Comparison

MLC Chat vs Tap Access

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

Tap Access

Features
Read full description

Tap Access puts the things you need most just one tap away. Save text, links, photos, or PDFs to a simple grid of buttons and pull them up instantly — no searching, no scrolling. Whether it's a door code, your hotel room number, a travel website, an important PDF, or a favorite photo to show off, Tap Access keeps it at your fingertips. Just save it and tap it. Built for the things you always need in a hurry Stop digging through your notes app or scrolling back through messages. Save the door code to your building, your parking spot, your room number, an important PDF, or a photo — and tap to bring it up the moment you need it. Full-screen photos and PDFs Tap any photo or PDF to open it full screen with full pinch-to-zoom, so you can read the fine print or show off the details. PDFs support multiple pages — swipe through the whole document right inside the app, no separate viewer needed. Works completely offline Everything you save lives directly on your device, so there's no internet connection required. Your tap buttons are always available — on the subway, in a parking garage, on a plane, up in the mountains, or anytime your phone service is bad. Your data stays with you Tap Access does not collect, transmit, or share anything you enter. Your text, links, photos, and PDFs are stored locally and are never seen or accessed by the developer or any third party. What you save stays with you — period.

Screenshots

MLC Chat2 screens
Tap Access4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: MLC Chat at none against Tap Access's 2. Tap Access's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs every 2 months) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). 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. Tap Access sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. MLC Chat asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

MLC Chat ships an update every 2 months, Tap Access every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and October 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
MLC Chat versus Tap Access: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMLC ChatTap Access
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (78 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews68.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings78 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size1.7 GB85 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperTianqi ChenColloquial Ltd.

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

Tap Access

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

MLC Chat

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Tap Access

One-time2
  • Premium$2.99
  • Professional$4.99

Questions

Is MLC Chat free?
MLC Chat is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Tap Access free?
Tap Access is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do MLC Chat or Tap Access have ads?
Neither MLC Chat nor Tap Access shows ads.
Which is updated more often, MLC Chat or Tap Access?
MLC Chat ships an update every 2 months, and Tap Access every 2 days. Most recently, MLC Chat was updated on October 6, 2026 and Tap Access on October 2, 2026.

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