# MLC Chat vs Local AI Chat

The clearest difference is rating: Local AI Chat at 5.0 against MLC Chat's 4.2. Local AI Chat also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 68%). MLC Chat's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5) and ratings volume (83 vs 2). On price, update cadence, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Local AI Chat sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. MLC Chat asks for nothing beyond the download.

Local AI Chat holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: MLC Chat has 83 ratings behind it against 2, 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 100% of Local AI Chat's.

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | MLC Chat | Local AI Chat |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [4.2 (83 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/mlc-chat/id6448482937/reviews) | **[5.0 (2 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/local-ai-chat-smartfruit/id6751060299/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | **83** | 2 |
| Positive reviews | 68.3% of reviews | **100.0% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | **No** | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 months |
| Monetization | **Free** | Free with in-app purchases |
| Size | 1.7 GB | 7 MB |
| Requires iOS | **17.0** | 26.0 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | 17+ | 12+ |
| Developer | [Tianqi Chen](https://appshunter.io/developer/1684828246) | [Roy Schulz](https://appshunter.io/developer/1551353831) |

## 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


### Local AI Chat

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/local-ai-chat-smartfruit/id6751060299)

This app offers a private, offline AI chatbot experience using on-device language models. It supports various text generation tasks and provides code examples for developers. Chats can be archived after a one-time purchase.

**Highlights:** Offline AI chat, On-device language model, Text generation tasks, Developer code examples, Chat archiving, Privacy protection

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

**In-app purchases (5)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Unlock Archive | $0.99 | one-time |
| Archive + Tip | $1.99 | one-time |
| Archive + More Tip | $3.99 | one-time |
| Archive + Major Tip | $5.99 | one-time |
| Archive + Premium Tip | $9.99 | one-time |


## Frequently asked questions

### Is MLC Chat free?

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

### Is Local AI Chat free?

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

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

Local AI Chat is rated higher. MLC Chat averages 4.2 out of 5 from 83 ratings, while Local AI Chat averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.

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

Neither MLC Chat nor Local AI Chat shows ads.

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

MLC Chat ships an update every 2 months, and Local AI Chat every 2 months. Most recently, MLC Chat was updated on November 3, 2026 and Local AI Chat on October 30, 2026.

---

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