MacPaw Partners With Liquid AI to Bring On-Device AI to SetApp Developers

Ukraine-based software developer MacPaw has partnered with artificial intelligence company Liquid AI to build locally hosted AI capabilities for its products, with plans to eventually offer the same technology stack to developers building applications for its SetApp subscription platform.

The collaboration will initially support MacPaw’s AI assistant, Eney, which the company first introduced last year. MacPaw now intends to develop a version powered by on-device AI models using Liquid AI’s inference system, called Elix, alongside a local memory system designed to keep user data on the device.

Liquid AI co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Ramin Hasani said the company develops model architectures specifically tailored to the hardware on which they run, allowing AI systems to operate more efficiently while improving privacy and security by processing information locally instead of relying on cloud infrastructure.

Focus on privacy and offline AI experiences

MacPaw Chief Executive Officer Oleksandr Kosovan said locally hosted AI models will allow users to run assistants and agentic workflows even without an internet connection, providing greater flexibility and reducing dependence on remote servers.

Apple already offers developers access to its own on-device AI model. Still, Hasanii said Liquid AI is differentiating its technology by optimising models for different capabilities and building a customisation layer that allows systems to improve over time using user-provided data.

According to Hasani, the goal is to create adaptable AI models that become increasingly effective while remaining efficient enough to run directly on consumer devices.

SetApp prepares for an AI-focused future

MacPaw also plans to expand the role of artificial intelligence within SetApp, its subscription-based app marketplace, which currently serves more than 150,000 paying users. Once its local AI infrastructure is fully developed, the company intends to make the technology available to third-party developers so they can integrate on-device inference into their own applications.

Kosovan said the platform will also provide developers with access to cloud-based AI models from providers including Google, allowing SetApp to function as a central hub where developers can choose between local processing and external AI services depending on their applications’ requirements.

Credit-based AI pricing under development

Alongside the technology partnership, MacPaw is experimenting with a credit-based pricing model for AI-powered applications within SetApp. Under the proposed approach, users would receive several credits that could be spent on AI operations, with more complex tasks consuming additional credits.

The initiative reflects MacPaw’s broader strategy of preparing its software ecosystem for the growing adoption of artificial intelligence while giving developers flexible options to build privacy-focused AI applications that combine local processing with cloud services when needed.