# MLC Chat vs Offline Base

The clearest difference is rating: Offline Base at 5.0 against MLC Chat's 4.2. Offline Base also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 68%) and update cadence (every 4 days vs every 2 months). MLC Chat's advantage is ratings volume (78 vs 1). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Offline Base 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. Written reviews point the same way: 68% of MLC Chat's written reviews are positive against 100% of Offline Base's.

MLC Chat ships an update every 2 months, Offline Base every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | MLC Chat | Offline Base |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [4.2 (78 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/mlc-chat/id6448482937/reviews) | **[5.0 (1 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/offline-base/id6802910658/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | **78** | 1 |
| Positive reviews | 68.3% of reviews | **100.0% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | **Every 4 days** |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Size | 1.7 GB | 29 MB |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad** | iPhone |
| Age rating | 17+ | 12+ |
| Developer | [Tianqi Chen](https://appshunter.io/developer/1684828246) | [Offline Base](https://appshunter.io/developer/6802910990) |

## 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


### Offline Base

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/offline-base/id6802910658)

This private AI assistant runs entirely on your iPhone, offering offline conversations and AI inference without cloud data transfer. It supports local chat, voice input, document attachments, and Markdown responses, keeping your data secure on your device.

**Highlights:** On-device AI inference, Offline conversations, Voice input, Document attachments, Markdown responses, Privacy-focused

**Features:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is MLC Chat free?

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

### Is Offline Base free?

Offline Base is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Which has better reviews, MLC Chat or Offline Base?

Offline Base is rated higher. MLC Chat averages 4.2 out of 5 from 78 ratings, while Offline Base averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.

### Do MLC Chat or Offline Base have ads?

Neither MLC Chat nor Offline Base shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, MLC Chat or Offline Base?

MLC Chat ships an update every 2 months, and Offline Base every 4 days. Most recently, MLC Chat was updated on October 14, 2026 and Offline Base on October 9, 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.*