On-device AI
Ask Omni, Private AI in the Mac Notch
To chat with a private AI in the Mac notch, hover the notch, open Ask Omni, and type or paste a prompt. Rewrite, extract, or summarize runs on Apple Intelligence Foundation Models on that Mac, so the prompt is not sent to an OmniNotch server. There is no OmniNotch account. The app is a one-time license, $5 now and $14.99 list, not a subscription.
The problem
Most menu-bar AI tools send the text you paste to a remote API. Clipboard snippets, meeting notes, and half-finished drafts are the wrong things to upload for a one-line rewrite.
How it works in the notch
- 01Open Ask Omni. Hover the Mac notch and open Ask Omni. No separate chat window to find.
- 02Paste a prompt. Paste or type the text. Choose rewrite, extract, or summarize in place.
- 03Run on this Mac. The reply uses Apple Intelligence Foundation Models when Apple Intelligence is enabled on a supported Mac.
- 04Check local AI meters. Open Live AI Usage in the same notch to see Claude, Codex, or Copilot CLI limits read from the Mac, not from a cloud meter.
How to rewrite text without uploading it
Cloud chat apps win on model size. They lose when the paragraph is a draft, a client note, or a password-adjacent snippet you do not want in someone else's log. Ask Omni only runs when Apple Intelligence is on. If that toggle is off, the chat will not pretend to work. Confirm it in System Settings → Apple Intelligence & Siri before you rely on it.
Pair it with clipboard history in the Mac notch when the sentence you want rewritten is already on the pasteboard. History stays on the Mac and skips password-manager clips when OmniNotch can detect them.
Use cases
Tighten a Slack reply without opening a browser. Pull action items out of notes you pasted from a call. Summarize a README section while the file is still in front of you. These are short jobs. They do not need a signed-in web chat.
When another tool is the better choice
Use a cloud model when you need web search or a larger model than Apple ships on-device. Keep Alcove if you only want media animation — see OmniNotch vs Alcove. Keep NotchNook if a specific module you already paid for is the job — see OmniNotch vs NotchNook. For the longer explanation of what stays on the Mac, read private AI on the Mac notch.
Privacy notes
Prompts stay on-device. OmniNotch has no cloud sync and no telemetry. Read the privacy policy.
Questions
- Does Ask Omni upload my prompts?
- No. Ask Omni runs on Apple Intelligence Foundation Models on your Mac. OmniNotch does not operate a prompt API.
- Which Macs can run Ask Omni?
- Macs that support Apple Intelligence and have it enabled. If Apple Intelligence is unavailable, Ask Omni will not answer.
- Is Ask Omni a subscription?
- No. OmniNotch is a one-time license: $5 now, then $14.99. Ask Omni is included.
- Can I use Ask Omni without an account?
- Yes. There is no OmniNotch account. Activate the license once; chat does not sign you into a cloud.
- Does Ask Omni browse the web?
- No. It rewrites, extracts, summarizes, and brainstorms from the text you give it. It does not search the web.
- Where do clipboard snippets go if I paste them in?
- The prompt stays on the Mac for the on-device model. Clipboard history itself is stored only on the device.