Comparison

ArcanAI vs NoirShield

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

Head to head
About

ArcanAI

Features
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ArcanAI is a private, on-device AI chat app that runs open-source language models entirely on your iPhone or iPad. No accounts. No subscriptions. No cloud. No internet required. Import any GGUF model from Hugging Face and start chatting โ€” every conversation happens locally, powered by hardware-accelerated inference using Apple's Metal framework. Your messages never leave your device. KEY FEATURES - Run AI models 100% offline โ€” on a plane, off the grid, anywhere - Import any GGUF model from Hugging Face โ€” choose the size and capability that fits your device - Store and switch between up to 5 models at once - Analyze documents โ€” upload PDFs, spreadsheets, text files, CSVs, and more - GPU-accelerated inference for fast, streaming responses - Full conversation history with multiple independent chats - Edit messages and regenerate responses - Customize temperature, max tokens, and system prompts - Beautiful dark UI with markdown-rendered responses - Text-to-speech support SUPPORTED MODEL FAMILIES Llama, Gemma, Mistral, Phi, Qwen, and any ChatML-compatible model. RECOMMENDED STARTER MODELS - Llama 3.2 1B (~570 MB) โ€” great for older devices - Gemma 2 2B (~1.0 GB) โ€” balanced performance - Qwen 2.5 3B (~1.5 GB) โ€” multilingual and code capabilities PRIVACY FIRST Zero data collection. Zero telemetry. Zero crash reporting. Zero cloud sync. Your conversations and model files stay on your device โ€” always.

About

NoirShield

Features
Read full description

NoirShield is a network tool that runs entirely on your device. It encrypts your DNS lookups and can match them against blocklists stored on the device. Your traffic is never routed through a server of ours: there is nothing to relay it through, and your IP address does not change. ENCRYPTED DNS Resolve names over DNS-over-HTTPS or DNS-over-TLS. Choose from built-in encrypted resolvers or enter your own custom endpoint. Measure them on the network you are on and switch to the fastest. ON-DEVICE FILTERING Optional lists for ads and trackers, malware, phishing and crypto mining โ€” 470,943 domains, matched on the device. Every list is off until you turn it on. You can import your own list and add your own allow and block rules, which take priority. DIAGNOSTICS Fourteen checks: reachability, IPv4 and IPv6, captive portals, latency, DNS resolution, DNS interception, DoH, DoT, HTTPS, TLS, QUIC, WebSocket and UDP. AUTOFIX Measures the network, applies a compatibility profile, verifies the result and remembers what worked for that network. NO ACCOUNT No sign-up, no sign-in, no subscription. Nothing about your lookups is uploaded. The activity log stays in memory and is gone when the app closes, unless you switch on "Keep activity after restart" in Settings. The app reaches our server for two things only: signed blocklist updates, and the connection tests while you are running diagnostics. NoirShield is not a country-switching VPN. It has no relay or proxy server, does not change your IP address and never decrypts HTTPS. On iPhone and iPad, iOS shows its own VPN badge whenever an on-device tunnel is running; NoirShield uses that tunnel only to hand DNS queries to the resolver on your device.

Screenshots

ArcanAI4 screens
NoirShield4 screens

Verdict

The call

ArcanAI and NoirShield are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters โ€” price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them โ€” neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

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

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
ArcanAI versus NoirShield: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterArcanAINoirShield
PriceFreeFree
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod โ€” betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.1 โ€” better16.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size37 MB29 MB
Age rating17+12+
DeveloperJackson Giordano7Stockapp OU

In-app purchases

None

ArcanAI

No in-app purchases

None

NoirShield

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is ArcanAI free?
ArcanAI is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is NoirShield free?
NoirShield is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do ArcanAI or NoirShield have ads?
Neither ArcanAI nor NoirShield shows ads.

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