Comparison

Locallama vs smartLLM

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

Head to head
About

Locallama

Experience a personal AI companion on your phone with local processing for enhanced privacy and offline access. Import existing workspaces and enjoy a lightweight, device-first AI interaction for everyday tasks.

Highlights
  • On-device AI processing
  • Enhanced privacy by design
  • Offline availability
  • Import OpenClaw workspaces
  • Personal AI companion
  • Lightweight mobile workflow
Features
Read full description

This app is built around a simple idea: bring a real local small-model AI experience to your phone. Instead of relying entirely on cloud processing, it lets you run AI on-device whenever possible, so conversations, imported content, and everyday usage can stay closer to your own device. It is designed for people who care about privacy, offline access, and the practicality of having a personal AI companion in their pocket. Key features: Local inference, with stronger privacy by design AI processing is designed to happen on your phone whenever possible, reducing the need to send your content to remote servers by default. This makes it a better fit for personal notes, drafts, ideas, and other privacy-sensitive content. A real mobile small-model experience Open the app and interact directly with on-device AI. It offers a fast, lightweight, and more personal way to explore what small models can do on a phone. Import OpenClaw workspaces Bring in your OpenClaw workspace so your existing content, structure, and workflows can travel with you. It is a practical way to continue using your workspace in a mobile, local-first environment. Offline availability Many core experiences remain useful without a stable connection, making the app convenient for commuting, travel, or low-connectivity situations. Personal, device-first AI Your models, content, and workflows stay closer to your own device, helping you build a more personal and controllable AI setup. Simple mobile workflow Made for quick questions, lightweight writing, note capture, browsing workspace content, and everyday AI interactions on the go. Important limitations: This app focuses on the real experience of local small models, not on overstating their capabilities. Because the models run locally and are relatively small: reasoning depth is more limited than large cloud models answers may be less accurate, less complete, or less stable on complex tasks long, highly technical, or multi-step requests may not perform as well performance depends on your device, including speed, memory, and thermal limits If you need the strongest possible reasoning, broad knowledge coverage, or consistently high performance on demanding tasks, large cloud models are still a better fit. But if you value privacy, offline use, local control, and the feeling of having AI truly running on your phone, this app offers a distinctive and practical alternative.

About

smartLLM

Features
Read full description

smartLLM runs a real large language model entirely on your iPhone. Your chat messages are never sent anywhere — every answer is generated by your phone's own chip. • Fully on-device inference (powered by llama.cpp) • Chat messages never leave your phone — no server, no account, no sign-up • smartLLM Pro (one-time purchase): search and download additional GGUF models from Hugging Face, inside the app • Checks your device's memory before downloading, so you don't end up with a model your phone can't run • Streaming responses, multi-turn chat history, stop generation anytime • Downloading the default model and chatting are free. No ads and no subscription ABOUT "OFFLINE" Chatting is fully offline. The app only uses the internet when you search for or download a model from Hugging Face, and for in-app purchase features through the App Store (StoreKit), such as loading the price, purchasing, and restoring. A NOTE ON AI CONTENT Answers are generated by a language model and may be inaccurate or inappropriate. Please verify anything important yourself, and don't rely on it for critical decisions.

Screenshots

Locallama4 screens
smartLLM3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: smartLLM at Free against Locallama's $0.99. Locallama's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and update cadence (every 4 days vs fortnightly). On 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

smartLLM is free to download; Locallama costs $0.99 up front. smartLLM sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Locallama asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Locallama ships an update every 4 days, smartLLM fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Locallama versus smartLLM: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLocallamasmartLLM
Price$0.99Free — better
Rating3.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterFortnightly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaid—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size30 MB11 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperTenpercentYONONAKA LLC

In-app purchases

None

Locallama

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

smartLLM

One-time1
  • smartLLM Pro$5.99

Questions

Is Locallama free?
Locallama costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is smartLLM free?
smartLLM is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Locallama or smartLLM have ads?
Neither Locallama nor smartLLM shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Locallama or smartLLM?
Locallama ships an update every 4 days, and smartLLM fortnightly. Most recently, Locallama was updated on November 5, 2026 and smartLLM on October 31, 2026.

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