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#+date: <2024-01-13>
#+title: Running Local LLMs on macOS and iOS
#+description:
* Requirements
I've recently started playing with large language models (LLMs), mostly
in the popular chatbot form, as part of my job and have decided to see
if there's a consistent and reliable way to interact with these models
on Apple devices without sacrificing privacy or requiring in-depth
technical setup.
My requirements for this test:
- Open source platform
- On-device model files
- Minimal required configuration
- Preferably pre-built, but a simple build process is acceptable
I tested a handful of apps and have summarized my favorite (so far) for
macOS and iOS below.
#+begin_quote
TL;DR - Here are the two that met my requirements and I have found the
easiest to install and use so far:
#+end_quote
- macOS: [[https://ollama.ai/][Ollama]]
- iOS : [[https://llmfarm.site/][LLM Farm]]
* macOS
[[https://ollama.ai/][Ollama]] is a simple Go application for macOS and
Linux that can run various LLMs locally.
For macOS, you can download the pplication on the
[[https://ollama.ai/download/mac][Ollama download page]] and install it
by unzipping the =Ollama.app= file and moving it to the =Applications=
folder.
If you prefer the command line, you can run these commands after the
download finished:
#+begin_src sh
cd ~/Downloads && \
unzip Ollama-darwin.zip && \
mv ~/Downloads/Ollama.app /Applications/
#+end_src
After running the app, the app will ask you to open a terminal and run
the default =llama2= model, which will open an interactive chat session
in the terminal. You can startfully using the application at this point.
If you don't want to use the default =llama2= model, you can download
and run additional models found on the
[[https://ollama.ai/library][Models]] page.
To see the information for the currently-used model, you can run the
=/show info= command in the chat.
** Community Integrations
I highly recommend browsing the
[[https://github.com/jmorganca/ollama#community-integrations][Community
Integrations]] section of the project to see how you would prefer to
extend Ollama beyond a simple command-line interface. There are options
for APIs, browser UIs, advanced terminal configurations, and more.
* iOS
While there are a handful of decent macOS options, it was quite
difficult to find an iOS app that offered an open source platform
without an extensive configuration and building process. I found LLM
Farm to be decent enough in quality to sit at the top of my list -
however, it's definitely not user friendly enough for me to consider
using it on a daily basis.
[[https://llmfarm.site/][LLM Farm]] is available on TestFlight, so
there's no manual build process required. However, you can view the
[[https://github.com/guinmoon/LLMFarm][LLMFarm repository]] if you wish.
The caveat is that you will have to manually download the model files
from the links in the
[[https://github.com/guinmoon/LLMFarm/blob/main/models.md][models.md]]
file to your iPhone to use the app - there's currently no option in the
app to reach out and grab the latest version of any supported model.
Once you have a file downloaded, you simply create a new chat and select
the downloaded model file and ensure the inference matches the
requirement in the =models.md= file.
[[https://github.com/AugustDev/enchanted][Enchanted]] is also an iOS for
private AI models, but it requires a public-facing Ollama API, which did
not meet my "on device requirement." Nonetheless, it's an interesting
looking app and I will likely set it up to test soon.
|
