Writing Tools unavailable in mainland China on Taiwan-purchased Mac with non-China Apple Account

Description

Writing Tools fails on my Mac/PadOS/iOS while I am travelling in mainland China, although Apple's documentation indicates it should still work on my device and account. It worked normally when I was in Taiwan.

Device and account

- MacBook Pro (Mac15,3), Apple M3, 16 GB

- Model number: MTLC3TA/A, purchased in Taiwan

- macOS 27.2 (26B123)

- Device language and Siri language: English (US)

- Apple Account country/region: Taiwan

Steps to reproduce

1. Travel to mainland China with the Mac.

2. Open TextEdit and type a sentence in English.

3. Select the text and choose Writing Tools > Proofread.

Expected result

Writing Tools proofreads the selected text. Apple Support says Apple Intelligence continues to work when travelling. For devices purchased outside mainland China, it says features will not work if you are in mainland China and your Apple Account country or region is also in mainland China. My Apple Account region is not mainland China.

Actual result

The Writing Tools option appears, but it fails with this message:

"Writing Tools Unavailable. Certain capabilities are unavailable at this time. Try again later."

Troubleshooting already done

- Checked the Apple Intelligence & Siri settings. The problem remained.

- Turned off Tailscale. The problem remained.

- Turned off both Tailscale and Shadowrocket. The problem remained.

- Grammarly was not running.

Additional information

The failure appears tied to physical location, because the feature worked in Taiwan and still fails in mainland China with VPNs turned off. The system's eligibility data on this Mac also appears to show Apple Intelligence as eligible.

Requested action

Please either make Writing Tools work for travellers in this situation, or update the Apple Support documentation to state clearly that this restriction applies. A more specific error message would also help.

Kris

Taiwan