Comparison

On‑Device AI vs Subtext

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

On‑Device AI

Transform your device into a private AI assistant for meetings and complex tasks. Features include speaker diarization, live transcription, and specialized subagents for research, analysis, and writing. Control your AI via messaging apps, with options for 100% offline processing or cloud connectivity.

Highlights
  • Speaker Diarization for meeting transcripts
  • Real-time live transcription
  • Natural AI speech generation
  • Deploy specialized AI subagents
  • AI-powered web browser automation
  • Control AI via messaging apps
  • 100% offline processing option
Features
Read full description

On-Device AI puts chat, listening, transcription, notes, and research in one private app for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro. Your data stays on your device. Download a model once and keep working on a plane, on the subway, or without a signal. Chats, documents, recordings, and notes stay on your device. Online providers and web features are optional and work only after you enable them. ONE APP, YOUR WAY Open every workspace from a customizable Menu. Keep favorites under Pinned and everything else close by under Available. AI CHAT Chat with local or cloud models. • Run local models from families such as Gemma, Qwen, DeepSeek, and Mistral, or connect a cloud provider account or your own model server • Browse, download, and manage models that fit your device, including ones for text, vision, reasoning, and tools • Import GGUF models from Hugging Face; the app checks the chat template and sets it up before downloading • Queue follow-up questions while a reply runs, and switch chats without losing it • Drop in documents, images, and scanned PDFs; approve private on-device OCR only when a PDF needs it • Fork any conversation and compare several models on the same prompt • Let the model use tools for calculations, web requests, documents, Calendar, and Reminders, and review proposed changes before they apply • Create reusable Agent Profiles, then add AI Skills, MCP servers, and tools from one clearer Agent Workflows setup • Keep facts you repeat often in Global Memory LISTEN LIBRARY AND RSS FEEDS Read less, listen more. • Turn PDFs, Markdown, plain text, web articles, and scanned books into a listening queue • Scan photographed pages, correct the OCR the app runs on device, and keep each page with its spoken text • Follow sites through RSS, Atom, and JSON feeds, then send articles to Up Next • Choose Apple voices or local neural voices, follow along in the reader, and set a sleep timer VOICE NOTE, VOICE TYPING, AND TEXT TO SPEECH Speak instead of typing, and listen instead of reading. • Record and transcribe meetings, lectures, interviews, and quick ideas • Dictate with Voice Typing on Mac or the voice keyboard on iPhone and iPad • Transcribe with Apple Speech, Whisper, Parakeet, Nemotron, Qwen3-ASR, MOSS, and other engines • Turn text, or text captured from a photo, into audio with Apple voices, Kokoro, Supertonic, VoxCPM2, IndexTTS2, and other engines • Export transcripts as text, subtitles, or Markdown AI SEARCH AND AI BROWSER Research with a second pair of hands. • Search the web in a conversation and let the model read the results for you • Browse with tabs, profiles, history, and downloads, then ask your model to read, assist, or act on the page • Hand a task to the browser agent, watch each step, and take over whenever you want KNOWLEDGE AND TEXT NOTE Give your AI your own material to work from. • Add PDFs, text, Markdown, code, images, and website content to a private searchable library • Write and edit Markdown notes in the app • Import AI chats, voice notes, Text to Speech items, and AI Search results • Tune retrieval and index edited content again APP HELP Ask how a feature or setting works. App Help answers from a guide that ships inside the app, keeps help out of your saved chats, and points to the right settings. MADE FOR APPLE DEVICES • Native layouts adapt from focused navigation on iPhone to category sidebars on larger screens • Widgets for Listen, Voice Note, Text Note, and Quick Actions • Siri, Apple Shortcuts, App Intents, the Mac menu bar, and keyboard shortcuts you can customize • Apple hardware acceleration for supported local models • Store models internally, on an external drive, or on a shared volume, with separate tools for cleanup and recovery • Interface in English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, and Traditional Chinese EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Subtext

Features
Read full description

Have you ever stared at a message and wondered, "What are they really trying to say?" Or struggled to find the perfect response that strikes the right balance between polite and assertive? Meet Subtext, your ultimate AI-powered communication assistant that reads between the lines for you! Subtext is an innovative translation app that doesn't translate languages—it translates intentions. By leveraging a cutting-edge Large Language Model (LLM), Subtext analyzes the underlying subtext of any message and provides you with the true meaning behind the words. Even better, it offers tailored reply suggestions to fit your exact goal. Key Features: Deep Subtext Analysis Simply paste a confusing or passive-aggressive message into the app. Subtext will instantly break down the sender's true intentions, emotional state, and hidden agenda. Never be left guessing again! Multi-Style Reply Generator Need to reply but don't know how? Choose your goal! Whether you want to show high EQ, politely decline, flirt back, or confidently stand your ground, Subtext generates multiple reply options for you to copy with just one tap. 100% Offline & Absolute Privacy This is our biggest breakthrough! Subtext downloads and runs an optimized Large Language Model directly on your iPhone's Neural Engine. No Internet Required: Analyze messages anywhere, anytime, even on airplane mode. Zero Data Tracking: Your private conversations never leave your device. We do not upload your chats to any cloud servers. Your secrets remain strictly yours. Adaptive Multi-Language Output Whether the original message is in English, Spanish, Japanese, or Chinese, Subtext adapts to your device's native language to provide culturally relevant analysis and flawless replies. Stop overthinking your chats. Let Subtext be your secret weapon for flawless communication. Download now and take control of every conversation! (Note: The app requires downloading a local LLM file upon first launch for the offline features to work.)

Screenshots

On‑Device AI4 screens
Subtext2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Subtext at none against On‑Device AI's 4. Subtext also leads on iOS requirement (16.6 vs 18.0). On‑Device AI's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 3 months) and device support (4 vs 1). On price and ads 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. On‑Device AI sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Subtext asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

On‑Device AI ships an update fortnightly, Subtext every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on November 12, 2026 and November 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
On‑Device AI versus Subtext: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOn‑Device AISubtext
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (163 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews63.6% of reviews—
Number of ratings163 — better—
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro — betteriPhone
Requires iOS18.016.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size1.8 GB7 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperZijie DengYue Pu

Bugs and requests

On‑Device AI

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Crashes on startup
  • Model selection issues
  • Inability to copy generated text

Requested features

9 requests
  • Automated multi-character conversations
  • Character set saving and syncing
  • Streamlined search integration
  • UI optimization for icons
  • Remote endpoint support for multi-agents
Show 4 more
  • HomeKit integration
  • Improved documentation
  • Enlarged agent input window
  • Per-agent model assignment

Subtext

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

4 purchases

On‑Device AI

Subscriptions2
  • Pro Member Subscription$3.991 Month
  • Pro Member Subscription$34.991 Year
One-time2
  • Lifetime Pro Member$49.99
  • Lifetime Pro Member$99.99
None

Subtext

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is On‑Device AI free?
On‑Device AI is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Subtext free?
Subtext is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do On‑Device AI or Subtext have ads?
Neither On‑Device AI nor Subtext shows ads.
Which is updated more often, On‑Device AI or Subtext?
On‑Device AI ships an update fortnightly, and Subtext every 3 months. Most recently, On‑Device AI was updated on November 12, 2026 and Subtext on November 13, 2026.

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