Hi everyone,
I'm developing an iOS app using Foundation Models and I've hit a critical limitation that I believe affects many developers and millions of users.
The Issue
Foundation Models requires the device system language to be one of the supported languages. If a user has their device set to an unsupported language (Catalan, Dutch, Swedish, Polish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Czech, Hungarian, Greek, Romanian, and many others), SystemLanguageModel.isSupported returns false and the framework is completely unavailable.
Why This Is Problematic
Scenario: A Catalan user has their iPhone in Catalan (native language). They want to use an AI chat app in Spanish or English (languages they speak fluently).
Current situation:
- ❌ Foundation Models: Completely unavailable
- ✅ OpenAI GPT-4: Works perfectly
- ✅ Anthropic Claude: Works perfectly
- ✅ Any cloud-based AI: Works perfectly
The user must choose between:
- Keep device in Catalan → Cannot use Foundation Models at all
- Change entire device to Spanish → Can use Foundation Models but terrible UX
Impact
This affects:
- Millions of users in regions where unsupported languages are official
- Multilingual users who prefer their device in their native language but can comfortably interact with AI in English/Spanish
- Developers who cannot deploy Foundation Models-based apps in these markets
- Privacy-conscious users who are ironically forced to use cloud AI instead of on-device AI
What We Need
One of these solutions would solve the problem:
Option 1: Per-app language override (preferred) // Proposed API let session = try await LanguageModelSession(preferredLanguage: "es-ES")
Option 2: Faster rollout of additional languages (particularly EU languages)
Option 3: Allow fallback to user-selected supported language when system language is unsupported
Technical Details
Current behavior:
// Device in Catalan
let isAvailable = SystemLanguageModel.isSupported
// Returns false
// No way to override or specify alternative language
Why This Matters
Apple Intelligence and Foundation Models are amazing for privacy and performance. But this language restriction makes the most privacy-focused AI solution less accessible than cloud alternatives. This seems contrary to Apple's values of accessibility and user choice.
Questions for the Community
- Has anyone else encountered this limitation?
- Are there any workarounds I'm missing?
- Has anyone successfully filed feedback about this?(Please share FB number so we can reference it)
- Are there any sessions or labs where this has been discussed?
Thanks for reading. I'd love to hear if others are facing this and how you're handling it.