Liquid Apollo

I have used Apollo across two devices every day for the last year. I’d given it five stars until the last update brought in a few experience-breaking bugs. As soon as they’re addressed, I can and will update my review. I won’t give one star because I know that this dev team is responsive, and Apollo has been very good for a long time. 1. Model selector doesn’t change the model. When I start a thread, the app works fine to let me choose the model I want to use. But once the conversation is going, re-selecting the model in the app will change what Apollo says you’re using, but OpenRouter logs confirm that nothing happened. This is really worrisome for BYOK users like me especially. 2. iCloud syncing isn’t properly merging between devices on different app versions. Perhaps this is a problem that happened because my iPhone got v2.0.0 first. But my Mac is now totally out of sync with the iPhone. I’ve troubleshooted this, but ended up having to delete the whole chat history to get them to sync again. 3. The new “apps in the app” is a good idea. But now, clicking the “new chat” button at the top right of the screen does…nothing. It doesn’t start a new chat. The screen flashes and I stay in the same chat as before. The only way to start a new thread now is to open the menu and choose “Chat” from the new Apps menu. It’s cumbersome. __ Again, I’ll change my review when Apollo becomes usable for me again. For now, I’m forced to use a different client.

Not perfect, but pretty close. Allows using your own LLM (not for the faint of heart to setup). Runs on device LLMs, and third party LLMS. TTS/STT on device or third party. Would like to see self hosted TTS/STT in future versions. On device STT has a bit of lag which makes the LLM feel slower, but that is apple’s fault, and I suspect off device TTS/STT would fix the apparent lag. Other upgrades would be to allow turning off screen while running, and CarPlay integration (it is hands free after all). On device LLMs are surprisingly competent considering they are running on a phone with limited processing/ram bandwidth. Capable of searching internet, and rag. Oh and did I forget it is free? Amazing, must install app.

I’ve been using Apollo AI for a little while now, and it’s honestly a pretty good app. It does exactly what it says lets you connect to services like OpenRouter and chat with different AI models right from your phone. The interface is clean, it feels smooth to use, and setup was straightforward. It’s nice not being tied to just one provider. What I like most is that it keeps things simple. You pick your model, type in your prompt, and go. If you’re into experimenting with different AIs or just want a reliable way to chat with one on your phone, it definitely gets the job done. Only real issue I’ve run into is with the ElevenLabs voice API specifically, the voice list doesn’t seem to load all your voices or custom ones. There’s a “tap to reload” button, but tapping it doesn’t really do anything. Not a dealbreaker, just a little annoying if you’re trying to use specific voices. Overall, good app. Nothing too fancy, but it works well and I’ve been enjoying it.