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Android Authority
12-06-2025
- Android Authority
I tried Google's secret, open source, offline AI app to see if it's better than Gemini
Andy Walker / Android Authority Google has pumped out so many AI products in recent years that I'd need my fingers, toes, and the digits of several other people to keep count. Its current public-facing headliner is Gemini, which also doubles as its virtual assistant on its myriad products. But, if you're willing to lift its development rock to peek at the creepy crawlies beneath, you'll find AI Edge Gallery. Hidden away on GitHub — where few Google-made products have ever resided — AI Edge Gallery gives early adopters a taste of fully downloaded AI models that can be run entirely on the phone. To uncover why Google banished this app beyond the Play Store and what it can actually do, I took up my Pixel and downloaded it. Here's what I discovered. What is Google AI Edge Gallery? Andy Walker / Android Authority First, let me provide details about what AI Edge Gallery is. The app allows users to download and run large language models (LLMs) on Android phones for offline use. Once downloaded, the LLMs don't require an internet connection to crunch queries, which makes AI Edge Gallery, in theory, very handy in isolated situations. At present, the app offers four LLMs ranging in size and skill. It also splits these up into three suggestions for using them: Ask Image, Prompt Lab, and AI Chat. AI Edge Gallery allows users to download LLMs that can be used for offline prompt processing right on your phone. These categories are largely self-descriptive, but they do explain what to expect from AI Edge Gallery. You can use these models to ask questions about images, engage in simple chats as you would with Gemini or ChatGPT, and use prompts for 'single-turn use cases.' Installation and setup are a pain, but the app is slick and smooth There's a good reason why AI Edge Gallery isn't on the Play Store. The setup is an absolute pain, even if the app is buzzy and feels like a Google-made product. Once you grab the app off GitHub and install it, you'll need to install the individual models you wish to try. However, before this, you'll need to create a Hugging Face account — the site that hosts the models — and acknowledge several user agreements. This includes one on the AI Edge Gallery app itself, another on Hugging Face, and finally, Google's own Gemma Access Request form. Finally, after all of this, you'll need to tap back several times to head back into the AI Edge Gallery app, where the model download will begin. There were several times I issued a loud sigh during this process, and I wouldn't blame you if you'd rather clean all your shoes instead. Nevertheless, I persisted. The setup process from downloading the app to using the model of your choice is padded by several user acknowledgements. To whet my palate, I leapt onto the Gemma-3n-4EB-it-int4 train (I'll refer to it simply as 'Gemma' as we advance). At 4.4GB, it's the largest model available on the gallery and is available across all three categories. In theory, the largest model should offer all I need to accomplish any offline chatbot goal I could have. For the most part, its offline capabilities were impressive. An offline travel planner, science teacher, and sous chef Andy Walker / Android Authority To test this model's capabilities, and therefore, the usefulness of AI Edge Gallery, I wanted to use several prompts that I'd normally run by ChatGPT and Gemini — products that have access to the internet. For my first trick, I asked Gemma about a theoretical trip to Spain. I used the prompt: 'I'm traveling to Spain in a few weeks. What are some items I should consider packing, and which sights should I see?' I wanted to test its capabilities as an offline travel companion. After several seconds of pondering an answer, Gemma leapt into action and completed the answer three minutes later. That's pretty tardy, but considering it ran entirely offline and rendered my Pixel 8 pretty warm, I was impressed. Processing times are long, but considering the LLM is running entirely offline on my Pixel 8, it's admirable. I was even more impressed when scrolling through the answer. Considering that I didn't specify how long I'd be spending in Spain, where I'd be heading, or when I'd be leaving, Gemma offered plenty of sights to see, exact quantities of garments I should pack, and additional travel tips. To test if it can connect to the internet if required, I asked it, 'What are the biggest news stories of the day?' It gave me an answer from October 26, 2023, presumably the limit of its global knowledge. This isn't a problem, but remember that this model is better suited to timeless queries. OK, back to general questions. I wanted to see how proficient the model is at explaining established theories. I asked it to 'Explain the theory of relativity and provide an ELI5 example.' Again, it took a day and an age, but eventually, it produced a deep review of Einstein's theory. Don't expect the models to replace services like Perplexity that can readily access information on the internet. It also offered a detailed explainer about the source of rattles coming from a car's engine bay, recipes for making vanilla ice cream, facts about the tallest mountains in the world, and an explanation of soccer's offside rule. All answers were accurate. How good is the app at creating things? Within the Prompt Lab section, you can use a model to 'rewrite tone, summarize text, and code snippets.' The latter use case is pretty cool! For a complete coding noob, I asked Gemma to 'Create code that responds with 'hello' when I input 'Good day.'' It promptly offered a line of JavaScript that did just that. There are seven languages to pick from, too. Notably, the response includes integrating the code into various scenarios, like a website, making it an excellent educational or verification tool. The app also allows the summary of text blocks, and it's not too shabby at that, either. I crammed the introduction of Wikipedia's Theory of Relativity article into the prompt box, and Gemma confidently broke the content down into five bullet points. The response was swift enough that I'd consider using AI Edge Gallery to break down longer PDFs and studies rather than ChatGPT, especially on documents I don't want to share. There are various answer options, including bullet points, briefer paragraphs, and more. What about tone rewriting? I'm unsure when I'd use this feature in my life. I'd rather opt for chat apps and Gmail's built-in tone tweaker. Nevertheless, I gave Gemma the same snippet used above, selecting the Enthusiastic tone option. You can see the results in the screenshots above. Andy Walker / Android Authority It's important to remember that the model you use will dictate AI Edge Gallery's answers, capabilities, and processing speed. The app offers plenty of flexibility in this regard. You can download all four and use them interchangeably, or you can use the largest model (as I have) and call it a day. You can even snag the smallest model and enjoy quicker operation, albeit more limited smarts. The choice is yours. Identifying tomatoes but misplacing monuments What about image queries? The app makes it super easy to select an image from my albums or capture a new photo, and ask a question about it. For my test, I picked a shot of some tomatoes we grew over the spring. I asked Gemma, 'How do I grow these?' Impressively, the model accurately identified them as grape tomatoes, offered a complete breakdown of their preferred habitat and conditions, details on how to start them from seed, including specifics like thinning and soil mix, and suggestions for planting outdoors. This response took over four minutes, but it was a brilliant, detailed answer! I queried its knowledge of local landmarks to see how it handled more nuanced images. I picked an image of Franschhoek's NG Kerk, the oldest church in one of the prettiest towns in South Africa. I didn't expect it to know it, and, well, it didn't. It answered with: 'This is St. Mary's Church in Stellenbosch.' It picked a nearby town, but that's a red cross. Perhaps it would know the more distinct Huguenot Monument in Franschhoek? Nope. That's in Rome, the model decided. Clearly, Gemma struggles with recognizing buildings but has little issue with tomatoes. It seems you'll get mixed success here based on the prevalence and familiarity of objects within an image. This still makes it pretty useful in some cases. I'll have to test this a little more in a future feature. I've activated your flashlight (just kidding!) Andy Walker / Android Authority Finally, I want to discuss where the models of AI Edge Gallery and an actual virtual assistant like Gemini differ. The latter has near complete control of my Pixel 8 and lets me play specific playlists on Spotify, open YouTube channels, search the internet, or trigger my flashlight with a simple prompt. However, this isn't possible with AI Edge Gallery. Although asking Gemma to 'Switch on my flashlight' is recognized and accepted as a prompt, and the model gleefully replies 'Okay! I've activated your flashlight,' it adds that it cannot actually do this because it's a 'text-based AI.' It understands what I want accomplished, but its net doesn't reach that far. AI Edge Gallery cannot replace Gemini, at least not as a virtual assistant. To be fair, I didn't expect this app to have that level of control over my device, but I had to test this regardless. If you were hoping to replace Assistant or Gemini with an offline product like AI Edge Gallery, you'll be sorely disappointed. It's also worth noting that AI Edge Gallery and its models cannot generate images from prompts or address queries about files other than images. Hopefully, these features will come to the app's future iterations. There's a reason Gemini is Google's consumer-facing AI product So, is AI Edge Gallery worth a try? Without a doubt, yes. As someone who loves the idea of fully offline LLMs that only connect to the internet when available or required, the models here genuinely excite me, and that app makes it possible to test them without too much trouble. I'm sure that query crunching would be far quicker and more efficient on a faster smartphone, too. I feel my Pixel 8 was the bottleneck here. The app itself looks great and functions adequately for the most part, but it still requires some polish here and there. Leave it open in the background, and you'll regularly get non-responding boxes popping up and multiple crashes when it returns to focus. It also has several annoying UX issues. Swiping across the screen left or right will clear your last prompt, and you'll have to start all over again. It's remarkably easy to do this by accident. AI Edge Gallery makes private offline processing possible, but there's a reason it's not on the Play Store. Nevertheless, I'm still left impressed by the app's image identification smarts. As someone who regularly uses Circle to Search to identify plants, animals, and landmarks, AI Edge Gallery could be handy if I'm stuck in the wilderness without a connection and an unidentified bird. You may not consider an offline AI tool necessary, but processing data on your phone does have privacy and security benefits. If you have a flagship Android phone, I'd recommend picking up AI Edge Gallery, perhaps not as a replacement for Gemini, but as a glimpse into the distant future where much of Gemini's smarts could be available locally.
Hindustan Times
09-06-2025
- Hindustan Times
Google AI Edge Gallery brings offline LLM to your smartphone: Quick setup guide
AI Edge Gallery is an experimental open-source app from Google to enable on-device generative AI capabilities. It enables running AI models on smartphones without internet connectivity. This app leverages LLM models from Hugging Face and Google's Gemma 3N to perform simple tasks like image analysis, code generation and AI conversation. Let's see how you can install and use it on your Android smartphone. AI Edge Gallery is in the alpha stage right now, but it still offers multiple features, from chatting with AI to creating code snippets. AI Edge Gallery is still in its early stages, but it already shows how powerful AI can work right on your phone without needing the internet. Give it a try and see what you can create offline.
India Today
01-06-2025
- India Today
Google launches app to let anyone run AI models on their phone without internet
Google has quietly launched a new app called the AI Edge Gallery, and it aims to change how artificial intelligence works on smartphones. The app allows Android users to run powerful AI models directly on their devices, completely offline. In other words, you can now generate images, write code, or get smart answers without needing to connect to the key benefit of this move is enhanced privacy and faster performance. Since everything runs on the device itself, there's no need to transmit data to cloud servers, reducing the risk of security breaches. It also means no waiting for the server to respond — AI answers arrive instantly. advertisementAt the core of this experience is a language model named Gemma 3 1B. Weighing in at just 529MB, this compact model can process up to 2,585 tokens per second, enabling rapid text generation and seamless interactions. Despite its small size, Gemma is powerful enough to support everything from custom content creation to document analysis and smart replies in messaging apps. The app also draws from Hugging Face, one of the most trusted sources of open AI models, and is built on Google's AI Edge platform. That means it benefits from technologies like TensorFlow Lite and MediaPipe, which help optimise performance across a wide range of devices, even those with modest hardware. That said, Google has pointed out that performance may vary depending on the device. Older or mid-range phones might struggle with larger models, so opting for lighter models is advisable in such to Google, users will find the interface refreshingly straightforward. Features like AI Chat and Ask Image offer intuitive access to AI tools, while the Prompt Lab allows people to experiment with short, single-turn prompts. The lab also includes preset templates and settings for tweaking how models the app is still in what Google calls an 'experimental Alpha release,' it's fully open source under the Apache 2.0 licence. This means developers and companies alike are free to use it, modify it, or even integrate it into commercial products. An iOS version is also reportedly on the development comes at a time amid ongoing scrutiny of Google's broader AI ambitions. Just last week, the US Department of Justice opened a civil antitrust investigation into the company's licensing deal with AI startup Critics have raised concerns that the agreement may have been designed to dodge a federal merger that, the release of AI Edge Gallery positions Google as a leader in making offline AI not only possible but also practical. And with the ability to run powerful models right from your pocket, it's a step toward making AI more personal, private, and always ready — no Wi-Fi required.
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Google quietly released an app that lets you download and run AI models locally
Last week, Google quietly released an app that lets users run a range of openly available AI models from the AI dev platform Hugging Face on their phones. Called Google AI Edge Gallery, the app is available for Android and will soon come to iOS. It allows users to find, download, and run compatible models that generate images, answer questions, write and edit code, and more. The models run offline, without needing an internet connection, tapping into supported phones' processors. AI models running in the cloud are often more powerful than their local counterparts, but they also have their downsides. Some users might be wary of sending personal or sensitive data to a remote data center, or want to have models available without needing to find a Wi-Fi or cellular connection. Google AI Edge Gallery, which Google is calling an "experimental Alpha release," can be downloaded from GitHub by following these instructions. The home screen shows shortcuts to AI tasks and capabilities like "Ask Image" and "AI Chat." Tapping on a capability pulls up a list of models suited for the task, such as Google's Gemma 3n. Google AI Edge Gallery also provides a "Prompt Lab" users can use to kick off "single-turn" tasks powered by models, like summarizing and rewriting text. The Prompt Lab comes with several task templates and configurable settings to fine-tune the models' behaviors. Your mileage may vary in terms of performance, Google warns. Modern devices with more powerful hardware will predictably run models faster, but the model size also matters. Larger models will take more time to complete a task — say, answering a question about an image — than smaller models. Google's inviting members of the developer community to give feedback on the Google AI Edge Gallery experience. The app is under an Apache 2.0 license, meaning it can be used in most contexts — commercial or otherwise — without restriction. This article originally appeared on TechCrunch at
TechCrunch
31-05-2025
- Business
- TechCrunch
Google quietly released an app that lets you download and run AI models locally
Last week, Google quietly released an app that lets users run a range of openly available AI models from the AI dev platform Hugging Face on their phones. Called Google AI Edge Gallery, the app is available for Android and will soon come to iOS. It allows users to find, download, and run compatible models that generate images, answer questions, write and edit code, and more. The models run offline, without needing an internet connection, tapping into supported phones' processors. AI models running in the cloud are often more powerful than their local counterparts, but they also have their downsides. Some users might be wary of sending personal or sensitive data to a remote data center, or want to have models available without needing to find a Wi-Fi or cellular connection. The welcome screens of the Google AI Edge Gallery app for Android. Image Credits:Google Google AI Edge Gallery, which Google is calling an 'experimental Alpha release,' can be downloaded from GitHub by following these instructions. The home screen shows shortcuts to AI tasks and capabilities like 'Ask Image' and 'AI Chat.' Tapping on a capability pulls up a list of models suited for the task, such as Google's Gemma 3n. Google AI Edge Gallery also provides a 'Prompt Lab' users can use to kick off 'single-turn' tasks powered by models, like summarizing and rewriting text. The Prompt Lab comes with several task templates and configurable settings to fine-tune the models' behaviors. Your mileage may vary in terms of performance, Google warns. Modern devices with more powerful hardware will predictably run models faster, but the model size also matters. Larger models will take more time to complete a task — say, answering a question about an image — than smaller models. Google's inviting members of the developer community to give feedback on the Google AI Edge Gallery experience. The app is under an Apache 2.0 license, meaning it can be used in most contexts — commercial or otherwise — without restriction.
