SETUP GUIDE

Use your own computer for faster answers

Loka normally thinks on your iPhone. If you have a computer at home, it can do the thinking instead: faster replies, bigger models, and your chats still never leave your own network. Here is how to set it up, step by step.

You do not have to do any of this

Loka works completely on its own, on your iPhone, with nothing else set up. This guide is only for people who happen to own a laptop, desktop or home server and would like it to do the heavy lifting.

If you follow it, you can still switch back to your iPhone at any time, and Loka does that automatically whenever your computer is asleep or you are away from home.

What you will need

A Mac, Windows PC or Linux machine, with a reasonably recent processor.
That computer and your iPhone on the same Wi-Fi network.
The computer switched on and awake when you want to use it. Asleep is fine, it just means Loka answers on your phone instead.
About ten minutes, and roughly 5 GB of free disk space for a model.

Why bother

Faster replies. A computer has far more power to spare than a phone.
Smarter models. An iPhone can hold a model of a few billion parameters. A laptop can comfortably run one several times bigger.
A longer memory in each chat. Loka can only keep so much of a conversation in mind before it starts forgetting the beginning. On your iPhone that is a few thousand words; through your computer it is about twice as much, so long conversations hold together better.
Still private. Your phone talks straight to your computer across your own Wi-Fi. Nothing is sent to Loka, and nothing goes out to the internet.

Install Ollama on your computer

Ollama is a free app that runs AI models on your own machine. Go to ollama.com/download, download the version for your operating system, and install it like any other app.

When it is running you will see a small Ollama icon in your menu bar (Mac) or system tray (Windows). That is all it does visibly, and that is fine.

Let your phone reach it

This is the one fiddly step, and the one thing that stops most people. Out of the box, Ollama only answers the computer it is installed on. It ignores everything else, including your phone. You need to tell it to listen to your home network too.

The instruction below sets something called OLLAMA_HOST to 0.0.0.0, which simply means "answer requests from my network, not just from this machine".

On a Mac

Open the Terminal app (press Command and Space, type "Terminal", press Return), paste this line in and press Return:

launchctl setenv OLLAMA_HOST "0.0.0.0"

Then quit Ollama from the menu bar and open it again, so it picks up the change.

On Windows

Click Start, type "environment variables" and choose "Edit the system environment variables". Click the Environment Variables button, then New under "User variables", and enter:

Variable name: OLLAMA_HOST
Variable value: 0.0.0.0

Click OK on each window, then quit Ollama from the system tray and start it again.

On Linux

Run this, which opens a small text editor:

sudo systemctl edit ollama.service

Add these two lines, save, and close the editor:

[Service]
Environment="OLLAMA_HOST=0.0.0.0"

Then restart it:

sudo systemctl restart ollama

Download a model

Ollama needs at least one model to work with. If you would like Loka to be able to look at photos you send it, pick one that can see images. In Terminal (Mac and Linux) or Command Prompt (Windows), run:

ollama pull qwen3-vl:8b

That downloads a model of about 6 GB, which takes a few minutes on most connections. If you only ever want text, this smaller and faster one is a good choice instead:

ollama pull qwen3:8b

You can also do this from inside Loka once you are connected, which saves going back to the computer. See Downloading more models later below.

Connect Loka to it

On your iPhone, with Loka open:

Go to Settings, then Ollama server.
Tap Scan this network.
The first time, iPhone will ask whether Loka may find devices on your local network. Tap Allow. Without this, the scan finds nothing.
Your computer should appear within a few seconds. Tap it.
Pick the model you downloaded, and confirm.

That is it. Chats now run on your computer. The name of the model in use is shown at the top of every chat, so you can always see which one answered.

Downloading more models later

Once connected, you can add models from your phone without touching the computer. Open Settings, Ollama server, tap your computer, and use the download section at the bottom of the model list. You can pick from a short list of good models, or type the name of any model from ollama.com/library.

If it does not work

Almost every problem here is one of five things. Work down the list, they are ordered by how often they turn out to be the cause.

Step 2 did not take effect. By far the most common. Ollama has to be fully quit and reopened after setting OLLAMA_HOST, not just left running. On a Mac, quitting from the menu bar icon is what counts.
Different networks. Many homes have two Wi-Fi names, one ending in "5G" or "5GHz". Your phone and computer must be on the same one. A computer plugged in by Ethernet is usually fine, as long as it is the same router.
Local network permission was declined. Check iPhone Settings, scroll to Loka, and make sure Local Network is switched on. If you tapped "Don't Allow" the first time, the scan will silently find nothing.
A VPN is on. A VPN on your phone often routes your home network away, so the computer becomes unreachable. Turn it off and scan again.
A firewall is blocking it. On Windows, allow Ollama through Windows Defender Firewall on private networks. On a Mac, check System Settings, Network, Firewall.

Still stuck? You can enter the address by hand. On the computer, find its local IP address (on a Mac, System Settings, Wi-Fi, Details; on Windows, run ipconfig and look for "IPv4 Address"). It will look like 192.168.1.42. Type that into Add by address in Loka.

Is this actually private?

Yes. Your phone sends the message straight to your own computer over your own Wi-Fi, and the reply comes straight back. It does not pass through Loka's servers, or anyone else's, and it does not need an internet connection at all once the model is downloaded.

The one thing worth knowing: as well as your chat messages, Loka's background work runs on that computer too, including the part that decides what to remember about you. That is still inside your own network, on your own hardware. Loka asks you to confirm this once, before the first time it uses a computer on your network.

Our full Privacy Policy covers what Loka does and does not collect.