# Valdis — Local AI companion

> Local AI companion (iPhone/iPad app by Alexander Vlasov.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/valdis/id6757744130 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Alexander Vlasov](https://appshunter.io/developer/1868628304)
- Category: Productivity, Utilities
- Price: Free
- Age rating: 12+
- Requires: iOS 18.0 · 82 MB
- Languages: English
- Released: 2026-01-29
- Data updated: 2026-06-29
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/valdis/id6757744130/reviews.md

## What is Valdis?

Valdis is an AI companion that keeps one conversation going across your Mac and iPhone — at home, on a walk, and offline.
Valdis is built natively for macOS and iOS — no Electron, no fake web UI.

At home, chat in text or voice — with your Mac doing the heavy lifting (local Ollama by default, with LM Studio as a local-first alternative).

You can also send images in chat — pick from Photos, the camera, files, or paste/drag-and-drop. Valdis passes images to supported multimodal models so you can ask about what you see.

When you step outside, switch to Walk & Talk for hands-free voice.
On a plane or without internet, use Apple’s on-device model (Foundation Models) on supported Apple Intelligence devices.
Back online, switch back to your Mac — or to a cloud provider you choose — and keep going without resetting.

WALK & TALK (HANDS-FREE VOICE)

- Real-time voice chat with on-device speech-to-text (WhisperKit)
- Spoken replies (hands-free)
- A 3D avatar with lip-sync and animations (RealityKit)

CONTINUITY THAT DOESN’T RESET

Keep the same conversation going across iPhone and Mac, so you don’t have to repeat yourself.

APPLE ON-DEVICE (FOUNDATION MODELS)

When Apple Intelligence is available, Valdis can use Apple’s on-device model for fast, private replies — even offline.
Requires Apple Intelligence to be enabled in Settings.

MAC-POWERED INFERENCE

Run bigger models on your Mac and talk to them from your iPhone:
- macOS runs local Ollama by default (LM Studio is also supported!)
- Vision models are supported (so you can send images) when the selected provider/model supports it
- Your iPhone can use your Mac for inference while you’re out

REAL-TIME iPHONE ↔ MAC SYNC

Keep your conversation in sync between iPhone and Mac when your iPhone is using your Mac as the provider:
- Your Mac app hosts the server your iPhone connects to
- Works over local network, VPN, or Tailscale

LOCAL FIRST

- No Valdis cloud: Valdis doesn’t have its own servers — sync happens only between your devices when you use your Mac as the provider.
- Your Mac app can act as your backend (and sync host) when your iPhone uses it as the provider.
- Cloud providers are opt-in and used for inference only.
- Zero telemetry: no analytics, no crash reporting.


## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 1.8.1 — 2026-06-21

Reorganized setup settings.

### 1.7.7 — 2026-04-28

- Restored attachments affected by the previous storage migration.
- Smoothed out TTSKit on iOS and generally cleaned up the TTS flow, so playback, stopping, and transitions between speech input and spoken responses are now more reliable.

### 1.7.0 — 2026-03-23

Added a new on-device `TTSKit` text-to-speech provider with downloadable models and more natural, richer voices alongside Apple system voices.

### 1.6.0 — 2026-03-19

Location-aware nearby suggestions. Ask what’s interesting nearby and get suggestions based on where you are, the current date and time.

### 1.5.0 — 2026-03-11

- Added "Use server inference settings" for remote chats (enabled by default).
- You can now choose whether responses in remote chats use model/LLM settings from the server (macOS) or from the client app.
- Added "Global System Prompt" in settings.
- In remote chats, if "Use server inference settings" is enabled, responses use the system prompt from the server.
- Improved reliability of resume flow and model-selection validation when using client-owned settings.
- Fixed iOS composer layout.

## Apps similar to Valdis

| App | Rating | Price | Category |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Stellar Flow: Focus Timer](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/stellar-flow-focus-timer/id6757545517) | — | Free | Productivity |
| [UnProductive](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/unproductive/id6757299064) | — | $2.99 | Productivity |
| [PST Mail Viewer](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pst-mail-viewer/id6757521943) | 5.0 (4) | $7.99 | Productivity |
| [TagTags – Your Day, Tagged](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/tagtags-your-day-tagged/id6756974064) | — | Free | Productivity |
| [Toodolo](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/toodolo/id6758339834) | — | Free | Productivity |
| [Blast open source password mgr](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/blast-open-source-password-mgr/id6742346050) | — | Free | Productivity |

---

*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 2026-06-29.*