I want to use Foundation Models in a project, but I know my users will want to avoid environmentally intensive AI work in data centers. Does Foundation Models ever use Private Compute Cloud or any other kind of cloud-based AI system? I'd like to be able to assure my users that the LLM usage is relatively environmentally friendly. It would be great to be able to cite a specific Apple page explaining that Foundation Models work is always done locally. If there's any chance that work can be done in the cloud, is there a way to opt out of that?

I am watching a few WWDC sessions on Foundation Model and its usage and it looks pretty cool. I was wondering if it is possible to perform RAG on the user documents on the devices and entuallly on iCloud... Let's say I have a lot of pages documents about me and I want the Foundation model to access those information on the documents to answer questions about me that can be retrieved from the documents. How can this be done ? Thanks

The WWDC25: Explore large language models on Apple silicon with MLX video talks about using your own data to fine-tune a large language model. But the video doesn't explain what kind of data can be used. The video just shows the command to use and how to point to the data folder. Can I use PDFs, Word documents, Markdown files to train the model? Are there any code examples on GitHub that demonstrate how to do this?

This is my code: witch SystemLanguageModel.default.availability { case .available: ContentView() .popover(isPresented: $showSettings) { SettingsView().presentationCompactAdaptation(.popover) } case .unavailable(.modelNotReady): ContentUnavailableView("Apple Intelligence is unavailable", systemImage: "apple.intelligence.badge.xmark", description: Text("Please come back later.")) case .unavailable(.appleIntelligenceNotEnabled): ContentUnavailableView("Apple Intelligence is unavailable", systemImage: "apple.intelligence.badge.xmark", description: Text("Please turn on Apple Intelligence.")) case .unavailable(.deviceNotEligible): ContentUnavailableView("Apple Intelligence is unavailable", systemImage: "apple.intelligence.badge.xmark", description: Text("This device is not eligible for Apple Intelligence.")) case .unavailable: ContentUnavailableView("Apple Intelligence is unavailable", systemImage: "apple.intelligence.badge.xmark") } When I switch off Apple Intelligence, I expected "Please turn on Apple Intelligence.", but instead I get "Please come back later." This seems to be wrong error?

Testing Foundation Models framework with a health-focused recipe generation app. The on-device approach is appealing but performance is rough. Taking 20+ seconds just to get recipe name and description. Same content from Claude API: 4 seconds. I know it's beta and on-device has different tradeoffs, but this is approaching unusable territory for real-time user experience. The streaming helps psychologically but doesn't mask the underlying latency.The privacy/cost benefits are compelling but not if users abandon the feature before it completes. Anyone else seeing similar performance? Is this expected for beta, or are there optimization techniques I'm missing?

I downloaded Xcode Beta 1 on my mac (did not upgrade the OS). The target OS level of iOS26 and the device simulator for iOS26 is downloaded and selected as the target. When I try a simple Playground in Xcode ( #Playground ) I get a session error. #Playground { let avail = SystemLanguageModel.default.availability if avail != .available { print("SystemLanguageModel not available") return } let session = LanguageModelSession() do { let response = try await session.respond(to: "Create a recipe for apple pie") } catch { print(error) } } The error I get is: Asset com.apple.gm.safety_deny_input.foundation_models.framework.api not found in Model Catalog Is there a way to test drive the FoundationModel code without upgrading to macos26?

I'm attempting to run a basic Foundation Model prototype in Xcode 26, but I'm getting the error below, using the iPhone 16 simulator with iOS 26. Should these models be working yet? Do I need to be running macOS 26 for these to work? (I hope that's not it) Error: Passing along Model Catalog error: Error Domain=com.apple.UnifiedAssetFramework Code=5000 "There are no underlying assets (neither atomic instance nor asset roots) for consistency token for asset set com.apple.MobileAsset.UAF.FM.Overrides" UserInfo={NSLocalizedFailureReason=There are no underlying assets (neither atomic instance nor asset roots) for consistency token for asset set com.apple.MobileAsset.UAF.FM.Overrides} in response to ExecuteRequest Playground to reproduce: #Playground { let session = LanguageModelSession() do { let response = try await session.respond(to: "What's happening?") } catch { let error = error } }

At WWDC25 we launched a new type of Lab event for the developer community - Group Labs. A Group Lab is a panel Q&A designed for a large audience of developers. Group Labs are a unique opportunity for the community to submit questions directly to a panel of Apple engineers and designers. Here are the highlights from the WWDC25 Group Lab for Machine Learning and AI Frameworks. What are you most excited about in the Foundation Models framework? The Foundation Models framework provides access to an on-device Large Language Model (LLM), enabling entirely on-device processing for intelligent features. This allows you to build features such as personalized search suggestions and dynamic NPC generation in games. The combination of guided generation and streaming capabilities is particularly exciting for creating delightful animations and features with reliable output. The seamless integration with SwiftUI and the new design material Liquid Glass is also a major advantage. When should I still bring my own LLM via CoreML? It's generally recommended to first explore Apple's built-in system models and APIs, including the Foundation Models framework, as they are highly optimized for Apple devices and cover a wide range of use cases. However, Core ML is still valuable if you need more control or choice over the specific model being deployed, such as customizing existing system models or augmenting prompts. Core ML provides the tools to get these models on-device, but you are responsible for model distribution and updates. Should I migrate PyTorch code to MLX? MLX is an open-source, general-purpose machine learning framework designed for Apple Silicon from the ground up. It offers a familiar API, similar to PyTorch, and supports C, C++, Python, and Swift. MLX emphasizes unified memory, a key feature of Apple Silicon hardware, which can improve performance. It's recommended to try MLX and see if its programming model and features better suit your application's needs. MLX shines when working with state-of-the-art, larger models. Can I test Foundation Models in Xcode simulator or device? Yes, you can use the Xcode simulator to test Foundation Models use cases. However, your Mac must be running macOS Tahoe. You can test on a physical iPhone running iOS 18 by connecting it to your Mac and running Playgrounds or live previews directly on the device. Which on-device models will be supported? any open source models? The Foundation Models framework currently supports Apple's first-party models only. This allows for platform-wide optimizations, improving battery life and reducing latency. While Core ML can be used to integrate open-source models, it's generally recommended to first explore the built-in system models and APIs provided by Apple, including those in the Vision, Natural Language, and Speech frameworks, as they are highly optimized for Apple devices. For frontier models, MLX can run very large models. How often will the Foundational Model be updated? How do we test for stability when the model is updated? The Foundation Model will be updated in sync with operating system updates. You can test your app against new model versions during the beta period by downloading the beta OS and running your app. It is highly recommended to create an "eval set" of golden prompts and responses to evaluate the performance of your features as the model changes or as you tweak your prompts. Report any unsatisfactory or satisfactory cases using Feedback Assistant. Which on-device model/API can I use to extract text data from images such as: nutrition labels, ingredient lists, cashier receipts, etc? Thank you. The Vision framework offers the RecognizeDocumentRequest which is specifically designed for these use cases. It not only recognizes text in images but also provides the structure of the document, such as rows in a receipt or the layout of a nutrition label. It can also identify data like phone numbers, addresses, and prices. What is the context window for the model? What are max tokens in and max tokens out? The context window for the Foundation Model is 4,096 tokens. The split between input and output tokens is flexible. For example, if you input 4,000 tokens, you'll have 96 tokens remaining for the output. The API takes in text, converting it to tokens under the hood. When estimating token count, a good rule of thumb is 3-4 characters per token for languages like English, and 1 character per token for languages like Japanese or Chinese. Handle potential errors gracefully by asking for shorter prompts or starting a new session if the token limit is exceeded. Is there a rate limit for Foundation Models API that is limited by power or temperature condition on the iPhone? Yes, there are rate limits, particularly when your app is in the background. A budget is allocated for background app usage, but exceeding it will result in rate-limiting errors. In the foreground, there is no rate limit unless the device is under heavy load (e.g., camera open, game mode). The system dynamically balances performance, battery life, and thermal conditions, which can affect the token throughput. Use appropriate quality of service settings for your tasks (e.g., background priority for background work) to help the system manage resources effectively. Do the foundation models support languages other than English? Yes, the on-device Foundation Model is multilingual and supports all languages supported by Apple Intelligence. To get the model to output in a specific language, prompt it with instructions indicating the user's preferred language using the locale API (e.g., "The user's preferred language is en-US"). Putting the instructions in English, but then putting the user prompt in the desired output language is a recommended practice. Are larger server-based models available through Foundation Models? No, the Foundation Models API currently only provides access to the on-device Large Language Model at the core of Apple Intelligence. It does not support server-side models. On-device models are preferred for privacy and for performance reasons. Is it possible to run Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) using the Foundation Models framework? Yes, it is possible to run RAG on-device, but the Foundation Models framework does not include a built-in embedding model. You'll need to use a separate database to store vectors and implement nearest neighbor or cosine distance searches. The Natural Language framework offers simple word and sentence embeddings that can be used. Consider using a combination of Foundation Models and Core ML, using Core ML for your embedding model.

Has Apple made any commitment to versioning the Foundation Models on device? What if you build a feature that works great on 26.0 but they change the model or guardrails in 26.1 and it breaks your feature, is your only recourse filing Feedback or pulling the feature from the app? Will there be a way to specify a model version like in all of the server based LLM provider APIs? If not, sounds risky to build on.

How do I test the new RecognizeDocumentRequest API. Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-GCNsXdKzM I am running Xcode Beta, however I only have one primary device that I cannot install beta software on. Please provide a strategy for testing. Will simulator work? The new capability is critical to my application, just what I need for structuring document scans and extraction. Thank you.

Does anyone know if ExecuTorch is officially supported or has been successfully used on visionOS? If so, are there any specific build instructions, example projects, or potential issues (like sandboxing or memory limitations) to be aware of when integrating it into an Xcode project for the Vision Pro? While ExecuTorch has support for iOS, I can't find any official documentation or community examples specifically mentioning visionOS. Thanks.

I am using Foundation Models for the first time and no response is being provided to me. Code import Playgrounds import FoundationModels #Playground { let session = LanguageModelSession() let result = try await session.respond(to: "List all the states in the USA") print(result.content) } Canvas Output What I did New file Code Canvas refreshes but nothing happens Am I missing a step or setup here? Please help. Something so basic is not working I do not know what to do. Running 40GPU, 16CPU MacBook Pro.. IOS26/Xcodebeta2/Tahoe allocated 8CPU, 48GB memory in Parallels VM. Settings for Playgrounds in Xcode Thank you for your help in advance.

I've been successfully integrating the Foundation Models framework into my healthcare app using structured generation with @Generable schemas. While my initial testing (20-30 iterations) shows promising results, I need to validate consistency and reliability at scale before production deployment. Question Is there a recommended approach for automated, large-scale testing of Foundation Models responses? Specifically, I'm looking to: Automate 1000+ test iterations with consistent prompts and structured schemas Measure response consistency across identical inputs Validate structured output reliability (proper schema adherence, no generation failures) Collect performance metrics (TTFT, TPS) for optimization Specific Questions Framework Limitations: Are there any undocumented rate limits or thermal throttling considerations for rapid session creation/destruction? Performance Tools: Can Xcode's Foundation Models Instrument be used programmatically, or only through Instruments UI? Automation Integration: Any recommendations for integrating with testing frameworks? Session Reuse: Is it better to reuse a single LanguageModelSession or create fresh sessions for each test iteration? Use Case Context My wellness app provides medically safe activity recommendations based on user health profiles. The Foundation Models framework processes health context and generates structured recommendations for exercises, nutrition, and lifestyle activities. Given the safety implications of providing health-related guidance, I need rigorous validation to ensure the model consistently produces appropriate, well-formed recommendations across diverse user scenarios and health conditions. Has anyone in the community built similar large-scale testing infrastructure for Foundation Models? Any insights on best practices or potential pitfalls would be greatly appreciated.

Posting a follow up question after the WWDC 2025 Machine Learning AI & Frameworks Group Lab on June 12. In regards to the on-device API of any of the AI frameworks (foundation model, vision framework, ect.), is there a response condition or path where the API outsources it's input to ChatGPT if the user has allowed this like Siri does? Ignore this if it's a no: is this handled behind the scenes or by the developer?

I'm using a custom create ML model to classify the movement of a user's hand in a game, The classifier has 3 different spell movements, but my code constantly predicts all of them at an equal 1/3 probability regardless of movement which leads me to believe my code isn't correct (as opposed to the model) which in CreateML at least gives me a heavily weighted prediction My code is below. On adding debug prints everywhere all the data looks good to me and matches similar to my test CSV data So I'm thinking my issue must be in the setup of my model code? /// Feeds samples into the model and keeps a sliding window of the last N frames. final class WandGestureStreamer { static let shared = WandGestureStreamer() private let model: SpellActivityClassifier private var samples: [Transform] = [] private let windowSize = 100 // number of frames the model expects /// RNN hidden state passed between inferences private var stateIn: MLMultiArray /// Last transform dropped from the window for continuity private var lastDropped: Transform? private init() { let config = MLModelConfiguration() self.model = try! SpellActivityClassifier(configuration: config) // Initialize stateIn to the model’s required shape let constraint = self.model.model.modelDescription .inputDescriptionsByName["stateIn"]! .multiArrayConstraint! self.stateIn = try! MLMultiArray(shape: constraint.shape, dataType: .double) } /// Call once per frame with the latest wand position (or any feature vector). func appendSample(_ sample: Transform) { samples.append(sample) // drop oldest frame if over capacity, retaining it for delta at window start if samples.count > windowSize { lastDropped = samples.removeFirst() } } func classifyIfReady(threshold: Double = 0.6) -> (label: String, confidence: Double)? { guard samples.count == windowSize else { return nil } do { let input = try makeInput(initialState: stateIn) let output = try model.prediction(input: input) // Save state for continuity stateIn = output.stateOut let best = output.label let conf = output.labelProbability[best] ?? 0 // If you’ve recognized a gesture with high confidence: if conf > threshold { return (best, conf) } else { return nil } } catch { print("Error", error.localizedDescription, error) return nil } } /// Constructs a SpellActivityClassifierInput from recorded wand transforms. func makeInput(initialState: MLMultiArray) throws -> SpellActivityClassifierInput { let count = samples.count as NSNumber let shape = [count] let timeArr = try MLMultiArray(shape: shape, dataType: .double) let dxArr = try MLMultiArray(shape: shape, dataType: .double) let dyArr = try MLMultiArray(shape: shape, dataType: .double) let dzArr = try MLMultiArray(shape: shape, dataType: .double) let rwArr = try MLMultiArray(shape: shape, dataType: .double) let rxArr = try MLMultiArray(shape: shape, dataType: .double) let ryArr = try MLMultiArray(shape: shape, dataType: .double) let rzArr = try MLMultiArray(shape: shape, dataType: .double) for (i, sample) in samples.enumerated() { let previousSample = i > 0 ? samples[i - 1] : lastDropped let model = WandMovementRecording.DataModel(transform: sample, previous: previousSample) // print("model", model) timeArr[i] = NSNumber(value: model.timestamp) dxArr[i] = NSNumber(value: model.dx) dyArr[i] = NSNumber(value: model.dy) dzArr[i] = NSNumber(value: model.dz) let rot = model.rotation rwArr[i] = NSNumber(value: rot.w) rxArr[i] = NSNumber(value: rot.x) ryArr[i] = NSNumber(value: rot.y) rzArr[i] = NSNumber(value: rot.z) } return SpellActivityClassifierInput( dx: dxArr, dy: dyArr, dz: dzArr, rotation_w: rwArr, rotation_x: rxArr, rotation_y: ryArr, rotation_z: rzArr, timestamp: timeArr, stateIn: initialState ) } }

When I initialize a session with an existing transcript using this initializer: public convenience init(model: SystemLanguageModel = .default, guardrails: LanguageModelSession.Guardrails = .default, tools: [any Tool] = [], transcript: Transcript) The tools get ignored. I noticed that when doing that, the model never use the tools. When inspecting the transcript, I can see that the instruction entry does not have any tools available to it. I tried this for both transcripts that already include an instruction entry and ones that don't - both yielding the same result.. Is this the intended behavior / am I missing something here?

I'm working on localizing my prompts to support multiple languages, and in some cases my prompts has String interpolated Generable objects. for example: "Given the following workout routine: \(routine), suggest one additional exercise to complement it." In the Strings dictionary, I'm only able to select String, Int or Double parameters using %@ and %lld. Has anyone found a way to accomplish this?

Hey Devs, I'm trying to create my own Real Time Text detection like this Apple project. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/vision/extracting-phone-numbers-from-text-in-images I want to use the new iOS18 RecognizeTextRequest instead of the old VNRecognizeTextRequest in my SwiftUI project. This is my delegate code with the camera setup. I removed region of interest for debugging but I'm trying to scan English words in books. The idea is to get one word in the ROI in the future. But I can't even get proper words so testing without ROI incase my math is wrong. @Observable class CameraManager: NSObject, AVCapturePhotoCaptureDelegate ... override init() { super.init() setUpVisionRequest() } private func setUpVisionRequest() { textRequest = RecognizeTextRequest(.revision3) } ... func setup() -> Bool { captureSession.beginConfiguration() guard let captureDevice = AVCaptureDevice.default( .builtInWideAngleCamera, for: .video, position: .back) else { return false } self.captureDevice = captureDevice guard let deviceInput = try? AVCaptureDeviceInput(device: captureDevice) else { return false } /// Check whether the session can add input. guard captureSession.canAddInput(deviceInput) else { print("Unable to add device input to the capture session.") return false } /// Add the input and output to session captureSession.addInput(deviceInput) /// Configure the video data output videoDataOutput.setSampleBufferDelegate( self, queue: videoDataOutputQueue) if captureSession.canAddOutput(videoDataOutput) { captureSession.addOutput(videoDataOutput) videoDataOutput.connection(with: .video)? .preferredVideoStabilizationMode = .off } else { return false } // Set zoom and autofocus to help focus on very small text do { try captureDevice.lockForConfiguration() captureDevice.videoZoomFactor = 2 captureDevice.autoFocusRangeRestriction = .near captureDevice.unlockForConfiguration() } catch { print("Could not set zoom level due to error: \(error)") return false } captureSession.commitConfiguration() // potential issue with background vs dispatchqueue ?? Task(priority: .background) { captureSession.startRunning() } return true } } // Issue here ??? extension CameraManager: AVCaptureVideoDataOutputSampleBufferDelegate { func captureOutput( _ output: AVCaptureOutput, didOutput sampleBuffer: CMSampleBuffer, from connection: AVCaptureConnection ) { guard let pixelBuffer = CMSampleBufferGetImageBuffer(sampleBuffer) else { return } Task { textRequest.recognitionLevel = .fast textRequest.recognitionLanguages = [Locale.Language(identifier: "en-US")] do { let observations = try await textRequest.perform(on: pixelBuffer) for observation in observations { let recognizedText = observation.topCandidates(1).first print("recognized text \(recognizedText)") } } catch { print("Recognition error: \(error.localizedDescription)") } } } } The results I get look like this ( full page of English from a any book) recognized text Optional(RecognizedText(string: e bnUI W4, confidence: 0.5)) recognized text Optional(RecognizedText(string: ?'U, confidence: 0.3)) recognized text Optional(RecognizedText(string: traQt4, confidence: 0.3)) recognized text Optional(RecognizedText(string: li, confidence: 0.3)) recognized text Optional(RecognizedText(string: 15,1,#, confidence: 0.3)) recognized text Optional(RecognizedText(string: jllÈ, confidence: 0.3)) recognized text Optional(RecognizedText(string: vtrll, confidence: 0.3)) recognized text Optional(RecognizedText(string: 5,1,: 11, confidence: 0.5)) recognized text Optional(RecognizedText(string: 1141, confidence: 0.3)) recognized text Optional(RecognizedText(string: jllll ljiiilij41, confidence: 0.3)) recognized text Optional(RecognizedText(string: 2f4, confidence: 0.3)) recognized text Optional(RecognizedText(string: ktril, confidence: 0.3)) recognized text Optional(RecognizedText(string: ¥LLI, confidence: 0.3)) recognized text Optional(RecognizedText(string: 11[Itl,, confidence: 0.3)) recognized text Optional(RecognizedText(string: 'rtlÈ131, confidence: 0.3)) Even with ROI set to a specific rectangle Normalized to Vision, I get the same results with single characters returning gibberish. Any help would be amazing thank you. Am I using the buffer right ? Am I using the new perform(on: CVPixelBuffer) right ? Maybe I didn't set up my camera properly? I can provide code

I'm testing Foundation Model on my iPad Pro (5th gen) iOS 26. Up until late this morning, I can no longer load the SystemLanguageModel.default. I'm not doing anything interesting, something as basic as this is only going to unavailable, specifically I get unavailable reason: modelNotReady. let model = SystemLanguageModel.default ... switch model.availability { case .available: print("LM available") case .unavailable(let reason): print("unavailable reason: ", String(describing: reason)) } I also ran the FoundationModelsTripPlanner app, same thing. It was working yesterday, I have not modified that project either. Why is the Model not ready? How do I fix this? Yes, I tried restarting both my laptop and iPad, no luck.

My sample app has been working with the following code: func call(arguments: Arguments) async throws -> ToolOutput { var temp:Int switch arguments.city { case .singapore: temp = Int.random(in: 30..<40) case .china: temp = Int.random(in: 10..<30) } let content = GeneratedContent(temp) let output = ToolOutput(content) return output } However in 26 beta 5, ToolOutput no longer available, please advice what has changed.