'Clean Up' tool not available on my Mac mini M2 with Sequoia 15.5

Question

Level 1

89 points

'Clean Up' tool not available on my Mac mini M2 with Sequoia 15.5

"Go to the Photos app on your Mac.
Open Photos for me
Double-click a photo, then click Edit in the toolbar.
Click Clean Up in the toolbar."

I have Sequoia 15.5 on my desktop with an M2 processor. When I click on Edit in Photos, there is no Clean Up option available. I am trying to give Apple Intelligence a go to see if I can "With Apple Intelligence,* you can use the Clean Up tool to remove distracting objects in the background of a photo." Any thoughts on why I don't have access to the Clean Up option?

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Mac mini, macOS 15.5

Posted on May 20, 2025 8:11 AM

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Answer 1

May 21, 2025 6:47 AM in response to ttibsen

I think it took maybe a day when I first got it, but different things were coming out at different times, then. I've had delays due to downloading a few times since then, with no warning or explanation of why. Once it starts, it takes a few minutes.

Do you live in a supported country?

How to get Apple Intelligence - Apple Support

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Answer 2

ttibsen Author

Level 1

89 points

May 20, 2025 9:24 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

Apple Intelligence turned on - no Clean Up option to be seen in Photos > Edit window. Perhaps it has something to do with " you usually have to allow Clean Up to download" ? It's been 15 minutes since I turned on AI so I would have thought that is plenty of time for whatever needs downloading to download.

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Answer 3

ttibsen Author

Level 1

89 points

May 31, 2025 7:58 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

Not only do we have Internet, we have comparable speeds to any big city.

As regards to using the Clean Up tool - I am still stuck.

Here is the latest instructions on how to access it but I do not see the strip that is shown. So no Clean Up tool for us in the Yukon Territory I'm afraid.

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Answer 4

Jun 2, 2025 8:59 AM in response to ttibsen

When I go into the Edit mode, the menus look like this:

Do you have other indicators Apple Intelligence? When I highlight text in Notes, for instance, I see this:

where clicking on the little symbol brings up AI writing suggestions. And in Messages, when I click the emoji menu, I get this:

Which lets you create your own emoji based on description. (I don't use either of those things much…)

So, is it just Clean Up, or is it everything AI?

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Answer 5

ttibsen Author

Level 1

89 points

Jun 2, 2025 10:05 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

Eureka!! There it is!! I didn't realize that you had to be in Edit mode to access the Clean Up tool. For what it's worth - I do NOT have the little indicator in highlighted Notes text but I do have custom e-Moji button you show so 2 out of 3 isn't bad especially since it's only the Photos where I want to use AI help. Thanks for pointing out the elusive hiding place of the CleanUp tool.

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Answer 6

May 26, 2025 11:37 AM in response to ttibsen

ttibsen wrote: …Yukon Territory- Canada. Perhaps because it's not a province, it's not recognized as being a part of Canada🙂.

Gosh, do you even have internet there?

It's been a few days-- how's it going?

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Answer 7

Jun 8, 2025 11:43 AM in response to ttibsen

If you have a VPN, try quitting the app, in addition to turning it off upon startup. Restart your Mac. I had the same, exact situation, and this did the trick. Thought process is that the VPN is hiding your region, and downloading the photo clean up will only work in certain countries.

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Answer 8

Jun 9, 2025 7:02 AM in response to ttibsen

Well, great! The little notes thing is much more elusive than Clean Up. Apparently you highlight a paragraph and then hover over in the margin, or something like that.

ttibsen wrote: Not only do we have Internet, we have comparable speeds to any big city.

Yeah, you have health insurance, too, I bet. Don't rub it in…

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Answer 9

May 20, 2025 8:40 AM in response to ttibsen

Do you have Apple Intelligence turned on in System Settings? After that, you usually have to allow Clean Up to download. Have you seen that?

Use Apple Intelligence on your Mac - Apple Support (EG)

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Answer 10

ttibsen Author

Level 1

89 points

May 21, 2025 9:18 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

Yukon Territory - Canada. Perhaps because it's not a province, it's not recognized as being a part of Canada🙂. In any case, still no Clean Up option in the Edit window. Sigh...

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