The "on-device AI" category on the App Store is confusing. Many apps claim to run locally but don't. Others run locally but require a Ph.D. in quantization to get started. A few are excellent, a few are fine, and a few should not exist. This post is our honest ranking of the ones that actually do what they say, tested on an iPhone 15 Pro.
Full disclosure: we make one of them. PocketLLM is listed here like any other app, with the flaws, and scored against the competition on features that have nothing to do with our marketing page.
What we tested
Every app in this comparison had to pass the "airplane mode test" — we installed it, downloaded a model, enabled airplane mode, and made sure new chats still worked. Anything that failed this test is not in the ranking. (You'd be surprised how many apps that call themselves "on-device" don't pass this.)
After that, we scored each app on six factors:
- Ease of setup — how long from install to first reply.
- Model quality — which models ship, and how well they're tuned.
- UI polish — does it feel like a real iOS app or a demo.
- Privacy — any telemetry, accounts, or optional cloud fallback.
- Performance — tokens/sec on iPhone 15 Pro, memory usage, battery.
- Price — genuinely free, freemium, one-time, or subscription.
The ranking
1. PocketLLM
Native iOS design, free tier that actually works, hybrid CoreML and llama.cpp backend. Setup takes about ninety seconds: pick a model, wait for the download, chat. Airplane mode test passes. No account required, no telemetry on conversations.
- Ease of setup: 10/10 — picks a model for your iPhone automatically.
- Model quality: 9/10 — Llama 3.2, Qwen 2.5, SmolLM, Phi-3. Quantizations tuned for iPhone RAM.
- UI polish: 9/10 — native SwiftUI, markdown, code highlighting, haptics, VoiceOver.
- Privacy: 10/10 — no accounts, no cloud fallback, no conversation logs.
- Performance: 9/10 — about 18 tok/s on iPhone 15 Pro with Llama 3.2 3B Q4.
- Price: Free tier + Pro subscription for larger models and advanced features.
Weak spot: the free tier doesn't include the 7B+ models.
2. Private LLM
The polished paid option. One-time purchase, large model library (including several uncensored variants), heavy emphasis on custom quantization. Setup is straightforward. The iPhone app is mature.
- Ease of setup: 9/10 — clear model library, one-tap download.
- Model quality: 10/10 — the largest model catalog in the category.
- UI polish: 9/10 — feels like a real iOS app.
- Privacy: 10/10 — fully on-device.
- Performance: 9/10 — comparable to PocketLLM on the same models.
- Price: Paid (one-time purchase).
Weak spot: no free tier, so the barrier to trying it is higher.
3. LLM Farm
Free and open source, built on llama.cpp. Runs a huge range of GGUF models. The UI is utilitarian — it looks like a developer tool because it is one.
- Ease of setup: 6/10 — you manage model URLs and parameters yourself.
- Model quality: 9/10 — any GGUF model that fits in RAM.
- UI polish: 5/10 — functional, not beautiful.
- Privacy: 10/10 — open source, inspectable.
- Performance: 8/10 — depends entirely on the GGUF you load.
- Price: Free.
Weak spot: not newcomer-friendly.
4. MLC Chat
The reference app from the MLC LLM project. Free, runs models like Llama and Phi entirely on-device. Very much a research tool, but the models themselves are excellent because they come straight from the MLC team's compiled builds.
- Ease of setup: 7/10 — cleaner than LLM Farm but still developer-oriented.
- Model quality: 9/10 — bleeding-edge MLC builds.
- UI polish: 6/10 — a research demo, basically.
- Privacy: 10/10 — open source.
- Performance: 9/10 — MLC compilation is fast.
- Price: Free.
Weak spot: model list changes without warning.
5. Jan.ai
Jan is primarily a desktop app but has a growing iOS presence. Full local model execution with an optional cloud mode. The iOS version is less mature than the desktop, but the architecture is sound.
- Ease of setup: 8/10.
- Model quality: 7/10 on iOS (the desktop version is much better stocked).
- UI polish: 7/10.
- Privacy: 9/10 — but you have to verify the optional cloud mode is off.
- Performance: 7/10 on iPhone.
- Price: Free.
Head-to-head summary
| App | Free tier? | Setup | UI | Privacy | Perf |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PocketLLM | Yes | 10 | 9 | 10 | 9 |
| Private LLM | No (paid) | 9 | 9 | 10 | 9 |
| LLM Farm | Yes | 6 | 5 | 10 | 8 |
| MLC Chat | Yes | 7 | 6 | 10 | 9 |
| Jan.ai | Yes | 8 | 7 | 9 | 7 |
Which one should you use?
- You want the easiest path: PocketLLM.
- You want a polished paid option with every model: Private LLM.
- You're a developer and want control: LLM Farm or MLC Chat.
- You already use Jan on desktop: Jan.ai for continuity.
What to skip
There are also around a dozen apps with names like "Private ChatGPT" and "Offline AI Assistant" that silently call cloud APIs. They will show up in App Store searches, sometimes ranked high. The airplane mode test is the only way to weed them out. If a new chat fails in airplane mode, it's not on-device.
Final take
In 2026, there are actually four good choices for running AI offline on your iPhone. None of them are perfect. PocketLLM is the most polished free option, Private LLM is the most polished paid option, and the open-source apps fill the developer niche.
If you want to understand the underlying technology before choosing, read our complete guide to running LLMs on your phone.