MLC Chat vs Sleeveworks
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Local AI model chat
- Offline functionality
- No internet required
- Privacy-focused
- Open-source project integration
- Downloadable language models
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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.
Sleeveworks
Engage in private AI conversations with distinct personalities running directly on your device. Choose from a variety of characters, interact via voice or text, and maintain local conversation history without internet access or tracking.
- On-device AI processing
- Multiple AI personalities
- Voice and text interaction
- Offline conversation support
- Local conversation history
- Customizable themes
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Sleeveworks is private AI with a point of view. Choose a personality, type or talk, and keep the conversation close. Its language model runs directly on your iPhone instead of sending every thought to a cloud AI service. MEET THE CAST Start with Companion, Gremlin, Pengo, Shekky, and Sage. Browse every character, read sample replies, and hear their on-device voice before choosing. Expand your cast with one-time personality unlocks, including Atlas the accountability coach, Bea the warm Southern grandmother, Quill the theatrical bard, Specter the gothic storyteller, and more. Each personality brings a distinct voice, attitude, and way of seeing the conversation. VOICE THAT FEELS LIKE CONVERSATION Tap Talk, speak naturally, and hear Sleeveworks answer. After a reply, the microphone can reopen automatically so the conversation keeps moving. When parallel capture is available, Sleeveworks can continue listening while it responds and place longer interjections in Up Next instead of derailing the current answer. Interrupt at any time when you want to take the floor. PRIVATE BY DESIGN After the one-time model download, core conversations are processed on your iPhone and can work without an internet connection. No account. No advertising. No tracking or analytics. No API key. Optional Wikipedia lookup is off by default and only connects when you enable it. MADE FOR REAL CONVERSATIONS - Keep local conversation history and context - Choose an on-device model suited to your iPhone - Switch personalities without changing apps - Preview character voices before choosing - Type while a response is still being generated - Stop a response without clearing the conversation - Choose between Paperwhite and system themes - Continue chatting after the model is downloaded, even offline Sleeveworks puts the model, the conversation, and the cast directly on your iPhone. Some personalities require a one-time in-app purchase. Initial setup requires an internet connection and sufficient storage to download an on-device language model. Model availability and performance vary by device.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Sleeveworks at 5.0 against MLC Chat's 4.2. Sleeveworks also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs every 2 months). MLC Chat's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 10) and ratings volume (78 vs 1). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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
Both are free to download. Sleeveworks sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. MLC Chat asks for nothing beyond the download.
Sleeveworks holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: MLC Chat has 78 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
MLC Chat ships an update every 2 months, Sleeveworks every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | MLC Chat | Sleeveworks |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (78 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 68.3% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 78 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1.7 GB | 418 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Tianqi Chen | Jayson Hawley |
Customer experience
MLC Chat
Sleeveworks
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
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- 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
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- 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
Sleeveworks
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
MLC Chat
No in-app purchases
Sleeveworks
- Atlas$1.99
- Stella$1.99
- Quill$1.99
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- Vance$1.99
- Doc Hertz$1.99
- Pixel$1.99
- Bea$1.99
- Brio$1.99
- Sterling$1.99
- Specter$1.99









