Noema Relay
Run the heavy model on your Mac while chatting from your iPhone or iPad. Noema Relay connects your devices so you get desktop-grade responses on the go without changing the chat experience.
Overview
Two ways to connect
- CloudKit relay: uses your private iCloud container to pass messages, so your Mac and phone do not need the same network. Great for travel or when Wi‑Fi is spotty.
- Local (LAN) relay: discovers your Mac over Bonjour on the same Wi‑Fi or ethernet. Everything stays on the local network for low latency and zero cloud traffic.
How it works
Message flow at a glance
- You start a chat on iOS; the message is sent through CloudKit or directly over LAN.
- Your Mac picks it up, runs the chosen model, and streams the reply.
- The phone receives the response and shows progress just like a local chat.
- If the Mac goes offline, Noema falls back to another available backend.
Choosing modes
Pick the right path automatically
Noema automatically prefers the LAN relay when your devices share a network, then falls back to CloudKit when they are apart. Health checks keep you informed, and the app will switch back if the local network drops.
Multimodal
Text and images when supported
Connect a vision-capable model on the Mac to send prompts that include images. LAN relay is currently text-first; if an image request is not supported, Noema routes it back to your local vision model or asks you to pick a compatible backend so photos stay private.
Tips before you start
- Keep Noema open on the Mac so the relay endpoint stays available.
- Sign in with the same Apple ID on both devices to enable the CloudKit path.
- On LAN, confirm both devices share Wi‑Fi or ethernet and that your Mac is discoverable.
- Pick lighter quantizations for faster replies on older Macs; your phone sees the benefit instantly.