# NativeTavern - AI Characters — Character chats and stories

> AI roleplay chat tool with customizable characters and local data storage. (iPhone/iPad app by 威 周.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/nativetavern-ai-characters/id6757631215 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [威 周](https://appshunter.io/developer/1392984149)
- Category: Utilities
- Price: Free
- Rating: 4.00/5 from 21 App Store ratings · 18 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 15.0 · 72 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2026-01-15
- Data updated: 2026-09-27
- Monetization: free
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/nativetavern-ai-characters/id6757631215/reviews.md

## What is NativeTavern?

NativeTavern is a local-first AI character chat client for creative conversations and interactive stories.

Connect an AI provider or compatible endpoint you choose. NativeTavern does not include or operate an AI model or hosted content service. Responses are generated by the selected provider and are subject to that provider's terms and safety controls.

Features:
• Create and import supported PNG and JSON character cards
• Build personas, group conversations, lorebooks, and long-term memories
• Add optional Live2D or Spine character models
• Keep app data on your device, with clear consent before text is sent to a remote provider
• Back up and restore your data

Use NativeTavern responsibly. Do not create or share unlawful, harmful, or abusive content.

## Key features

- Import SillyTavern character cards (PNG/JSON)
- Import character cards via URL
- Configure custom API and AI models
- Set up 'Persona' for roleplay
- Local storage for sensitive data
- Optimized AI model responses
- Customizable chat experience

## Recent user reviews (10 of 18)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/nativetavern-ai-characters/id6757631215/reviews.md

### 5/5 — Love it but…

*2026-09-22*

This app does everything I wanted it to do, and I’m grateful to the devs who worked on this and made it free. Truly, thank you. 

One thing that I really struggle with is tracking how much context I have used up. If you could add a bar like Silly Tavern has or some other way of tracking how much context is left, that would really go a long way.

### 4/5 — Update

*2026-09-17*

I see now that it is posssible to edit the bot's message if you hold your finger down on the very edge of the message.  So I'm changing my rating.

**Developer response:** Editing AI replies is supported: long-press the AI's message bubble to open the actions menu, then choose Edit. We agree it is hard to discover, and we are working on making the message actions easier to reach. If long-press does not open the menu on your device, please tell us your app build and device at https://github.com/miaoxworld/NativeTavern/issues and we will investigate.

### 3/5 — Need better config for TTS

*2026-09-11*

Voices appear locked to system voices, need a drop down to set it to an OAI default voice otherwise can’t connect to local TTS server.  Alltalk returns value error.

**Developer response:** Thanks for the detailed report. Right now the TTS voice list follows your device's system voices, and when you point NativeTavern at an OpenAI-compatible TTS server (for example Alltalk) the voice name has to match a voice that server actually exposes. A dedicated voice dropdown and an explicit OAI default voice are on our list, and we are looking into the Alltalk value error. If you can share the endpoint shape and the exact error text (never include API keys), please open an issue at https://github.com/miaoxworld/NativeTavern/issues so we can reproduce it.

### 5/5 — Great options and tons of features

*2026-09-11*

I’m on v1.12.13. This is a GREAT app with tons of great features. I especially love that it can let you change the level of reasoning and even the provider when using a router like Openrouter (great!). There’s everything here you’d likely want on the backend; context length, sampling parameters, multiple connection profiles, group chat, import/export, even a tokenizer. it’s all local storage, which is awesome. Just a couple ideas I think you might want to hear, some stuff I feel would really help:

 1. Reasoning/thinking doesn’t seem to display for me? I thought I heard you say it does for reasoning supported models but I’ve tried Kimi K2.5, MiMo V2.5 Pro, DeepSeek V4 Pro and Flash and don’t have any thinking shown (yes I have it enabled and I’ve tried auto, minimal, medium, maximum; no difference). I know it’s reasoning because it takes alot longer than if it’s turned off, it just doesn’t show up anywhere. Maybe a bug? I rely a lot on reading the reasoning to tweak my bots and my system prompts. 

 2. I use Openrouter exclusively. I really like that you can change a AI model in chat at the top left by the character’s name, however it’d be nice if I can fine tune which inference provider (like you can in the ‘LLM Connection’ setting). If I switch the model while in a chat, it just reverts to ‘auto’ for provider, which is bad because certain providers aren’t good and I like to stick to one provider so I can use cache. So then I have to go out of the chat and switch it back to my preferred provider. It would also help a lot to be able to ‘star’ my favorite models so they stay at the top of the list. It’d be nice to switch reasoning effort from here as well, but that’s not as important. 

2.1. Big problem with the inference provider option. With Kimi and MiMo the provider is picked correctly. However, with GLM and DeepSeek Models (GLM 4.7 and DSV4 Pro, DSV4.1 Flash tested), the router reverted to AUTO, and DID NOT keep the correct provider I selected. Big big problem.

 3. You have to be very careful to hold down on a blank space to the far right of the AI’s chat bubbles to see the option list come up (edit, regenerate, delete, etc.). I didn’t realize you could do this except by accident and it’s pretty hard to do, maybe there is a better way? It almost always only works if I hold down on the very far right edge of the chatbubble and that’s not very reliable or easy. 

 4. I’d love to be able to rename my chats in the “chats” section and that show up when I click on a character, that way I know which is which at a glance without having to go through the chat’s text and try and remember what roleplay this particular chat is. 

 5. I have lots of personas and change/restart chats often. It’s kind of annoying having to go over to settings every time I want to change each persona. It’d be nice if, when I start a new chat session, my list of personas will pop up and I can just pick the one I want to use and then start the chat session. 

 6. The text size is kind of big for me when I’m typing and the max area shown to type it in is quite small. It only holds about 20 words before you have to scroll. It’d be nice to be able to resize it so it fits about 70-80 words before I have to scroll. That lets me re-read my draft before I hit send a lot faster without having to scroll constantly. 

 7. You have an option that lets the AI write for you, which is great. It’d be nice to also have the option to have it read a draft you wrote and then improve it/lengthen it like some other apps allow, if possible.

 8. I’d love to be able to quickly start a new chat with the same character from the three dot menu in the top right corner while I’m already in a chat (just saves a lot of steps). 

 9. It’d be great to be able to tap at a certain point in a chat (like the long press in 3.) and fork the conversation into a brand new chat at that particular point in the old chat.

 10. I would love for folders to be added to the character tab so I can organize characters better.

**Developer response:** Thanks for the thorough write-up, it is genuinely useful. We are tracking both problems you hit: reasoning/thinking content not being displayed for some models, and the OpenRouter upstream provider resetting to auto after switching models inside a chat. We have also noted the rest: reaching the message actions (the long-press target is too small), renaming chats, a persona picker when starting a chat, and a taller composer. Thanks for the 5 stars and for spelling it all out.

### 4/5 — Question

*2026-08-26*

Is there any way to edit replies that the bot sent?

### 5/5 — 牛的

*2026-08-25*

很好用的app，使我的迪克旋转

**Developer response:** 感谢支持！我们会继续修复问题并完善体验。

### 3/5 — Fix it please?

*2026-08-12*

The app is very good and excellent. But can you fix the glitch where when I goes to a chat and types something it freezes like the app always completely freezes and crashes when I try to type anything.

**Developer response:** Thanks for the report. Version 1.2.12 includes fixes for chat-screen lifecycle crashes and iOS rendering/interaction stability and is currently in App Store review. Please update when it becomes available. If typing still freezes, tell us your device and iOS version and whether the affected chat uses Live2D so we can isolate the remaining cause.

### 3/5 — 输出字数、文风等如何设置？

*2026-08-10*

如题。在里边找了一圈，也没有找到在哪里设置。并且不同的卡，应该可以设置不同的预设

**Developer response:** 输出长度可在“设置 → AI 配置 → 最大令牌数”中调整；文风可在“AI 配置 → AI 预设”选择或导入预设，也可以在角色编辑页的“系统提示”中为单个角色设置。AI 预设目前是全局配置，不会自动按角色切换；角色自己的系统提示会随角色保存。我们会继续优化这些入口的说明。

### 5/5 — Improvements you can make & stuff update

*2026-08-05*

I rated this 5 stars to make it the most noticeable to devs but I would make it four stars honestly but it has huge potential.

Clear messages: clear all messages doesn’t work at all however selecting and deleting an individual message does work so I’ll give you that.

View character: view character doesn’t work as well as when I tap on it when chatting to see character’s description while on the chatting interface it doesn’t work. 

Persona add tags and creator notes: when adding tags to ur persona or creator notes when you save it, it doesn’t work at all too. Also the advanced section and connection section, all those features on those two sections for the persona don’t work once you save the persona or update the persona.

Overall it’s a pretty good app for a SillyTavern alternative if ur too poor for a PC or just like or used to typing on phones but if you just fix these bugs it would make the app perfect(at least for me) Thank you.

**Developer response:** Thanks for the detailed report. We fixed Clear All Messages, View Character from chat, and persistence for persona tags, creator notes, Advanced settings, and Connections. These fixes are included in version 1.2.9, which has been submitted for App Store review.

### 5/5 — Improvements you can make & stuff update

*2026-07-09, version 1.2.1*

I rated this 5 stars to make it the most noticeable to devs but I would make it four stars honestly but it has huge potential.

Alt Greetings: alt greetings some reason doesn’t work, yes it works when creating your character in general but you can’t switch to alt greetings, you can edit the message and copy the alt greeting into there but you can’t use page flipping icon to switch alt greetings (if that’s what its used for) so hopefully we can fix that.

Clear messages: clear all messages doesn’t work at all however selecting and deleting an individual message does work so I’ll give you that.

View character: view character doesn’t work as well as when I tap on it when chatting to see character’s description while on the chatting interface it doesn’t work. 

Persona add tags and creator notes: when adding tags to ur persona or creator notes when you save it, it doesn’t work at all too. Also the advanced section and connection section, all those features on those two sections for the persona don’t work once you save the persona or update the persona.

Overall it’s a pretty good app for a SillyTavern alternative if ur too poor for a PC or just like or used to typing on phones but if you just fix these bugs it would make the app perfect(at least for me) Thank you.

## Frequently asked questions about NativeTavern

### What is NativeTavern?

NativeTavern is a native cross-platform mobile application that reimplements SillyTavern for AI roleplay. It allows users to import character cards and engage in unlimited chat with AI characters.

### How do I use NativeTavern?

To use NativeTavern, you need to bring your own official API keys for large AI models. You can then import character cards and configure your API settings to start chatting.

### Can I import character cards from other platforms?

Yes, NativeTavern supports importing character cards directly via URL from popular communities like chub.ai and aicharactercards.com. It also supports SillyTavern/TavernAI v1 and v2 specs in both PNG and JSON formats.

### Is my data safe with NativeTavern?

Yes, sensitive data is stored locally on your device for security, privacy, and speed. This ensures that your personal information and chat data are not stored on external servers.

### What AI models are supported by NativeTavern?

NativeTavern supports various official API keys for large models such as Deepseek, Qwen, Anthropic, Gemini, and more. You can choose the model that best fits your character's personality.

### Does NativeTavern have ads?

No, NativeTavern does not contain advertisements. The app is free to download and use without any ad interruptions.

### What devices is NativeTavern available on?

NativeTavern is available on iOS devices, including iPhone, iPad, and iPod. It is designed as a high-performance native application for these platforms.

### How often is NativeTavern updated?

The latest version of NativeTavern is 1.2, last updated on February 3, 2026. More features are currently in development, indicating ongoing support and updates.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 1.2.14 — 2026-09-26

NativeTavern 1.2.14

• Connection profiles no longer lose your API key: applying a profile saved without a key keeps the key you already use, and a key missing from the active configuration is restored on launch.
• Every sampling parameter can now be left out of a request. Uncheck it in Advanced sampler settings and it is omitted for all providers — this fixes endpoints such as xAI/Grok that reject presence_penalty.
• The capability check now reports MCP servers from their real state instead of always saying "not available in this build".
• Fixed imports of community character cards whose numeric fields are stored as strings, and fixed an author-note editor overflow on iOS.
• Fixed duplicate Moments posts and made the selected API key survive provider switches and restarts.

### 1.2.13 — 2026-08-26

NativeTavern 1.2.13

• Added a Play hub with Stories, Moments, character posts, and friend comments.
• Story chapters can now become playable lines with forks and comparisons, while memories stay isolated to the correct branch.
• Improved Live2D and Spine import, cloud-backup media, image creation, HTML card layout, comment preservation, and stability.

### 1.2.12 — 2026-08-19

NativeTavern 1.2.12

• Added Live2D import, preview, gestures, TTS lip sync, and more stable mobile rendering.
• Added Spine 4.1 .skel/.atlas/texture import and animation playback.
• Added long-term memory, Data Bank search, RPG scenarios, MCP servers, secure tool calling, and voice improvements.
• Improved localization, storage, and backup. Fixed iOS Retina clarity, tap animations, navigation crashes, RPG editor freezes, and database migrations.

### 1.2.9 — 2026-08-11

This update focuses on reliability and mobile workflow improvements:

• Fixed Clear All Messages, View Character, message editing, and multiline input.
• Fixed persona tags, creator notes, advanced settings, lorebooks, and character/chat bindings.
• Fixed alternate greetings and group chat creation.
• Improved SillyTavern PNG card import and iPad menus.
• Improved OpenRouter routing, custom API URLs, and error messages.
• Added working /imagine and /sd commands with saved image attachments.
• Fixed RAG collection loading, embedding setup, and related crashes.

### 1.2.8 — 2026-08-05

A major feature update:

• Voice: speech input and text-to-speech with per-character voices (ElevenLabs, Azure, Volcengine and more)
• Reasoning models: DeepSeek R1-style thinking auto-collapses; new Reasoning Effort control for Claude/Gemini
• Claude Prompt Caching — dramatically cut input token costs
• Connection Profiles: save and switch between API setups with one tap
• Alternate greetings: swipe through a card's opening variants; new swipe manager to browse and delete reply variants
• Impersonate: let AI draft your next reply; "Start Reply With" steers how responses begin
• Per-chat lorebooks
• New providers: Kimi (Moonshot), GLM (Z.AI), MiniMax, SiliconFlow; image generation with free Pollinations and more
• Macros 2.0: conditional blocks and variable operators — much better community card compatibility
• Background gallery folders; RAG knowledge base (bring your own embeddings)
• Fixes: world info import preserves all entry behaviors; cancelling generation stops the request immediately

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## More apps by 威 周

- [VRDancer](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/vrdancer/id1659249336)

All apps by 威 周: https://appshunter.io/developer/1392984149

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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 2026-09-27.*