# MLC Chat vs PocketPal AI

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: MLC Chat at none against PocketPal AI's 10. PocketPal AI's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 2 months) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. PocketPal AI sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. MLC Chat asks for nothing beyond the download.

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.2 for MLC Chat against 4.1 for PocketPal AI. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 84 and 164 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 68% and 68% positive.

MLC Chat ships an update every 2 months, PocketPal AI every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | MLC Chat | PocketPal AI |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.2 (84 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/mlc-chat/id6448482937/reviews)** | [4.1 (164 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pocketpal-ai/id6502579498/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | 84 | **164** |
| Positive reviews | **68.3% of reviews** | 67.8% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | **No** | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | **Every 2 weeks** |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Size | 1.7 GB | 88 MB |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | **15.1** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | **iPhone, iPad, iPod** |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | [Tianqi Chen](https://appshunter.io/developer/1684828246) | [Gooya UG (haftungsbeschraenkt)](https://appshunter.io/developer/1518580285) |

## What reviewers say

### MLC Chat

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/mlc-chat/id6448482937)

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:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

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

**What reviewers complain about**

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

**Reported bugs**

- 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

**Requested features**

- 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


### PocketPal AI

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pocketpal-ai/id6502579498)

Engage in secure, private conversations with advanced AI models directly on your device. This app enables offline AI interactions, ensuring your data never leaves your device. Discover and download AI models from Hugging Face for a personalized experience.

**Highlights:** Offline AI Chatting, Secure and Private Conversations, Hugging Face Model Integration, Downloadable GGUF Models, Local Data Processing

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (10)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| CyberSec Mentor | $0.99 | one-time |
| Social Caption Builder | $0.99 | one-time |
| Romance Companion | $1.99 | one-time |
| Roleplay Companion | $1.99 | one-time |
| Code Companion | $1.99 | one-time |
| SketchPal | $2.99 | one-time |
| PocketPal Plus | $3.99 | one-time |
| PocketPal Plus | $8.99 | one-time |
| PocketPal Plus | $22.99 | one-time |
| PocketPal Plus | $44.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 🎨 Beautiful and clean UI/UX design
- 🤖 Extensive model support from Hugging Face
- 🔒 Privacy-focused offline functionality
- 💰 Completely free with no monetization
- ⚙️ Highly customizable model settings

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Frequent crashes on various iOS versions
- 📵 Models fail to load after downloading
- ❌ Markdown and LaTeX rendering not supported
- ⚠️ Context limit causes chat interruptions
- 🔌 Stability issues after recent updates

**Reported bugs**

- App crashes on launch or during model loading
- Models download but fail to load
- App crashes on iPadOS 26.4 and iOS 17.2
- Freezing and artifacts with large models
- Chat session doesn't persist when switching apps

**Requested features**

- iOS Shortcuts integration support
- Markdown and LaTeX rendering in chat display
- Increase n_predict token limit beyond 4096
- macOS version release
- Native iPad-optimized interface


## Frequently asked questions

### Is MLC Chat free?

MLC Chat is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Is PocketPal AI free?

PocketPal AI is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, MLC Chat or PocketPal AI?

MLC Chat is rated higher. MLC Chat averages 4.2 out of 5 from 84 ratings, while PocketPal AI averages 4.1 from 164 ratings.

### Do MLC Chat or PocketPal AI have ads?

Neither MLC Chat nor PocketPal AI shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, MLC Chat or PocketPal AI?

MLC Chat ships an update every 2 months, and PocketPal AI every 2 weeks. Most recently, MLC Chat was updated on October 24, 2026 and PocketPal AI on October 25, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*