Guides Google published apr 13, 2026
Learn how to download and locally run Google’s Gemma AI model on your phone for free. You will set up a local AI chat that runs on your phone’s GPU, with no account, subscription, API key, or internet required after setup. The source guide frames this as a three-step setup.
You will build a local AI chat running Google’s Gemma model directly on your phone with Thinking mode enabled. It runs without cloud access, an API key, or ongoing cost.
Put your phone on airplane mode and run the same prompt again. It works. That is the whole point.
Open the App Store or Google Play Store and search for Google AI Edge Gallery. Download it. It is free and does not require a sign-in.
Open the app and tap AI Chat. You will see a few model options. Choose the recommended option. In the source example, the recommended model was Gemma 4 E2B, about 2.5 GB. Tap to download it and give it a minute.
If you want something more capable, you can choose a bigger model. Tap Learn more next to any option to see what it does differently. There are also smaller models around half a gigabyte if you want a lightweight backup that takes up less space.
Once the download finishes, you do not need internet again. The model lives on your phone.
Before you send your first message, tap the settings icon in the top right of the toolbar and enable Thinking. This lets you see the model’s step-by-step reasoning before it gives you the final answer, while running entirely on your phone.
You will also see other developer settings, such as max token limits and temperature. Since the model is running locally, you can experiment without usage cost.
Start a conversation. You can try a travel-planning prompt like the example below.
Plan a two-week road trip down Route 66 with landmarks, lodging, and food for each day.
One important caveat: this app is built for developers to test Google’s latest models before putting them in their apps. It does not save your chat history. If you close the app, the conversation is gone. You can tap the + button to see messages you have sent, but there is no way to pick up where you left off. Treat it as a scratch pad for one-off questions, not a notebook.
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