Show HN: Apfel – The free AI already on your Mac

Posted by franze 4 days ago

Show HN: Apfel – The free AI already on your Mac(apfel.franzai.com)

Github: https://github.com/Arthur-Ficial/apfel

733 points | 153 commentspage 5

satvikpendem 3 days ago|

How does this model compare against other local models like Qwen run through LMStudio?

mark_l_watson 3 days ago||

I have been using Apple’s built-in system LLM model for the last 7 or 8 months. I like the feature that if it needs to, it occasionally uses a more powerful secure private cloud model. I also write my own app to wrap it.

wodenokoto 3 days ago||

Which Apple silicon support this and how good are the models available to different generations? I’m assume an M4 can and will run bigger models than an M2

gregkb 2 days ago||

wow, had a very similar idea, but smaller in scope. (focusing on shell script usage) I've documented my own journey over here https://github.com/greg76/aii

elcritch 3 days ago||

Any know if these only installed on Tahoe? I'm running Sequoia still and get an error about model not found.

HelloUsername 3 days ago|

> Apple Silicon Mac, macOS 26 Tahoe or newer, Apple Intelligence enabled

jonpurdy 3 days ago||

Yes, the model ships with Tahoe, not previous versions.

I too would love to try this for simple prompts but won’t be updating past Sequoia for the foreseeable future.

als0 3 days ago||

Same. What a disaster Tahoe is.

joriskok1 3 days ago||

How much storage does it take up?

franze 3 days ago|

4mb download, after install about 15mb, model is already on your mac with mac os x tahoe

a96 3 days ago||

It's not, unless you've installed it by turning the feature on in settings. That's where the heavy download will be.

lispisok 3 days ago||

I want access to the LLM xcode uses for swift auto completions

victorbjorklund 2 days ago||

But by access to the private compute right?

millionclicks 3 days ago||

Awesome idea. You should launch this on Buildfeed.co.

als0 3 days ago|

Is this for Tahoe only? I’m still clutching onto Sequoia

anentropic 3 days ago||

Yeah seems to need Tahoe (I'm on Sequoia):

    dyld[71398]: Library not loaded: /System/Library/Frameworks/FoundationModels.framework/Versions/A/FoundationModels
      Referenced from: <32818E2F-CB45-3506-A35B-AAF8BDDFFFCE> /opt/homebrew/Cellar/apfel/0.6.25/bin/apfel (built for macOS 26.0 which is newer than running OS)
      Reason: tried: '/System/Library/Frameworks/FoundationModels.framework/Versions/A/FoundationModels' (no such file), '/System/Volumes/Preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Frameworks/FoundationModels.framework/Versions/A/FoundationModels' (no such file), '/System/Library/Frameworks/FoundationModels.framework/Versions/A/FoundationModels' (no such file, not in dyld cache)

linsomniac 3 days ago||

Yes, it says on that page that it uses Apple Intelligence from Tahoe. I'm also hanging onto Sequoia, though I'm ready to make the leap any time here.

crena 3 days ago||

MacBook Neo forced me to finally make the jump, and it turns out that I, much like the engineers at Apple, don't really care about the spit and finish anymore. Third-party applications handle everything else. Also, I was happy to find that Divvy still runs just fine under Rosetta.

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