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How to Use Ollama From Your Android Phone in 2026

Ollama lets you run large language models on your desktop. Models that are too big for your phone - Llama 3.1 70B, Mistral Large, CodeLlama 34B - can run on your desktop and be accessed from your phone over your home network.

What you need

  • Desktop or laptop running Ollama with at least one model loaded
  • Android phone with Off Grid installed
  • Both devices on the same WiFi network (or Ollama accessible via VPN/Tailscale)

Step 1 - Configure Ollama to accept remote connections

By default Ollama only listens on localhost. To accept connections from your phone:

macOS / Linux:

OLLAMA_HOST=0.0.0.0 ollama serve

Or set it as a permanent environment variable:

# ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc
export OLLAMA_HOST=0.0.0.0

Windows: Set OLLAMA_HOST=0.0.0.0 as a system environment variable and restart Ollama.

Step 2 - Find your desktop’s local IP

macOS: System Settings → Network → your WiFi connection → IP address (e.g. 192.168.1.42)

Windows: ipconfig in terminal → IPv4 address under your WiFi adapter

Linux: ip addr show - look for your WiFi interface

Step 3 - Connect from Off Grid

  1. Open Off Grid → Settings → Remote Servers
  2. Tap Add Server
  3. Enter: http://192.168.1.42:11434 (replace with your desktop’s IP)
  4. Tap Test Connection - it should show green
  5. Tap Save

Step 4 - Select a model and chat

  1. Open the model picker
  2. You’ll see models loaded on your Ollama server listed under Remote
  3. Select one and start chatting

Your queries go from your phone → your desktop → back to your phone. Nothing touches the internet.

Using Tailscale for access outside your home

If you want to use Ollama from your phone while away from home, Tailscale creates a private VPN between your devices. Install it on both your desktop and phone, then use the Tailscale IP of your desktop instead of the local one.

FAQ

Can I use Ollama from my phone without internet? Yes - over local WiFi only. For remote access you need Tailscale or a similar VPN.

Which Ollama models work best from a phone? Any model loaded on your desktop works. llama3.1:70b and mistral-large are popular choices since they’re too large to run locally on a phone.