AI chatbots have changed the way we work, think through problems, and discover information. While Apple Intelligence doesn’t offer a chatbot experience yet, the best chatbot apps run on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
You don’t need to regularly use all of these AI chatbot apps to be familiar with the latest in AI. Follow my 9to5Neural series for that. But spending time with any of these apps will give you access to the newest AI technology.
Anthropic Claude
Anthropic is an independent firm focused on building safe AI tools. Claude, its chatbot, excels at conversational interactions as well as working with documents. However, Claude lacks image generation that other chatbots offer.
Claude is available on iPhone, iPad, and web. Claude is also one of three apps that are available on the Mac.
Access is free, although Claude Pro offers access to more features for $20/month.
DeepSeek
As of January 2025, DeepSeek is known as the competitive AI firm that delivered state-of-the-art AI for a fraction of the developmental cost. It’s also apparently cheaper to run. Learn more about the situation with DeepSeek from this edition of 9to5Neural.
DeepSeek is available for free on iPhone and web. The iOS version allows account creation with Sign In with Apple, which lets you create a throwaway email address that’s only used with the service.
Something unique about DeepSeek is that the chatbot displays the “thought process” that the AI goes through to deliver results. No image generation yet, but requesting an image of a cow did show 12 paragraphs of thinking before providing instructions for how to draw a cow.
Watch this space. 🐄
Google Gemini
Remember Google Bard? Fortunately, Google Gemini replaced that name.
Gemini is a full-featured chatbot with voice mode, image generation, interaction with photos and videos, and integration with Google apps and services. Don’t sleep on Gemini.
Google Gemini is available on iPhone and web at no cost. Gemini Advanced offers more for $19.99/month after a one-month free trial.
As of January 29, 2025, Meta (née Facebook) doesn’t offer a proper app experience on iPhone for its Meta AI powered by the company’s Llama AI.
However, Meta does offer basic chat features with Meta AI in the Messenger app for Facebook users on iPhone and iPad. Meta AI is accessible from Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp on iPhone. Meta AI is also capable of image generation on certain platforms.
Messenger is available on the Mac, but the Meta AI function is fairly busted there. Instead, Meta AI has a proper experience on web. Meta AI is available for free.
Again, watch this space.
Microsoft Copilot
Microsoft serves up its AI chatbot through Copilot, available on iPhone, iPad, and web. Copilot uses OpenAI and Microsoft AI models for conversational chatbot features and image generation.
Microsoft Copilot is available to use for free. Copilot Pro unlocks more capabilities including Copilot Voice for $20/month after a one-month free trial.
OpenAI ChatGPT
If you only use one AI chatbot, you can’t go wrong with OpenAI’s ChatGPT. ChatGPT offers regularly updated apps on iPhone and iPad. ChatGPT also offers a best-in-class Mac app that integrates with macOS.
Apple Intelligence on iPhone, iPad, and Mac also becomes more capable with ChatGPT integration — Siri included.
ChatGPT is available for free, including on web, and ChatGPT Plus unlocks advanced voice mode, custom GPTs, early access to new models, and more for $20/month.
OpenAI also offers ChatGPT Pro for $200/month for unlimited access to various models, extended access to Sora video generation features, and early access to the new Operator agent feature for U.S. customers.
Perplexity
Perplexity is another independent AI firm that focuses on AI-powered search. Recently, Perplexity added DeepSeek R1-powered search (DeepSeek is open source), only with servers run in the United States instead of China.
It also uses access to models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI.
Find Perplexity on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and web. Perplexity is free to use with more capabilities unlocked with Perplexity Pro for $20/month.
xAI Grok
Once buried inside X (née Twitter), Grok 2 by xAI now has a proper iPhone and iPad app with conversational chatbot features, very good image generation capabilities, and real-time access to X and the web.
Grok is free to use with limits, and X Premium subscribers unlock access with fewer limits. Grok is also available on web.
Using a different AI chatbot app on iPhone, iPad, or Mac? Drop your suggestion in the comments!
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