How to Run a Local LLM on Your Phone (and Why You’d Want To)

There are now enough freely available Large Language Models (LLMs) that running them locally on a computer is commonplace, and a better idea in some ways—they're more private, as you don't have to send anything to the cloud, and they work offline. Getting these advanced AI models running on phones hasn't been quite as straightforward (hence why the most advanced Siri AI features need one of the latest iPhones), but we're now at the point where most of the handsets are powerful enough, and some of the models are small and efficient enough that it's actually practically feasible. The benefits are the same as on the desktop—you get an LLM that's always available and private to you, with nothing sent back to Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, or anyone else. The downsides are that you're going to get slower and more limited performance from your AI, as you're dealing with smaller and less powerful models, and you might see a hit with battery life (these AI chats can be quite resource-intensive). Even with those compromises, the local AI you'll be able to get up and running on your phone is still going to be more than capable of everyday tasks and chats—and that means you can give Gemini or Siri (and perhaps your AI subscription) a rest. The phone you need to run a local LLM Any iPhone or Android phone launched in the last couple of years should do a decent job of running a local LLM; the AI boom means manufacturers have started building their devices with this kind of u…