Best Offline AI Chat Apps for iPhone in 2026: 5 Compared
Five apps that run AI on the iPhone itself, compared from their US App Store listings.
Cloak: Offline AI Offline AI for iPhone and iPad that sets itself up. No account, no subscription, $19.99 once.
We make Cloak, one of the five apps here. The tables are in alphabetical order.
The short answer
All five run a model on the iPhone and answer with no internet once it is downloaded.
- Easiest setup, no subscription: Cloak: Offline AI ($19.99 once).
- Most model choice: PocketPal AI (free, open source).
- Free and polished: Locally AI by LM Studio (free).
- One purchase for iPhone, iPad, and Mac: Private LLM ($4.99 once).
- Local and cloud models in one app: Enclave (free; Pro $9.99 a month).
Side-by-side
Setup, model choice, and cloud access
| App | Setup | Model choice | Cloud or remote option |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cloak: Offline AI Polyaura |
Picks and downloads its model for you; on supported devices Apple Intelligence answers until it is ready | None — one recommended model, chosen by Cloak | No |
| Enclave – Local AI Assistant Piotr Gorzelany |
Choose and download models, with recommendations | High — hundreds of open-source models (Llama, DeepSeek, Gemma, Qwen, Phi, Mistral, SmolLM) | Yes — Pro adds cloud models from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, and others, with web search |
| Locally AI by LM Studio Element Labs Inc |
Choose and download a model | High — Llama, Gemma, Qwen, DeepSeek, and others through Apple MLX | Optional — LM Link uses models running in LM Studio on your computer |
| PocketPal AI Gooya UG |
Choose and download a GGUF model | Highest — search, bookmark, and download any GGUF model from Hugging Face in the app | Optional — connects to your own OpenAI-compatible server, such as LM Studio or Ollama; web search with You.com |
| Private LLM – Local AI Chat Numen Technologies Limited |
Choose and download a model | High — many open-source families, including Llama, Gemma, Phi, Mistral, and Qwen | None in listing |
Price and requirements
| App | Price | Minimum OS | Apple devices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cloak: Offline AI Polyaura |
$19.99 one-time; no in-app purchases; Family Sharing | iOS / iPadOS 18.0 | iPhone, iPad |
| Enclave – Local AI Assistant Piotr Gorzelany |
Free for local models; Pro subscription $9.99 a month for cloud models | iOS / iPadOS 27.0 | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro |
| Locally AI by LM Studio Element Labs Inc |
Free; no in-app purchases | iOS / iPadOS 18.1 | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| PocketPal AI Gooya UG |
Free; optional one-time PocketPal Plus (pay what you want) and other in-app purchases | iOS / iPadOS 15.1 | iPhone, iPad, Vision Pro; Mac as an iPad app |
| Private LLM – Local AI Chat Numen Technologies Limited |
$4.99 one-time, including the Mac app; no in-app purchases; Family Sharing | iOS / iPadOS 17.0 | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro |
“Cloud or remote option” means the app can send a message off the phone. US App Store, checked October 31, 2026. Prices and availability differ by region.
Why Cloak
We make Cloak, so weigh this accordingly.
- Nothing to set up. It is the only one of the five that picks and downloads its model for you.
- Offline only. No cloud or remote mode. Private LLM has none either; the other three do.
- One price. $19.99 once, no in-app purchases, Family Sharing.
- No account and no tracking.
- More than chat. Voice Memos and Recap, processed on the device.
Where it falls short: no model choice, iPhone and iPad only, English only, and Locally AI and PocketPal AI are free.
When another app fits better
Enclave
If you want local and cloud models in one app. It needs iOS 27.
Locally AI
If you want a free app that also runs on Mac.
PocketPal AI
If you want to pick any GGUF model from Hugging Face.
Private LLM
If you want one purchase across iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
Common questions
What is the best offline AI app for iPhone?
It depends. Easiest setup with no subscription: Cloak: Offline AI ($19.99 once). Most model choice, free: PocketPal AI. Free and also on Mac: Locally AI. One purchase across iPhone, iPad, and Mac: Private LLM ($4.99). Local and cloud models together: Enclave.
Which offline AI app for iPhone is easiest to set up?
Of these five, Cloak: Offline AI is the only one that chooses and downloads its model for you. The other four ask you to pick a model first.
Is there an offline AI app for iPhone without a subscription?
Yes. Cloak: Offline AI is $19.99 once and Private LLM is $4.99 once. Locally AI is free, and PocketPal AI is free with an optional one-time unlock. Enclave is free for local models, with a $9.99-a-month Pro subscription for cloud models.
Do offline AI apps work in airplane mode?
Yes, once the model is on the phone. Features that use a server, such as cloud models or web search, still need a connection.
Do offline AI apps need an account?
Not for local chat. None of the five asks you to sign up before chatting with a model on your phone.
How much storage does an offline AI app need?
A few gigabytes. The model is a separate download, usually between about one and several gigabytes.
Are offline AI apps as capable as ChatGPT?
Not on the hardest tasks. A model that fits on a phone is smaller, so it is weaker at complex reasoning and does not know recent events. See offline AI vs. cloud AI.
Are offline AI apps private?
Running the model on the phone keeps chats off a server. Also check whether the app has a cloud or remote mode (Enclave, Locally AI, and PocketPal AI do; Cloak and Private LLM do not) and its App Store privacy label.
Sources
Every row comes from that app’s US App Store listing, checked October 31, 2026. Where a listing is silent, the developer’s own page fills the gap: Enclave’s pricing, PocketPal AI’s repository, LM Studio’s documentation and privatellm.app. No benchmarks or quality rankings are claimed.
Cloak: Offline AI
Chat, Voice Memos, and Recap. $19.99 once.