Local AI runtime recommendations — platform: android
Beginner pick: PocketPal AI. Polished app, download GGUF and run offline.
Power-user pick: MLC LLM / LiteRT-LM. GPU/NPU acceleration paths for supported chips.
Runtimes:
name: PocketPal AI
what: llama.cpp/llama.rn app
status: stable
name: MLC LLM
what: Compiled on-device inference
status: stable
name: Google AI Edge / LiteRT-LM
what: On-device LLM runtime for Gemma
status: stable
name: ChatterUI
what: Native llama.cpp GGUF frontend (APK)
status: stable
name: SmolChat
what: Open-source GGUF app (Play Store + GitHub)
status: stable
name: Layla
what: Cross-platform offline app
status: stable
name: Google AI Edge Gallery
what: Google's on-device Gemma app
status: stable
Gotcha: NPU acceleration is limited and chip-specific; most apps run on CPU. Expect 1B-4B class.
Ceiling: 1B-4B at Q4 on 8-16GB phones.