Local Chat User Reviews

Name: Local Chat: Private AI Chatbot
Rating: 4.5 (56 reviews)

Local Chat: Private AI Chatbot

Anthony R. DePasquale

🔧 Utilities

📊 Productivity

Top reviews

Most Recent Highest Rated Lowest Rated

Garbage

Absolute garbage, ui doesn’t make sense, it even has a placeholder language setting, and it asks $99 for lifetime lol

Timmyboi26

3 months ago

Allows loading arbitrary models from Huggingface

Would be even better if we could load models from all of huggingface, not just-mlx-community.

Tokarak

3 months ago

Good, but not great

I’ve been using the app for the last several months. The overall design and interface is a little clunky until you get used to it. When you’re downloading a new local model, you have to stay active on that screen, or it will stop downloading if you go to another screen. What would make this app even better is a little more polishing with the UI and conversation syncing via iCloud.

VirtualGuitars

5 months ago

Response from developer

Please send me an email at support@localchat.co, because both of the things you're claiming are not accurate. Downloads work no matter what screen you're on in the app, and conversations sync via iCloud. I've spent a lot of time polishing the UI and would like to understand what you think doesn't work well.

Legends

I love your app. It’s finally an ai that is private and not used to train models.

123993939939

6 months ago

Gave it a shot thumbs down

It took over an hour to download the AI I wanted. And then anytime I asked a question the app crashed. Also it’s confusing on the other side of things. I have no idea how to use an API code? Like what? Would be a cool app if it worked

Suzi q69

6 months ago

Response from developer

I put a lot of time into making sure Local Chat works well, and I'm always available to fix any issues that you encounter. Please send me an email at support@localchat.co so that I can better understand the problem and make any necessary changes in the app.

Does not work with all providers

Does not work with all openAPI compatible providers, seems buggy.

Flat_pro

7 months ago

Excellent

Absolutely ideal for local prompt engineering before using up cloud credits. I’ve found it invaluable so far as a writing aid.

MetalPoet

10 months ago

The best choice

Among all the AI apps I've used for running lightweight models locally on iPhone, **LocalChat stands out as the absolute best**. The interface is clean, intuitive, and beautifully organized — no clutter, no confusion. It supports the **widest variety of models**, from open-source LLMs to vision-language models, and switching between **local and cloud inference** is seamless with just one tap.

Even more impressive, it has **multimodal capabilities**, letting users work with text, vision, and more — all from a single app. This is a game-changer for anyone exploring real on-device AI.

**Highly recommended**. If you're serious about local AI, **download this app now**.

zgg弦舞

a year ago

there are better options

ui isnt great, limited model selection

firstpocket

a year ago

Response from developer

You can add any compatible model from the MLX Community on Hugging Face, in addition to the recommended models in the app. I work really hard to make the UI great. If you have suggestions for how it could be improved, please let me know at feedback@localchat.co. If this response has been helpful to you, please consider updating your review.

Might be the best!

I've downloaded and tested three AI apps the run directly on your phone, and I've gotten by far the best results from this one! All the apps allow you to download and experiment with different models, but this one has given me the best results right out of the box! Like all AI models, it can make mistakes, but this is the most reliable app I've tried that runs directly on my phone!

Cybernettr

a year ago

I love it

I hope this app will have more features

Joe-1985

a year ago

최고의 앱

클로드 최신모델이나 제미나이 최신모델을 API형식으로 온라인 연결해서 사용하면 최고 최적 최장의 결과가 나옵니다. 애플에서만 사용할 수 있는게 아쉬워요

김경진진

a year ago

Great app, responsive developer

Best Mac/iOS app for running local models (and accessing Claude, Gemini etc). Excellent UI on all platforms, iCloud sync works very well. Had an issue, contacted the developer and heard back the same day. Highly recommended

Jezza D

a year ago

Best one and I’ve tried them ALL

Shortcuts integration just works. Connects to my local OpenAI compatible LLM server perfectly. Finally, I have just one app as my go-to AI chat client. Deleted all the others that I’ve bought and tried. THIS is the one.

sportswook489

a year ago

Great app, even better developer!

This is a must have app that makes running a range of local LLM models as simple as a few clicks and works across all my devices seamlessly. The developer is approachable, responsive and open to implementing suggestions, new ideas and fixing bugs. Highly recommended and well deserving of your support!

imperialmandarin

a year ago

no problems, great app! needs more recognition

this app is really fast, everything just works, no logins needed, etc. it is kind of annoying that I can’t delete my history, I spoke with the developer over email and they’re extremely transparent with upcoming updates! shortcuts also work, but isn’t mentioned in the photos, but they do work!

gn2B

a year ago

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!

Cybernettr

a year ago

Response from developer

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.

Hallucinations

I launched this app, I downloaded the default Chatbot, and I asked an easy question "who was Houdini, the great magician?" The question kind of answered itself but the bot went on about Houdini being a real estate developer! (Seriously!) Worse, it started repeating itself and running the same paragraph a dozen times. I'll give this three stars because it did at least do something, but the bot is seriously prone to crazy hallucinations, so much so that it makes it kind of useless, unless you just wanna run it for a laugh. The idea of running an AI on your own device sounds cool, but I find after comparing a couple of them from different developers, you can't expect the same kind of performance you get from a "non-private" AI that you run through the Internet.

Cybernettr

a year ago

Response from developer

I tested your prompt, and even the smallest models give the correct answer. Please contact me at support@localchat.co, and I'll help resolve any issues you're facing. Please also consider changing your rating, since I'm an independent developer, and negative reviews have a major impact on my livelihood.

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.

Blackbery-12

a year ago

Response from developer

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.

$99 for a skin of Open Source Software

Dont bother. Dev is asking for lots of cash for low effort work.

LocoDubz

2 years ago

Response from developer

This app has taken months of full-time effort, and I am a contributor to the open-source software that runs the models. Instead of spreading hate on the internet, please try to put something positive into the world.