Perplexity’s Computer can now run entirely on your Mac, even offline

Perplexity has introduced a local-first mode for its Mac app, enabling the AI Computer to operate entirely on the device, even without an internet connection. This feature, dubbed Local-first, expands upon the previously launched Hybrid Compute option. Hybrid Compute, introduced in September, combines cloud-based models for research and reasoning with a local model for handling private files.

Now, Perplexity claims that the AI model, task director, and file processing can all occur on the Mac, with files only reaching the cloud with the user's approval. Authorized cloud access is still available for tasks requiring real-time data, browser usage, or connected apps. The new local mode is currently available to users of Perplexity Pro, Max, and Enterprise plans, and it supports Qwen 3.6 and PPLX Pro as local model choices.

These models can be downloaded and set up within the app. To take full advantage of the Local-first feature, users need an Apple silicon Mac equipped with a minimum of 36GB of unified memory. More details on this latest Perplexity Computer upgrade are available at the provided link.