Local Chat: Private AI Chatbot 17+

Great app for open-source models

This app is off to a great start, with a nice UI and a good selection of models. It’s one of the few apps that lets you run Llama 3 on an iPhone or iPad.

Getting better

I asked "who was Houdini, the great magician?" and the bot went on about Houdini being a real estate developer! (Seriously!) However, I later asked it to "Write an engaging, factual article about the thymus gland for a popular national magazine" and it did so within seconds, and even extensively answered a follow up question! So I would say the app keeps getting better as time goes on. Pretty amazing to have an expert inside your phone, but here we are!

Developer Response ,

Thanks for your feedback. I tested your prompt, and even the smallest models give the correct answer on Houdini. Please contact me at support@localchat.co, and I'll help resolve any issues you're facing.

Lame

The free version offers a limited selection of models, while the best ones require a pro upgrade. However, since they don’t develop the models themselves, the app functions the same regardless of which one you use. The only difference is access, which feels like more of a paywall than an added functionalit. It would make more sense if they were offering something unique, but that’s not the case. You also can’t load custom models so you can’t choose one. That’s not in their list.

Developer Response ,

All the models are now available on the free tier. Note that I also helped write the open-source code that runs some of the models. Creating Local Chat has taken a lot of hard work over the past year. Subscriptions allow people to support my work on the app and my contributions to open-source projects. I'll always try to find the right balance so that people can try Local Chat on the free tier. Please consider changing your rating, since one-star reviews negatively impact my livelihood and don't reflect the care I've put into creating Local Chat.