just checked it by turning on airplane mode and was able to do both image and item description with no problem.
Just a thought, but perhaps turn off on device image description? I think that perhaps that may be simply the old way of doing things, and therefore VO is always trying to fall back to that?
Image description offline
Hello All
Thanks for your replies and suggestions. I tried what Inforover suggested but had no luck with that. Interestingly when turning on airplane mode, I discovered that wifi didn't automatically turn off, but that's a different topic. What I also learned on a side note, is that in on device mode and being offline, the new live description function where you can ask a question, interestingly works offline. Go figure. So the question remains, does image description work offline, and if yes on what device may it work on? Thanks again for all of your info's.
Have a great day
Fritz
From What I Can Tell
From what I can tell, the on-device model is used either when you are offline or when the "On Device" switch is turned on under VoiceOver's "Image Recognition" settings. Otherwise, Apple Private Cloud Compute is used.
The cloud-based descriptions are much more detailed because that model is larger and more capable. The on-device version is smaller and produces shorter descriptions.
This is just my own observation based on using an iPhone 17 Pro Max, not official documentation.
Edited to say the on device model is available on devices which support Apple intelligence .
Re: From What I Can Tell
Thanks for your post. If I understand you correctly, you can use image description on your 17 pro max offline. Because on my 15 pro it doesn't work offline. So maybe it's device specific.Your explanation makes sense though. Thanks again.
Have a great day
Fritz
Re: From What I Can Tell
Hi Fritz. Yes, it works, but as Apple documents, the descriptions are honestly a bit short and shallow. The image is described with only one sentence. While you can follow up with questions, I'm not sure how effective that will be.
It's supposed to work on your device as well since it supports Apple Intelligence, meaning the on-device language model should be available.
Two things to keep in mind:
Re: From What I Can Tell
Hello Mohammad
Thanks again for your reply. I followed the two steps that you suggested, and yes, Apple Intelligence has supported in my language and on my 15 Pro. To your second advice I follow those steps accordingly, and had no luck. Either the 15 Pro doesn't support the off-line usage, even though it's presented as an option, or it's a bug. Maybe someone else who has a 15 pro and reads these posts can try out the same procedure and see what happens. But right now it seems to be so that offline usage is only supported on a 17 pro and beyond. thanks again.
Have a great day
Fritz
Fritz
AI is for the 16 pro and up. More for the 17 pro and up due to memory.
Re: Fritz
Hello Holger
Thanks for the info. Maybe I am misunderstanding you, but I have the 15 pro and it has
Apple Intelligence on it. But you are correct, depending on what device one has, you get more AI. Thanks
Have a great day
Fritz