Comparison

MLC Chat vs Enclave

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

MLC Chat

Engage in conversations with open language models directly on your iPad or iPhone. Once a model is downloaded, all interactions occur locally, ensuring privacy and offline functionality without internet access. This app is designed for non-commercial use, allowing you to run various open-source language models on your device.

Highlights
  • Local AI model chat
  • Offline functionality
  • No internet required
  • Privacy-focused
  • Open-source project integration
  • Downloadable language models
Features
Read full description

MLC Chat lets users chat with open language models locally on ipads and iphones. After a model is downloaded to the app, everything runs locally without server support, and it works without internet connections do not record any information. Because the models run locally, it only works for the devices with sufficient VRAM depending on the models being used. MLC Chat is part of open source project MLC LLM, with allows any language model to be deployed natively on a diverse set of hardware backends and native applications. MLC Chat is a runtime that runs different open model architectures on your phone. The app is intended for non-commercial purposes. It allows you to run open-language models downloaded from the internet. Each model can be subject to its respective licenses.

About

Enclave

This app provides a private AI assistant that runs entirely on your device, allowing you to chat with various open-source models offline. It offers features like voice chat, iMessage integration, and document analysis, with an optional subscription for cloud-based models.

Highlights
  • Runs hundreds of open-source AI models locally
  • Offline chat and voice conversations
  • iMessage extension for private message drafting
  • Chat with documents (PDFs, text, images)
  • Create custom AI assistants
  • Integrates with Siri and Shortcuts
Features
Read full description

Enclave AI is a local AI assistant that runs entirely on your iPhone. Try hundreds of open-source models and chat offline — no account, no cloud, no data collection. Your conversations never leave your device. Unlike cloud-based AI apps, Enclave processes everything locally using your device's hardware. No internet connection needed. No servers reading your chats. Just you and your AI, completely private. Run Popular AI Models On-Device: - Meta Llama - DeepSeek - Google Gemma - Qwen by Alibaba - Microsoft Phi - Mistral - SmolLM, and more Download the models you want and switch between them freely. Optional Cloud AI with Pro: Subscribe to Pro for access to the latest cloud models from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI, and more. No API keys to manage — just pick a model and start chatting. Cloud conversations are not stored on our servers. Voice Chat: Have natural voice conversations with your AI assistant. Speech recognition and text-to-speech run on-device using Apple's built-in speech technology. Works fully offline with local models. Chat with Documents: Attach PDFs, text files, images, and source code to your conversations. Ask questions, get summaries, and extract key information — all processed locally on your device. Custom Assistants: Create personalized AI assistants with custom instructions for any task — writing, coding, brainstorming, grammar, planning, translation, and more. Each keeps its own conversation history. Web Search: Get answers grounded in live web results when using cloud models. Enclave connects your AI to current information when you need it. Siri and Shortcuts: Integrate Enclave into your daily workflows with Apple Shortcuts. Ask questions, choose your model, and get instant answers — hands-free with Siri. More to Love: - Syntax-highlighted code blocks and full Markdown rendering - Reasoning display for thinking models like DeepSeek R1 - Fine-tune responses with temperature, context window, and seed controls - Conversation history saved locally as simple files you control - Optimized for iPhone with platform-tuned model libraries Built for Privacy: - No account required to use local AI - No tracking or telemetry on your conversations - All chat history stored locally on your device - No third-party analytics on your content - Anonymous by design Enclave is built by an independent developer, not a corporation. Your data is not the business model — your trust is. Terms of service: https://enclaveai.app/terms-and-conditions/ Privacy policy: https://enclaveai.app/privacy-policy/

Screenshots

MLC Chat2 screens
Enclave4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: MLC Chat at none against Enclave's 4. MLC Chat also leads on iOS requirement (17.0 vs 27.0). Enclave's advantage is rating (4.7 vs 4.2) and update cadence (every 11 days vs every 2 months). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Enclave sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. MLC Chat asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Enclave holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Enclave has 1.1K ratings behind it against 78, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 68% of MLC Chat's written reviews are positive against 80% of Enclave's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

MLC Chat ships an update every 2 months, Enclave every 11 days. The most recent releases landed on August 19, 2026 and September 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
MLC Chat versus Enclave: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMLC ChatEnclave
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (78 ratings)4.7 (1.1K ratings) — better
Positive reviews68.3% of reviews79.5% of reviews — better
Number of ratings781.1K — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 11 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS17.0 — better27.0
Further details — not scored
Size1.7 GB714 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperTianqi ChenPiotr Gorzelany

Customer experience

MLC Chat

All ratings78 ratings
Positive83.3%
Neutral3.8%
Negative12.8%
Written reviews63 reviews
Positive68.3%
Neutral12.7%
Negative19.0%

Enclave

All ratings1,064 ratings
Positive93.2%
Neutral2.8%
Negative3.9%
Written reviews288 reviews
Positive79.5%
Neutral6.3%
Negative14.2%

User reviews

MLC Chat

From 78 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Runs fast locally
  • ✅ Works offline
  • 💰 Free to use
  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 💡 Supports various LLM models

Room to improve

  • ⚠️ Limited model selection
  • 📉 High VRAM requirements
  • 📱 Incompatible with older devices
  • ❌ Crashes on some devices/models
  • 🗄️ Cannot save conversations

Enclave

From 1.1K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Runs flawlessly locally
  • 🔒 Offline and private AI
  • 👍 Simple and easy to use
  • 👍 Seamless Shortcuts integration
  • 🚀 Optimized for low storage usage

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes or errors
  • 🐛 Voice chat and file attachment issues
  • 🐛 Compatibility problems with older devices
  • 🐛 Markdown rendering bugs
  • 🐛 Inability to delete downloaded models

Bugs and requests

MLC Chat

Reported bugs

17 issues
  • Phi model crashes on iOS 26.0.1 17 Pro Max
  • App crashes on iPad Pro 4th Gen, iPadOs 17.7
  • RedPajama model crashes app on initialization
  • Update is extremely slow
  • Download model button disabled in new version
Show 12 more
  • RedPajama model crashes, custom model download removed
  • App closes when hitting send on iPhone 13
  • Conversation resets when app is backgrounded
  • Vicuna and Mistral 7B models cause crashes
  • Some 7b q4f16/q4f32 models crash on iPhone 15 Pro
  • App crashes on iPhone 13 mini
  • Cannot load other models from URL
  • Crash on iPhone 12
  • Severe heating and frequency reduction on A15
  • Low VRAM failed initialization on 3GB LP DDR4X phone
  • Cannot run 4bit model on iPhone 15 with 8GB RAM
  • Loading models from HF MLC official Repo causes crashes

Requested features

14 requests
  • Ability to import custom models (from URL/Hugging Face)
  • Support for more specific models (DeepSeek, Phi-2, Gemma 2B/7B, MoE Mixtral 8x7B, LLaVA)
  • History of conversations
  • iOS shortcuts support
  • Ability to export entire responses
Show 9 more
  • Information on VRAM requirements per phone/model
  • Ability to change system message/create custom profiles
  • Ability to edit responses and system prompt
  • Add coffee support
  • Delete downloaded models
  • Change settings per model (repetition penalties, temperature)
  • How-to guide for importing/recompiling LLMs
  • Estimate model compatibility before download
  • Support for CN and ZH languages

Enclave

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Initialization errors on some devices
  • Gemma 3n model not working properly
  • Inability to download certain models
  • Shortcut integration issues with long prompts

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add ability to delete chat history
  • Implement iCloud sync for chat history
  • Support for more advanced LLM models
  • Improve voice recognition and text-to-speech
  • Add web search functionality
Show 1 more
  • Allow custom model links and self-hosted models

In-app purchases

None

MLC Chat

No in-app purchases

4 purchases

Enclave

Subscriptions1
  • Pro$9.991 Month
One-time3
  • Pixel Pledge$0.99
  • Caffeine Charge$5.99
  • Mega Boost$9.99

Questions

Is MLC Chat free?
MLC Chat is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Enclave free?
Enclave is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, MLC Chat or Enclave?
Enclave is rated higher. MLC Chat averages 4.2 out of 5 from 78 ratings, while Enclave averages 4.7 from 1.1K ratings.
Do MLC Chat or Enclave have ads?
Neither MLC Chat nor Enclave shows ads.
Which is updated more often, MLC Chat or Enclave?
MLC Chat ships an update every 2 months, and Enclave every 11 days. Most recently, MLC Chat was updated on August 19, 2026 and Enclave on September 20, 2026.

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