PocketBot Beta: Privacy-First iOS AI Agent with Hybrid Local/Cloud Engine

PocketBot is a new iOS AI agent in TestFlight beta that runs in the background and hooks into iOS App Intents to orchestrate tasks without requiring screen interaction. The developers built it over four weeks, inspired by OpenClaw, to move beyond chatbot functionality.

Technical Architecture

Due to Apple's restrictive background execution limits, the team initially tried running a 3b LLM entirely locally but found RAM constraints on newer iPhones made this insufficient for complex tasks. They implemented a privacy-first hybrid engine:

• Local component: Handles all system triggers, native executions, and PII sanitization. Runs 100% on-device.
• Cloud component: Processes complex logic like summarizing 50 unread emails, alerting about Bitcoin price movements exceeding 5%, or booking flights online. Prompts are routed to a secure Azure node after local PII sanitization scrubs sensitive data, sending only placeholders instead of private information.

Beta Access and Limitations

The TestFlight beta is available at https://testflight.apple.com/join/EdDHgYJT. For Google integrations (Gmail or Google Calendar daily briefings), there's a limitation: Google caps the OAuth app at 100 users during early beta. Users wanting Google features must visit getpocketbot.com and fill out the Tally form at the bottom for first-come, first-served access to those 100 slots.

The developers encourage testing with "crazy pocks" (presumably pockets/automations) to identify and fix issues.