# askM — Ask Your Manuals Anything

> Ask Your Manuals Anything (iPhone/iPad app by Philippe Le Gall.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/askm/id6761671388 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Philippe Le Gall](https://appshunter.io/developer/1004932800)
- Category: Reference
- Price: Free
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 18.0 · 2.2 GB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2026-04-14
- Data updated: 2026-08-22
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/askm/id6761671388/reviews.md

## What is askM?

askM is a personal reference tool that helps you study technical aviation documentation. Ask a plain-language question about your FCOM, FCTM, MMEL, QRH, AFM, or any technical manual you provide, and get a direct, sourced answer — entirely on your device.

HOW IT WORKS

askM imports the technical documents you provide (via ZIP file or local storage), parses every document unit, and builds a local vector index on your device. When you ask a question, it retrieves the most relevant passages using semantic search and delivers a concise answer with full source citations. Tap any source to read the original document.

KEY FEATURES

• RAG-powered Q&A with source citations that exactly match what the model read
• Runs entirely on this device — no cloud, no network, no telemetry
• Optional Enhanced Search model (about 350 MB) for markedly better semantic retrieval
• Optional answer reranker with calibrated low-confidence warnings
• Aircraft guard — never silently answers from another aircraft's manuals
• Supports FCOM, FCTM, MMEL, CDL, QRH, AFM, APD, WBM and similar technical manuals
• ZIP import for manual packages from local storage
• Built-in document viewer with dark mode for cockpit use
• Aircraft fleet management with type filtering
• Designed for iPad (iPadOS 18 or later) and Mac (macOS 15 or later, Apple Silicon)

HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS

The on-device language model is the resource-intensive part of askM. To run it well, you need a recent iPad with Apple Silicon (M-series): iPad Pro M1 or newer, or iPad Air M2 or newer. Older A-series iPads do not have the memory or compute to run the bundled model. On Mac, any Apple Silicon Mac on macOS 15 or later works; the optional larger on-device model needs about 5 GB of free disk space. iPhone is not supported in this version.

HOW YOUR DATA IS HANDLED

The language model runs on-device. Your documents, your questions, and the answers never leave your iPad or Mac. There is no cloud service, no network call, and no analytics or telemetry. askM can optionally download on-device search models (about 350 MB each) and, on Mac, a larger language model for higher-quality answers — each download happens once and stays on your device.

YOUR RESPONSIBILITY

askM does not include, host, or distribute any documentation. You provide the documents you want to study, and you are responsible for obtaining the rights to use them. By using askM, you confirm that you have permission to use these documents for personal study and reference, and that doing so complies with the terms set by their authors and publishers.

STUDY AID ONLY

askM is a personal study aid. It is not certified, approved, or intended for use in operational, maintenance, dispatch, or any safety-critical activity. Always defer to the authoritative published manuals and your operator's procedures.

askM is an independent application. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or authorized by any equipment manufacturer, documentation publisher, or operator.


## Version history (last 3 releases)

### 1.2 — 2026-08-14

Version 1.2 — Smarter search, trustworthy answers

Smarter search
• Optional Enhanced Search model (about 350 MB, downloaded in Settings) — dramatically better retrieval: in our internal manual evaluation, the right passage reaches the top results far more often
• Optional answer reranker (about 350 MB, experimental) — an on-device judge that re-orders results by true relevance and powers a better-calibrated low-confidence warning
• Smarter retrieval engine — keyword and semantic evidence are fused, near-duplicate passages are removed, and follow-up questions carry the context of your previous question into the search

Trustworthy answers
• Citations now exactly match what the model actually read — no more listed sources the model never saw
• Aircraft guard — if nothing matches your selected aircraft, askM says so instead of silently answering from another aircraft's manuals; an optional setting widens the search, clearly flagged on the answer
• Versioned search index — the app detects an index built by an older version and offers a one-tap rebuild
• Visible rebuild stages — see exactly what indexing is doing: clear old index, load embedding model, parse-chunk-embed, finalise

Under the hood
• Fixed document extraction issues (duplicated table text, heading bleed, lost special characters such as degree units)
• Fixed chunking so long sections split correctly with proper overlap
• Fixed keyword search ranking on iPhone
• A memory manager keeps the language model and the optional search models within device limits
• Interrupted indexing runs are detected and repaired automatically

Hardware
Same requirements as 1.1: iPad with Apple Silicon (M-series) or any Apple Silicon Mac on macOS 15 or later. The optional search models download once and stay on your device.

### 1.1 — 2026-06-05

Version 1.1

What's new
• New on-device language model — reasoning-tuned for better answers on multi-step procedures and limitations
• Mac Catalyst support — full Mac app, with an optional first-launch download of a larger on-device model for higher-quality answers on Mac
• First-launch Terms & Disclaimer, re-openable from Settings → About
• Conversation history — follow-up questions remember prior Q&A in the same session
• Tappable source citations in answers — opens the source, scrolls into view, collapses the others
• Source links show the manual short name (e.g. "Source 4 [FCOM]")
• Live thinking indicator while the model reasons; reasoning is collapsed to a chip when done and can be expanded on tap
• Cancel button (red square) replaces the send button during generation
• Tap any prior question to copy it to the clipboard
• Auto-scroll follows the streaming answer
• Settings shows the active on-device model size
• Aircraft registration badge legibility fixed
• Settings reorder: Index Status now below Server Connection
• Light-mode contrast improvements across chat and source views

iPhone paused
The on-device model does not yet fit the iPhone's memory budget. iPhone users see a clear explanation in the app. iPad and Mac are the supported platforms for 1.1.

Hardware
Requires an iPad with Apple Silicon (M-series) for on-device AI — iPad Pro M1 or newer, or iPad Air M2 or newer recommended. On Mac, any Apple Silicon Mac on macOS 15 or later.

### 1.0 — 2026-04-14

No release notes.

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## More apps by Philippe Le Gall

- [sJL](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sjl/id1560983278)
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- [sQRH](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sqrh/id1570004350)
- [Jetform](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/jetform/id6753701639)
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- [No-ICE](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/no-ice/id6757936550)

All apps by Philippe Le Gall: https://appshunter.io/developer/1004932800

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-22.*