PRACTICAL GUIDE · OCTOBER 28, 2026

Survival LLM and local AI: how to run offline on a computer or phone

AI without the cloud: what to download now to use it when the internet goes down.

Vibe Coding editorial team · October 28, 2026 · Checked against official sources

Mia with a laptop in a city after a power outage

The internet is down, but your laptop or phone still works. Can AI help find instructions, summarize your notes or answer questions? Yes, if you download the app, model and materials in advance. Here is a plain-language guide to Survival LLM and its alternatives.

Local AI can make mistakes even when it cites sources. In medical or other dangerous situations, contact emergency services and check official guidance; do not treat a model as a doctor or rescue worker.

What is Survival LLM?

Survival LLM is a free, open-source Windows and Mac app combining a local language model with a searchable reference library. It is not a single proprietary model: the app selects one based on your computer’s memory. Answers can use retrieved documents, and links let you read the underlying source.

The library includes Ready.gov, MedlinePlus, WikiMed, repair guides and selected Wikipedia articles. You can add your own PDFs, documents and notes, such as a power station manual. The developer says questions and files stay on your computer after setup.

The library sources are predominantly English; Ukrainian answer quality depends on the selected model. We have not independently tested Ukrainian or emergency answers.

How much memory do you need?

According to the developer on October 28, 2026, systems with 16–31 GB of RAM use Granite 4.2 8B, with a model download of about 6 GB. More powerful computers are offered larger models of 18, 25 or 80 GB depending on platform and memory. Download size is not the same as total RAM required.

The full library is roughly a 9 GB download and occupies 19 GB installed; the smaller library is 1.3 GB and 3 GB respectively. The developer advises reserving the model size plus 5 GB, and about 27 GB of temporary space for the full library or 10 GB for the smaller one. It requires 64-bit Windows 10/11 or an Apple Silicon Mac with macOS 14 or later.

How to install Survival LLM on Windows or Mac

1. While online, open the official Survival LLM page and download the version for your system. Make sure you have sufficient free storage and power.

2. Extract the archive. On Windows, right-click the ZIP, choose Extract All, open the folder and launch Survival LLM.bat. On Mac, open the Survival LLM app.

3. Follow setup: the app downloads the required engine, model and chosen library. Keep it open until it finishes. The installer is only the beginning: large files are downloaded separately.

4. Ask a simple question, open a cited source, then turn off Wi-Fi and repeat the test. Add your manuals in advance and check that they open without a network.

Your operating system may warn about an app from outside its store. Check the address, publisher and file before deciding whether you trust it; do not disable protection globally. The developer describes how to allow this individual app in macOS settings or Windows SmartScreen.

How to run local AI on Android and iPhone

Survival LLM officially offers desktop versions, not a phone app. PocketPal AI is a separate mobile app for local GGUF models; it is neither a mobile Survival LLM app nor a preloaded copy of its library.

1. Install PocketPal AI from the App Store or Google Play using the link in its official repository. Connect to Wi-Fi and free up phone storage.

2. Open ☰ → Models → + → Add from Hugging Face. Search for INSAIT-Institute/MamayLM-Gemma-3-4B-IT-v1.0-GGUF, select Q4_K_M and tap Download. This model is adapted for Ukrainian; the instructions below explain the choice and limitations.

3. After the download, tap Load, open Chat and ask a question. Switch to airplane mode and test again. Model downloads and optional online features need a connection; local chat works offline after setup.

If a model fails to load or your phone becomes hot, close other apps or choose a smaller or more heavily quantized model. Storage and RAM are different: a file may fit on disk but still exceed available RAM. Speed and Ukrainian quality depend on the device and model.

Other computer options

LM Studio is a graphical app for Windows, Mac and Linux. Install it from the official site, open Discover, download a compatible model, then select and load it in Chat. Download the runtime in advance too. Its documentation says chat and document processing can work offline; model search and updates need the internet. Unlike Survival LLM, you must supply your own emergency library.

Ollama is another local engine for people comfortable with a terminal or connecting AI to their own software. Download models in advance. Our site has a separate step-by-step guide.

Which model should you choose, and what is GGUF?

A model is a file containing AI parameters; an app loads it and computes answers. GGUF is a common format for local inference. Q4 usually denotes quantization: the file uses less space but may lose some accuracy. Start small, test the language you need, then try a larger model.

Granite is selected automatically by Survival LLM; Qwen, Gemma and Llama come in different sizes and editions for other tools. A family name does not guarantee that a particular file will run on a particular phone. Check compatibility, size and the model license before downloading.

Prepare before an outage

Download the app, model and library; add manuals for your equipment and offline maps. Keep important numbers and verified instructions separately, ideally on paper too. Charge your phone, power bank or station and test everything in airplane mode. A local model cannot see current news and does not know what changed after its training or the source download.

Try asking: “Find the power station instructions in my downloaded materials. Name the source, quote the relevant passage and tell me what the documents do not say.” Then open the document and verify the answer yourself.

Which Ukrainian model should you choose?

For a phone, start with INSAIT-Institute’s MamayLM-Gemma-3-4B-IT-v1.0-GGUF: the Q4_K_M file is about 2.49 GB. It was adapted for Ukrainian and English. This is a practical candidate, not a guarantee of perfect language or correct answers; we have not tested it on your phone.

For a PC, try MamayLM-Gemma-3-12B-IT-v2.0-GGUF: the developer-recommended Q4_K_M is 7.3 GB. This larger Ukrainian-adapted model may be useful, but its advantage for your particular tasks and hardware needs testing. Its pretraining data runs to May 2025 and instruction fine-tuning to October 2025.

File size is storage, not the RAM requirement. The operating system, context and app need additional memory. The 12B model may not fit even on an 8 GB RAM phone; 4B is not guaranteed to run on every device either. Start with a short context, close other apps and watch for overheating.

Step by step: MamayLM in PocketPal on a phone

1. Install or update PocketPal AI from the official app store. While on Wi-Fi, open ☰ → Models → + → Add from Hugging Face. Search for the full name INSAIT-Institute/MamayLM-Gemma-3-4B-IT-v1.0-GGUF.

2. Open the repository and select the main model file with Q4_K_M and the .gguf extension, approximately 2.49 GB. Do not select mmproj: it is an additional image component, not the text model itself. Download one file, not every variant.

3. After Download, tap Load, open Chat and write: “Answer in Ukrainian. If you do not know or lack a source, say so clearly.” Try several questions, then repeat in airplane mode. If the app cannot find the file, open the model link below, download the GGUF and import it via Models → + → Add Local Model.

If access is denied, check the Gemma terms and access on Hugging Face; gated files may require an account and a read token. If the model cannot load because of memory, try another compatible smaller file or device; stronger quantization can reduce quality.

Step by step: MamayLM on Windows, Mac or Linux

1. Install LM Studio from its official website. Open Discover and search for INSAIT-Institute/MamayLM-Gemma-3-12B-IT-v2.0-GGUF; select Q4_K_M and download it. If your computer cannot handle it, try the 4B version above.

2. In Chat, select the downloaded model and press Load. While online, allow the required runtime to download and open the model at least once. Attach your own text-based PDF or document to the chat and ask questions about it; scans may need text recognition first.

3. Turn off Wi-Fi and test chat, document access and answers. Searching and downloading models and runtimes require internet. LM Studio processes documents locally, but you should still compare retrieved passages and answers with the original.

A large offline knowledge library: Kiwix and trusted documents

A language model does not contain a guaranteed complete or accurate encyclopedia. For a large library, install the free Kiwix Reader on your phone and computer. Search its catalog for Ukrainian Wikipedia and download a ZIM archive before an outage. Open it in Kiwix and test search in airplane mode.

Choose according to available space: mini contains introductions and infoboxes only, nopic has full articles without images, and maxi is the full version with images. Sizes vary by release: check the catalog before downloading. Add medical WikiMed and other references if useful; available languages depend on the archive.

Kiwix and PocketPal are separate apps: installing Kiwix does not automatically connect its archive to AI chat. Open the relevant Kiwix article, read it and, if helpful, copy a short passage into chat for an explanation; check answers against the original. On a PC you can separately load your PDFs into LM Studio or Survival LLM; this does not automatically search a ZIM archive.

Also save official local first-aid and civil-protection instructions, offline maps, equipment manuals and important contacts. Keep a second copy and essential paper notes, and prepare backup power. Archives age: update them while connected. In an emergency, use verified protocols and professional help rather than an unchecked AI answer.

How to test Ukrainian and answer quality

Ask the model to explain a saved instruction in plain Ukrainian and state what the document does not say. Check several topics against downloaded sources, looking for invented facts, mixed languages and missing cautions. Fluent Ukrainian does not prove medical, repair or survival knowledge.

Google AI Edge Gallery: on-device AI on your phone

Google AI Edge Gallery is Google’s free experimental app for Android 12+ and iOS 17+. It runs compatible models on the phone; it is neither cloud Gemini nor a mobile version of Survival LLM. After downloading a model, test chat in airplane mode. Separate features such as Wikipedia search or maps may need a connection.

1. Install Google AI Edge Gallery from Google Play or the App Store using the official links below. Open AI Chat, choose a compatible model from the list and tap Download, then Try It. Some models require a Hugging Face sign-in and license acceptance.

2. For Ukrainian, try Gemma 3 4B IT if it is offered and fits in memory. Gemma 3 4B is multilingual; the 1B model is officially English-oriented. Ask: “Answer only in Ukrainian, do not switch to Russian. If you do not know, say so clearly.” Test several answers: we have not tested Ukrainian quality or stability on your phone.

Google Gallery uses compatible LiteRT models, including .litertlm files; the MamayLM GGUF file from PocketPal cannot simply be imported as-is. Google does not claim Gallery includes the Survival LLM library. Keep reference material separately in Kiwix.

If PocketPal crashes: another Android option

LM Playground is a separate Android app supporting GGUF and custom models. Install it from Google Play through the developer’s repository link, download the main MamayLM 4B Q4_K_M .gguf file from the link below, import the custom model in the app and load it for chat. Button names may vary between releases. This is an option to test, not a guarantee that this model will run without crashes.

If the app closes, restart your phone, close other apps, free storage, start a short new chat and reduce the context setting if available. Try a smaller model, but check its Ukrainian separately: smaller models often give weaker answers. File size is not the RAM requirement; changing apps will not solve a RAM shortage.

How to request Ukrainian answers in Survival LLM

1. Install Survival LLM on your computer and finish downloading the engine, model and library. Open Instructions, keep the existing rules and append: “Answer in Ukrainian. Search the library and name the sources used. If a source is in English, explain it in Ukrainian without changing its meaning. Say when you are uncertain or cannot find a source.” Press Save. Reset restores the original instructions.

2. Use Your files to add trusted Ukrainian text-based PDFs, documents or notes, such as official civil-protection instructions and equipment manuals. The app cannot yet read scanned pages without recognized text. Ask in Ukrainian about an added document, open the source and compare the answer to the original.

The instruction does not install a Ukrainian model or translate the library. If a Ukrainian search finds nothing, retry with English keywords and ask for a Ukrainian explanation. The model may mistranslate or mix languages; verify facts and critical cautions against the source. We have not tested Ukrainian search and answers in the app. We could not confirm an officially documented simple way to install MamayLM inside the Survival LLM graphical app.

Sources and useful links

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