Qwen 3.5 is the most capable open-weight small model family available right now. The small series (0.8B, 2B, 4B, 9B) was designed from the ground up for on-device deployment. It uses a hybrid architecture combining Gated Delta Networks with sparse Mixture-of-Experts, supports 200+ languages, and handles a 262K context window. You can run it locally on your iPhone.
Off Grid is a free, open-source app that runs Qwen 3.5 and other GGUF models entirely on your iPhone. No cloud. No subscription. No data leaving your device.
Which Qwen 3.5 Model Fits Your iPhone
Text Generation
|
Attachments
|
Vision AI
|
Qwen3.5-0.8B (Q4_K_M) — ~500MB download. Fits on any modern iPhone. Fast at 15 to 20 tokens per second with Metal GPU acceleration. The MoE architecture means it punches above its weight.
Qwen3.5-2B (Q4_K_M) — ~1.2GB download. The sweet spot for 6GB iPhones (iPhone 13 Pro, 14 Pro). Significantly better reasoning. 12 to 18 tokens per second.
Qwen3.5-4B (Q4_K_M) — ~2.5GB download. Needs 8GB RAM (iPhone 15 Pro, 16 Pro). Seriously impressive output quality. Multi-step reasoning, code generation, detailed analysis.
Why Qwen 3.5 Over Other Models
Hybrid architecture. Combines Gated Delta Networks with Mixture-of-Experts. Activates only the parameters it needs per token. More intelligence per byte of RAM than dense models.
200+ languages. The broadest language support of any open model at this size. Best option for non-English mobile AI.
262K context window. Feed it entire documents. Have long conversations without losing context.
Thinking mode. Toggle between fast responses and step-by-step reasoning for complex problems.
Multimodal. Natively understands text, images, and audio.
How This Compares to Apple Intelligence
Apple Intelligence uses Apple's own models, routes some tasks to their cloud, and doesn't let you choose your model. Qwen 3.5 running on Off Grid is entirely local, open source, and cross-platform. You pick the model, you verify the code, and nothing leaves your device.
Getting Started
- Install Off Grid from the App Store
- Open the model browser — Qwen 3.5 variants are in the recommended section
- Pick the size that matches your iPhone
- Download over WiFi
- Start chatting
Switch KV cache to q4_0 in settings to roughly triple inference speed. Off Grid also runs image generation, vision, voice transcription, tool calling, and document analysis — all on device.
Check the GitHub for the latest releases.
![Defluffer - reduce token usage 📉 by 45% using this one simple trick! [Earthday challenge]](https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=1000,height=420,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fiekbgepcutl4jse0sfs0.png)
