# Reins: for Ollama & LM Studio — Private, Local AI Chat

> Mobile chat interface for self-hosted Ollama large language models. (iPhone/iPad app by Ibrahim Cetin.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/reins-for-ollama-and-lm-studio/id6739738501 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Ibrahim Cetin](https://appshunter.io/developer/1721708111)
- Category: Developer Tools, Productivity
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Rating: 4.50/5 from 269 App Store ratings · 108 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 17.0 · 40 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2025-01-02
- Data updated: 2026-08-29
- Monetization: free
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/reins-for-ollama-and-lm-studio/id6739738501/reviews.md

## What is Reins?

Take the Reins of your AI.

Reins connects to your Ollama, LM Studio or any OpenAI-compatible server and brings powerful AI models like Llama, Gemma, Qwen and more to your iPhone and iPad — with tools, web search, and full control over every conversation. No login. No data collection.

PRIVATE BY DESIGN
No login. No account. No data collection. Every chat stays yours.

TOOLS & WEB SEARCH
Go beyond chat. Reins gives models the ability to search the web, fetch pages, calculate and reason across multiple steps — no API key required for web search.

FULL MODEL CONTROL
Download, switch and manage your models directly from the app. Connect multiple servers, configure API keys and custom headers and switch between them instantly. Access Ollama Cloud when you need it.

POWERFUL CHAT
Attach images, PDFs, CSVs and text files to any conversation. Enable thinking mode for deeper reasoning when you need it. Branch chats to explore different paths without losing your original thread. Never lose a cut-off response, pick up exactly where it stopped. Export or back up your conversations anytime.

FINE-GRAINED CONTROL
Set a different system prompt for every conversation. Dial in temperature, context size, max tokens and more for precise control over model behavior.

BACKGROUND PROCESSING
No need to wait around for complex reasoning or long responses. Switch apps or lock your screen and Reins keeps generating in the background. Come back and it'll be waiting for you. (Requires iOS or iPadOS 26.0+)

Reins requires an Ollama, LM Studio or OpenAI-compatible server. Self-hosted or Ollama Cloud both work.

Privacy Policy: https://getreins.app/privacy
Terms of Use: https://getreins.app/terms

## Key features

- Remote Ollama server access
- Per-chat system prompts
- Prompt editing and regeneration
- Image integration in chats
- Advanced model parameter configuration
- Model selection and creation
- Multiple chat management

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**Subscriptions**

| Subscription | Price | Period |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Monthly | $6.99 | per month |
| Yearly | $39.99 | per year |

**One-time purchases**

| Purchase | Price | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Lifetime | $99.99 | one-time |


## Chart rankings

- #64 in Top Free · Developer Tools (US App Store)
- #15 in Top Grossing · Developer Tools (US App Store)

## What do users think of Reins?

Overall sentiment: positive

**Pros**

- 👍 Simple and easy to use
- 🚀 Fast and efficient performance
- ✨ Clean and intuitive interface
- 🔒 Privacy and local-first approach
- 💻 Great for local LLM interaction
- 📱 Seamless mobile experience
- 🌟 Well-implemented and functional
- 💡 Supports image input
- 💯 Highly recommended

**Cons**

- 🐛 Scrolling issues
- 📉 Table display is scrunched on mobile
- 🔌 Connection doesn't maintain in background
- 🚫 Lacks advanced parameters
- 🌐 No web search integration
- 💻 UI takes up too much space on tablets
- 🤔 Difficult to connect to non-local servers
- 🔋 Drains battery on long chats
- 🚫 Can't connect to cloud LLMs
- 🚫 Doesn't work with Ollama turbo
- 🚫 Requires server setup

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Scrolling jumping around
- Table display scrunched on mobile
- Connection does not maintain in background
- UI takes up too much space on tablets (vertical)
- Cannot save system prompt
- Cannot drop all chats
- Cannot view billion parameters
- Drains battery on iPhone 15 pro with long chats
- No longer works with cloud LLMs
- Does not work with Ollama turbo
- Stops responding to user input after a while
- Connecting to many domains on local network (privacy concern?)

**Most requested features**

- Add .txt file support
- Allow disabling 'Thinking' phase
- Integrate MCP server support
- Add web search API
- Support for text and PDF file uploads
- Centralized chat sync (iCloud, NAS)
- Ability to delete chats
- Set default model
- Add custom cloud names (like OpenWebUI)
- Support for API key authentication
- Add Realtime, Speech to Text, and Text to Speech features
- Allow LLMs to search the internet
- Support for OpenAI API endpoints
- Display math formulas and complex text better
- Add text size selection/font options
- Add accessibility settings (font size)
- Support for embedding features (code windows with copy)
- Better error reporting
- Add API key for Ollama or custom headers
- Show Tokens/s metric
- Dynamically resizable text output
- Ability to create prompts and custom modelfiles
- File attachment feature (text, PDF, docs)
- Access to camera
- Voice to text input

## Recent user reviews (10 of 108)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/reins-for-ollama-and-lm-studio/id6739738501/reviews.md

### 1/5 — Useless

*2026-08-16, version 2.2.0*

This app used to be fun, but now they’ve locked out basic functionality behind a subscription, even for running models on my own hardware. The whole point of edge/local AI is to avoid subscription lock-in, they’ve completely lost the thread here. Straight into the bin.

### 1/5 — Can’t even add API key to test local server

*2026-08-13, version 2.1.0*

So just to test this app with my local server that has an API key on it and is used by many other apps, I am forced to trial.  Not even a one server local only limit.  Only no-trial option is to open my stuff up?  Nope.  Removed.  Was good, now not.

### 4/5 — Great

*2026-07-30*

Reins is, hands down, a very good app. It looks amazing and I really like using it with my local setup. 

What is lacking is Family Sharing. I will not pay 4 x the subscription to allow everyone in the family to use our own local LLM. 

Down the road it would be interesting to also support mlx inferenz servers, given that we are in Apple land here.

### 2/5 — Only for pro

*2026-07-26, version 2.0.3*

Description says it connects to what ever servers you want and it allows to use.. some how I doesn’t see that it only does that if you subscribe to the pro version. So no you don’t pay fees for the LLM , you just have to pay it to the app instead… don’t see that as a savings

### 2/5 — Used to be decent, now charges a subscription (or $100) to use basic model features on local hosts

*2026-07-17, version 2.0.2*

Thinking and tool use are basic features provided by the already running ollama server. I get gating some features, like search API features, or things that require your custom MCP server, but gating basic model features like thinking, image input support, or simple things like a server list, model parameters, and other things that the users are already getting just by running ollama is just kind of... clownish

i could see paying $10 or so for some of those features. one time. the more premium lifetime access for the search feature and custom tools and whatever also makes sense, but a subscription fee for features that were already freely available before makes me sad. i could just pay $20 for for claude credits to deploy openwebui with a self update script or something and use that in safari at that point 😭

### 1/5 — Subscription walled

*2026-07-13, version 2.0.2*

When I first got the app it seemed to have decent functionality but now every basic feature is behind a subscription wall. Use something else.

### 1/5 — Subscription not worth it

*2026-07-10, version 2.0.1*

Tool calls do not work

### 3/5 — Good and bad

*2026-06-30, version 2.0.0*

It’s good because it’s like ChatGPT, but it’s bad because when I try to use gemma4:e2b it doesn’t show the reasoning output but now it’s a subscription service the reason I use this is cus not money I need to spend but now

### 1/5 — Loved it as FOSS, useless now

*2026-06-28, version 2.0.0*

Paywalling everything after stopping the code releases is the fastest way to lose goodwill. I would have even considered paying pro if the code was still open. I had it on both my Linux workstations and phone. What was one of my preferred apps is now on my uninstall list. with the downgrade to a subscription model, I’ll be on the look for a new app. A shame as it was one of the best LLM client apps.

### 5/5 — Great

*2026-06-15, version 1.3.4*

Simple to use, and works

## Frequently asked questions about Reins

### What does Reins do?

Reins is a mobile application designed to provide a user-friendly interface for interacting with self-hosted large language models (LLMs) running on Ollama. It enables remote access to your Ollama server, allowing you to chat with your models, manage conversations, and fine-tune parameters from your mobile device.

### What are the key features of Reins?

Key features include remote connection to self-hosted Ollama servers, per-chat system prompt customization, prompt editing and regeneration, image integration for richer conversations, advanced model parameter adjustments (like temperature and context size), model selection and creation from prompts, and efficient management of multiple chat sessions.

### Is Reins free to use?

Based on the provided information, Reins is a free application. It does not have in-app purchases or advertisements, indicating a completely free user experience for its core functionality.

### What is required to use Reins?

To use Reins, you must have an active connection to a self-hosted Ollama Server. The application itself acts as a client to interact with your existing LLM setup, meaning you need to have Ollama installed and running on a server that your mobile device can connect to.

### Who is the target audience for Reins?

Reins is primarily targeted at LLM researchers, developers, and hobbyists who are using self-hosted Ollama models. It's for individuals who want convenient mobile access to their private AI models for experimentation, development, or casual interaction on the go.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 2.2.1 — 2026-08-27

LM Studio and OpenAI-compatible server support are here, along with a much better web tool and a lot of improvements.
• LM Studio support: Connect the same way you connect to Ollama. Model capabilities, loaded instances, downloads with live progress.
• OpenAI-compatible backend: Connect to any server that speaks the OpenAI API, like oMLX, llama.cpp, vLLM and more.
• Smarter web tool: Targets what you actually asked for. More focused answers, up to 90% less context used. Now works on sites that used to fail.
• Default chat configuration: Set a default system prompt and generation options once. Every new chat starts there.
• Background downloads: Model pulls keep running when you leave the app with live progress. (Requires iOS/iPadOS 26+)
• Load models: Load an installed model right from the Manage Models page with custom context size support for LM Studio.
• Select multiple files and images at once, plus a fix for files incorrectly shown as unsupported.
• Compose Mail tool on macOS: No longer iOS-only.
• Send feedback from the app: New Support section in Settings.
• Bug fixes and improvements.

### 2.2.0 — 2026-08-16

LM Studio and OpenAI-compatible server support are here, along with a much better web tool and a lot of improvements.
• LM Studio support: Connect the same way you connect to Ollama. Model capabilities, loaded instances, downloads with live progress.
• OpenAI-compatible backend: Connect to any server that speaks the OpenAI API, like oMLX, llama.cpp, vLLM and more.
• Smarter web tool: Targets what you actually asked for. More focused answers, up to 90% less context used. Now works on sites that used to fail.
• Default chat configuration: Set a default system prompt and generation options once. Every new chat starts there.
• Background downloads: Model pulls keep running when you leave the app with live progress. (Requires iOS/iPadOS 26+)
• Load models: Load an installed model right from the Manage Models page with custom context size support for LM Studio.
• Compose Mail tool on macOS: No longer iOS-only.
• Send feedback from the app: New Support section in Settings.
• Bug fixes and improvements.

### 2.1.0 — 2026-08-10

LM Studio support is here, along with a much better web tool and a lot of improvements.
• LM Studio support: Connect the same way you connect to Ollama. Model capabilities, loaded instances, downloads with live progress.
• Smarter web tool: Targets what you actually asked for. More focused answers, up to 90% less context used. Also fixed on sites that previously failed.
• Default chat configuration: Set a default system prompt and generation options once. Every new chat starts there.
• Background downloads: Model pulls keep running when you leave the app with live progress. (Requires iOS/iPadOS 26+)
• Compose Mail tool on macOS: No longer iOS-only.
• Send feedback from the app: New Support section in Settings.
• Bug fixes and improvements.

### 2.0.3 — 2026-07-21

This update contains great improvements and minor bug fixes:
- Background Generation: Reins now generates responses in the background on iOS/iPadOS 26.0+, so you don't have to keep the app open while waiting.
- Improved System Prompt Context: Add current time or force a web_fetch after web_search (under System Prompt Context in Settings, disabled by default).
- Better Code Blocks: Syntax highlighting and a floating copy button for code.
- Docker Model Runner Support: Use DMR models via the Ollama-compatible endpoint.
- Fixed an issue where the Download Models section wouldn't show any models.
- General improvements and bug fixes.

### 2.0.2 — 2026-07-13

This update contains great improvements and minor bug fixes:
- Background Processing: Reins now generates responses in the background on iOS/iPadOS 26.0+, so you don't have to keep the app open while waiting.
- Better Code Blocks: Syntax highlighting and a floating copy button for code.
- Docker Model Runner Support: Use DMR models via the Ollama-compatible endpoint.
- Improved Web Search: New toggle to force full page fetches (under System Prompt Context in Settings, disabled by default). Search results expanded to 5.
- General improvements and bug fixes.

## Related topics

[ollama](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/ollama) · [enchanted ollama](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/enchanted-ollama) · [enchanted ai](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/enchanted-ai) · [ollama client](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/ollama-client) · [ollama ai](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/ollama-ai) · [local llm for ollama](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/local-llm-for-ollama) · [mlc chat](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/mlc-chat) · [enchanted](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/enchanted) · [enchanted llm](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/enchanted-llm) · [llmconnect](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/llmconnect) · [open webui](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/open-webui) · [llm client](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/llm-client) · [local llm](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/local-llm)

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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 2026-08-29.*