Perplexity announced on October 20 that Computer, the agent built into its Mac app, can now run fully locally on Apple silicon Macs. In this mode the AI model, the agent harness and the execution of the task all stay on the device. Perplexity says personal data is not sent to the cloud when Computer runs locally, so sensitive work can stay on the Mac from planning to the finished file.
This follows the version for Windows PCs with their own graphics card that we covered in September: Perplexity puts its agent on your own GPU.
Two modes
Hybrid Compute: planning and reasoning happen in the cloud, while private files are processed on the Mac.
Fully local: planning, reasoning, file processing and tool use all run on the Mac. The agent works with local files and supported apps, including Notes, Messages, Mail and Numbers, and runs code and tools in isolated sandboxes with controlled access to files and connected apps.
Some tasks still need the internet: current information, browser use and connected apps. For those, the user has to approve sending the task to the cloud, where the local orchestrator can call one of more than 15 frontier models for harder reasoning.
Requirements and models
Plans: Perplexity Pro, Max and Enterprise.
Hardware: supported Apple silicon Macs; Perplexity names the new Mac mini with M6 and M5 Pro as examples and recommends 36 GB of RAM or more.
Local models: Qwen 3.6 and PPLX Pro, a post-trained version of Qwen.
Setup: update the Perplexity Mac app, download a local model following the in-app instructions, then choose fully local for a task.
Perplexity's examples include reviewing a private portfolio against guidelines and updating an Excel workbook and a Keynote deck, building a client proposal with a budget from confidential notes, and going through Messages and Mail to make a to-do list in Notes and draft replies for review.
Who it matters to
Local mode is aimed at people who handle client, financial or personal data and cannot paste it into a cloud assistant. The trade-off is hardware and capability: Perplexity recommends 36 GB of memory, and for advanced reasoning it still points to the frontier models it runs in the cloud.
What this means if you use Perplexity
If you already pay for Pro or Max and have a Mac with enough memory, try local mode on one task that involves private files and compare the result with Hybrid Compute before relying on it.
If you mainly use Perplexity for search and fresh answers, little changes: anything that needs the web still goes to the cloud. Our Perplexity review covers plans and the main features.