[DigitalToday reporter Jinju Hong (홍진주)] A free application called Off Grid has been released that lets users download large language models (LLMs) and image-generation models to a smartphone and run them offline. It runs artificial intelligence (AI) on the device without a cloud connection, an approach aimed at both protecting personal data and reducing reliance on networks.

An online outlet, Gigazine, reported on April 1 that Off Grid is available on both iOS and Android and integrates text generation, image generation, image recognition and tool execution in a single app. Users can access a range of functions through one interface instead of running multiple AI models separately.

The app’s core is a local on-device approach that stores and runs AI models on the smartphone rather than on cloud servers. It cites as background that major companies such as Google, Meta and Alibaba have recently released some smaller models, making it possible to run them on smartphones. Off Grid is designed to let users download and use these released models immediately.

The app’s usage flow is relatively simple. After installation, a model download screen appears first, with information such as each model’s file size and required RAM. Users select and download a model, then, after a loading process, can use features such as chat or image generation right away.

Gigazine also introduced a test case on a Pixel 10 Pro. A user checked the list of downloaded models in the TEXT menu, selected gemma-3-1b-it-GGUF, loaded it and began chatting. Responses were generated within a few seconds after a question was entered, and basic conversation functions were reported to work smoothly, including producing the same content in another language when asked to change languages.

Local execution, however, comes with storage and performance constraints. As model files can be hundreds of megabytes in size, a Wi-Fi environment is recommended for downloads, and execution speed and user experience can vary depending on the device’s memory and processing performance.

Its development approach is also distinctive. Off Grid has been released as an open-source project under the MIT licence, and the developer introduced it as a "Swiss Army knife for offline AI." GitHub’s description specifies phrases including "privacy first, zero internet connection" and "no data leaves your phone," emphasising a structure that does not transmit data outside the device.

As interest grows in local AI execution environments, Off Grid is drawing attention for presenting a general-purpose platform that can manage and run various models in one place. How it overcomes the physical constraints of storage and performance is expected to be key to broader adoption.