Answers
Is on-device AI as good as cloud AI?
Not for everything: the models that fit on a phone or laptop are far smaller than the ones cloud services run, so they are worse at long writing and complex reasoning. For finding, sorting and tagging your own notes the gap is much smaller, and on-device AI keeps your notes on your device while it works.
Where cloud AI is better
- Writing and rewriting long passages.
- Answering general questions that need knowledge beyond your notes.
- Speed on older or low-powered devices, which have to do on-device work themselves.
Where on-device AI holds up
- Search by meaning: matching “the note about the landlord dispute” to a note titled “Flat — March”.
- Filing and tagging notes by what they are about.
- Working without a connection, and without your notes leaving the device.
What Prevon does
Prevon uses on-device AI for search and filing, the jobs where a small model does well and privacy matters most. There is no cloud AI in the app, so it will not write you an essay. The AI features are in beta and still being built. Prevon is in a private beta and has not had an independent security audit. It is designed so that we cannot read your notes; until someone outside the company has checked that, “designed” is the accurate word.
Prevon is in private beta.
There is no public download yet. Leave an email and we write once, when it opens to everyone.