Local LLM vs Cumbersome

MITHRIL is a private AI assistant that runs on your iPhone and iPad. Your conversations are processed on the device and saved on the device. No account, no cloud, no tracking. TWO KINDS OF MODELS • Apple's on-device model, built into iOS 26 on devices with Apple Intelligence. Nothing to download. • Open models from Hugging Face in GGUF format, from companies like Alibaba, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Mistral, DeepSeek and Liquid AI. Browse by company, see whether a model fits your device's memory before you download it, and switch any time. AN ASSISTANT THAT CAN DO THINGS It knows today's date, the time and your city from your device, and asks before it acts. Texts and emails open as drafts for you to review and send. Choose which abilities it can use: • Reminders and calendar events • Texts, email and phone calls • Look up your contacts • Directions and places nearby • Run your Shortcuts • Web search: Wikipedia, DuckDuckGo, or Brave with your own key • Search your own documents • Today's date and exact math PRIVACY YOU CAN SEE The Privacy map shows what runs on your device, what goes online, and exactly what is sent. A web search sends only the search words, never your conversation, and your location is only turned into a city name. A live list shows every network request MITHRIL makes. VOICE Dictate with Apple's speech recognition, or download NVIDIA Parakeet for more accurate on-device transcription. Hear answers in natural voices generated on the device. The floating assistant stays with you in Picture in Picture while you use other apps. FOR THE CURIOUS Tap the speed line under an answer for a live engine dashboard: tokens per second, time to first token, context use, cache hits and memory. REQUIREMENTS iOS 26. Apple's on-device model needs a device with Apple Intelligence. Open models run on any supported iPhone or iPad. Larger models need more memory, and MITHRIL shows what fits before you download. Models are made by their publishers and downloaded from Hugging Face. MITHRIL doesn't train or host models.

IMPORTANT: Requires your own provider API keys or an OpenAI-compatible endpoint. I built Cumbersome because consumer AI apps kept dumbing things down. Cumbersome is the manual transmission of AI apps: more complex, but with far greater control. WHY I BUILT THIS Consumer AI apps hide the controls I want and lock me into one provider. I wanted direct API access, the freedom to pick and compare models, and to pay providers for what I use. This is the app I use every day, so I pay attention and try to get it right. SUPPORTED PROVIDERS - ChatGPT / OpenAI - Claude / Anthropic - Gemini / Google AI Studio - OpenRouter multi-provider - Vercel AI Gateway multi-provider - Z.ai - OpenAI-compatible custom endpoints, including Ollama, Azure, LM Studio, Groq, Together, and self-hosted backends WHAT YOU GET - A versatile API client. One app, every major provider and model. - Total control. Pick your model, tune the parameters, switch providers mid-conversation. - Compare models head to head. Stream multiple chats in parallel and let an AI judge pick the best. - Bring your own tools. Local browser use, reasoning, web search, image generation. - Rich, editable conversations. Markdown, LaTeX, code blocks, attachments, edit and export anything. - Private by design. iCloud sync across devices. Nothing saved to our servers. - Native and accessible on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. MAJOR FEATURES ADDED IN 2026 Highlights only. New in 1.74.0: Incognito chats. Search Project documents and conversations with Pro. 2026-09-21: Independent iPad chat windows. 2026-09-14: Read replies aloud as they arrive. Save and Restart after editing. 2026-08-29: Select multiple chats. Mac export/import of all chats. 2026-08-21: Background replies on iOS 26. Question Cards for clarification. 2026-08-18: Web Agent: a shared, interactive browser. 2026-08-06: Highlight passages and attach notes for your next reply. 2026-08-03: Local Python analysis, charts, Mermaid, Markdown export. 2026-07-31: Gemini video. Responses API for custom providers. 2026-07-28: Parallel browser and MCP tools. 2026-07-23: Mind/Meld combines three AI responses into one. 2026-07-18: Full Simplified Chinese support. 2026-07-12: Ghost/Write drafts your next turn. 2026-07-09: Remote MCP servers and tools. 2026-07-02: Chat themes and reading fonts (Serif, Rounded, Mono). 2026-06-28: Folder system message presets. 2026-06-24: Prompt caching, with usage across providers. 2026-06-17: Reusable system presets per conversation. 2026-06-16: Offload long system messages to iCloud Drive. 2026-06-15: Toggle custom API parameters. 2026-06-11: Compact chats to lower API costs. 2026-06-07: Run JavaScript and HTML. 2026-06-04: OpenRouter PDF parsing and search engine options. 2026-05-12: Quick Prompt shortcut and App Visibility on Mac. 2026-05-09: Folders to group and organize chats. 2026-05-03: Collapsible sidebar sections, synced across devices. 2026-04-22: Image generation with OpenAI and Gemini. 2026-04-18: Local browser search and browsing. 2026-04-11: Headless browser mode. 2026-04-03: Searchable model picker. 2026-03-15: Extended thinking and reasoning across providers. 2026-03-09: Auto-delete chats after a set number of days. 2026-02-28: Custom OpenAI-compatible providers. 2026-02-25: Only Search When Requested. 2026-02-24: Image paste, attachment previews, PDF thumbnails. 2026-02-21: Siri and Shortcuts. 2026-02-20: Vercel AI Gateway and model filters. 2026-02-06: Voice Control, Larger Text, higher contrast. 2026-01-11: VoiceOver, Dynamic Type, keyboard navigation. 2026-01-06: OpenRouter integration. THE DEAL Core features are free. An optional Cumbersome Pro subscription adds advanced Project tools and supports ongoing development. You pay providers directly for API usage. I'm Peter, an indie developer in Reno, Nevada, out among the high desert tumbleweed. No VC money. No growth hacking. Just a tool I wanted to exist.