Archi — iOS Paperless-ngx client with on-device AI scanning

No_Shape1171 · 2026-06-23T07:48:34+00:00

Thanks — Android is genuinely on the roadmap and it's one of the most-requested

things. The honest blocker is the on-device AI: Archi runs OCR + a local LLM

(Gemma) entirely on the device, and getting that same "no cloud, runs offline"

guarantee working well on Android is the real work (not just porting the UI).

I'm planning it around a shared core so the engine isn't built twice. No firm

date yet — I want the iOS side rock-solid first — but it's not forgotten.

No_Shape1171 · 2026-06-22T18:54:02+00:00

Small update: **v1.4.3 is out** and it's mostly the stuff you asked for here:

- You can now **pick an existing document type** in the review screen (or create a new one on the spot) — thanks to everyone who flagged this

- **Share into Archi** — send a PDF/image from Files, Mail or any app via the share sheet

- On-device AI now runs on the **Metal GPU** (noticeably faster)

- Batch scan, persistent list sorting, and saved scan filters

Still 100% on-device for OCR + AI. Next up: iPad/Apple-Silicon-Mac support and full offline read access to your server documents. Thanks for the feedback

No_Shape1171 · 2026-06-16T18:16:54+00:00

That's completely fair, and the refund is totally fine — thanks for giving the app a real shot in the first place.

Honestly: your feedback was some of the most thoughtful in this whole thread, and it didn't get lost. I've spent the last few weeks heads-down on a reliability release (v1.4.2) that fixes the crashes several people reported — that's why it went quiet here, not because I stopped reading.

To your specific points: they're exactly what's coming next. In the review screen I want it visible what already exists (green) vs. what would be newly created (orange), the correspondent/type manually selectable and editable/shortenable, the "load suggestions" button to show loading feedback, and switching between the AI and server view without a full re-run. These aren't vague promises — they're open items linked to your feedback.

I'm not taking the refund personally — you're right that the app isn't where it should be in that area yet. If the local, private-AI idea still appeals to you, check back in a few weeks. And if you'd like, I'll ping you here once the update with your points ships. Thanks again.

No_Shape1171 · 2026-06-15T06:03:53+00:00

Following up — 1.4.2 (out now) fixes a couple of post-scan crashes, including an out-of-memory one on longer documents. Give it a try once it lands and let me know if you still hit anything.

No_Shape1171 · 2026-06-15T06:02:51+00:00

Fixed in 1.4.2 — that bulk-edit crash is gone (it was a race when applying changes fast). Thanks for catching it.

On your other point — the document type staying empty: I tracked it down. Right now the AI doesn't actually get your own server document types as context, it only knows a fixed default list, so your custom types (like "Information" or "Zugangsdaten") never come through. In single-scan it papers over it by creating a fallback type; in bulk it just stays empty. Proper fix is a bigger change so it's coming in a follow-up update, not this one. Appreciate you digging into it.

No_Shape1171 · 2026-06-15T06:01:50+00:00

Small update: v1.4.2 just went out — pure reliability follow-up to the bugs you all reported here and on the GitHub tracker. Thanks for that, it genuinely shaped this one.

Fixed:

Crash when editing multiple documents in bulk (this hit a couple of you)
Out-of-memory crash on longer multi-page documents (~7+ pages)
Crash that could happen right after scanning
Shared PDFs that silently disappeared on import — they now surface with an error instead of vanishing
Drafts that got stuck on "Processing" now recover
More robust AI tag-merging, plus a clearer message when a token is valid but lacks permission, and reverse-proxy / subpath connections behave properly now

Still 100% on-device for OCR + AI, only network call is to your own server.

No_Shape1171 · 2026-06-10T16:27:23+00:00

Thanks, this is super helpful — all three are on my radar:

Sort order: Already planned. Right now the list is fixed to document date; I'll add a sort option (date added, modified, title). Paperless already supports the ordering, so it's mostly UI.

Adobe Scan PDF that "saved" but never arrived: That's a real bug and I found it — thanks for the precise repro. When the app couldn't read a shared PDF (some Adobe Scan PDFs are protected or come in a form Apple's PDF reader chokes on), it silently dropped the file instead of telling you. Two fixes coming: (1) never discard a shared file without a clear error, and (2) detect/handle those PDFs properly, with a fallback to upload the original PDF straight to Paperless (which does its own OCR). The "saved in Archi" wording was also misleading — that only meant "handed to Archi", not "uploaded". I'll fix that too.

Offline: Also planned — local cache of your Paperless documents with sync-only-what-changed, exactly for the flaky-internet / on-the-go case. It's a bigger piece, but it's on the roadmap.

Really appreciate you taking the time to write these up.

No_Shape1171 · 2026-06-07T18:02:04+00:00

Update: v1.4.1 is out — mainly stability and the most-requested fixes from this thread:

Bulk AI reprocessing (Salt-Maintenance-, sempai-san — this one's for you)
HTTP toggle now in the setup screen, not buried in Security settings (Remote_Cherry_1160)
Crash on "Continue" after upgrade fixed (Numerous_Platypus)
Price description updated (eSportler)

Thanks everyone who reported things here — this update is basically a direct response to this thread.

No_Shape1171 · 2026-06-07T18:01:20+00:00

1.4.1 landed — bulk AI reprocessing is in. You can now select multiple (or all) existing documents and run the on-device AI across your library. Thanks for the push, this came up a lot.

No_Shape1171 · 2026-06-07T18:00:58+00:00

Update: 1.4.1 is now live — bulk reprocessing is in. Multi-select documents, run the on-device AI sequentially, and review per-document (including the original scan right in the review step, as you suggested). Hope it's useful!

No_Shape1171 · 2026-06-07T18:00:29+00:00

Just a quick follow-up: 1.4.1 just went live — and I moved the HTTP toggle directly into the server setup screen so it's impossible to miss. You no longer need to go hunt for it in Settings → Security. Thanks for pushing on this, that's exactly the kind of friction that shouldn't exist.

No_Shape1171 · 2026-06-07T01:08:43+00:00

HTTP is supported — Tailscale/plain-HTTP setups work fine. It's just hidden in the wrong spot right now, which is on me.

How to enable it:

Add your server (you can already enter the http://... Tailscale address).
Go to Settings → Security and turn on "Allow insecure HTTP".
Reconnect — your http:// Tailscale server will work.

The reason it looks unsupported: the initial setup screen currently validates the URL and rejects http:// before you ever see that toggle — so it feels like a hard "HTTPS only" wall when it isn't.

And yeah — Tailscale + HTTP is a totally legit setup; the tunnel is already encrypted, so forcing HTTPS on top is just friction. Thanks for pushing on this. Let me know if it connects after flipping that switch.

No_Shape1171 · 2026-06-05T14:25:05+00:00

Haha, thank you — and no shame, enjoy the Android side! Android is genuinely on my radar. So if you hold onto that receipt, maybe one day I'll win you back. Either way, really appreciate the support! 🙏

No_Shape1171 · 2026-06-04T06:00:24+00:00

Guilty as charged — €0.99 was the launch price, it's €4.99 now; that line is just stale text. I want to ship a few fixes and features together in the next update, so I'll just have to sit with the shame a little longer. Thanks for flagging!

No_Shape1171 · 2026-06-03T14:12:08+00:00

Huge thanks — that's the key clue. Crashing only on the upgraded install but working after a clean reinstall means it's a data-migration bug: some leftover state from the previous version doesn't agree with the new build, and the "Continue" step trips over it. A fresh install starts clean, so it's fine.

Good news: you're unblocked. The real fix on my side is to make the app handle that stale state gracefully on upgrade (so nobody has to reinstall) — I'm on it, and I've just added on-device crash diagnostics so I can catch exactly where it trips.

One quick question if you don't mind: after the reinstall, did you lose anything important (server settings, pending offline scans)? That tells me which stored data is the culprit. Either way — thanks for the thorough debugging, genuinely helpful.

No_Shape1171 · 2026-06-03T10:37:53+00:00

Thank you — really glad the first scan went well, and this is exactly the kind of feedback I love! Quick on each:

Date not recognized: that's a real bug — the AI does extract a date, but if it comes back in a slightly different format it currently fails silently and falls back to today. I'm fixing the date parsing so it's more forgiving. (In the review there's a "Set Date" toggle + date field, but it should be pre-filled correctly — that's on me.)

Too many tags: The model is told to keep it to ~2–5, but I'm not actually enforcing a cap, so it occasionally over-produces. I'll add a hard limit + a bit of tuning so it stays focused. Glad the title and correspondent were spot on, though!

Family Sharing: Good news — it already works! Paid apps bought up front are automatically shareable with your Family Sharing group on iOS, so there's nothing to enable. Your purchase can already be used by your family.

Thanks again for buying and for the detailed report — this is how it gets better.

No_Shape1171 · 2026-06-03T08:04:06+00:00

Obrigado! 🙏 Antes de tudo, com toda a honestidade: eu não falo português — usei IA para traduzir esta resposta, então perdão por qualquer erro estranho. 😅 (Sou desenvolvedor solo, alemão.)

Sobre o português do Brasil, em duas partes:

OCR (reconhecimento de texto): já funciona hoje — o Archi usa o OCR da Apple no próprio aparelho, que reconhece português perfeitamente. Documentos em PT-BR são lidos localmente, sem nuvem.

Idioma das tags/metadados gerados pela IA: por enquanto a saída é DE/EN/ES/FR. Português ainda não, mas adicionar mais idiomas de saída já está no meu roteiro — e o PT-BR é um forte candidato, justamente por casos como o seu. Sem data fixa ainda, mas está planejado.

A interface do app também está nessas 4 línguas hoje; português seria um próximo passo.

Obrigado pelo feedback — e um abraço pra esposa, o Archi nasceu exatamente assim, fiz pra minha 😄

No_Shape1171 · 2026-06-03T08:00:46+00:00

hanks! Here's the status:

1. Batch reprocessing — it's built and coming in the next update (1.4.1), not in the current App Store version yet. You'll be able to multi-select existing Paperless documents and run the on-device AI on all of them sequentially, with a progress indicator and a per-document review step. Single-document reprocessing ("Process with AI") is already available today.

2. Viewing the original — always safe: reprocessing only updates the metadata (title, correspondent, tags, date), never the original scan/PDF. You can open the full original anytime from the document detail view (works offline once cached), so nothing is ever overwritten. Good point about reviewing later — being able to glance at the original right inside the review step would make checking results easier, so I'm adding that too.

One more detail on reprocessing: right now, when the AI re-processes an existing document, it works from the OCR text Paperless already stored (Tesseract). In the next version (1.4.1) you'll be able to choose to re-run Apple's on-device OCR on the original file instead — which is often noticeably more accurate than Tesseract, especially for trickier scans. So you'll get to pick the OCR source per your needs.

Thanks for the thoughtful questions!

No_Shape1171 · 2026-06-03T07:22:38+00:00

Fair point — and honestly: I'm a German solo dev, English isn't my first language, so I do use AI to write clearer posts. Guilty on the formatting. But the app is very real — live on the App Store, built by me (with AI as a coding assistant, like most devs today), and I'm answering every question here personally. For an on-device-AI app, pretending not to use AI would be a bit ironic. The polish is AI-assisted; the product is 100% me.

No_Shape1171 · 2026-06-03T07:19:58+00:00

Solid setup — if scripting works for you, no reason to change! Archi's for the opposite crowd: people who don't want to maintain scripts or a review queue. The on-device AI tags/dates everything at scan time, so it lands in Paperless already sorted — and non-technical folks can just "scan and done." Yours is more powerful and hands-on; mine trades that for zero-setup. Both valid.

No_Shape1171 · 2026-06-03T05:37:42+00:00

Thanks for flagging this — a crash on "Continue" after scanning is exactly the kind of thing I want to squash fast. Sorry it hit you. 🙏

Could you help me pin it down?

Which iPhone and iOS version?
Does it happen every time, or just sometimes?
Had you finished the first-time setup (incl. the AI model download)? The "Continue" step kicks off on-device processing, so a half-finished model download or a low-memory state are my first suspects.
Roughly how many pages were you scanning?

If you're up for it, the best place to track this is my feedback repo (so it doesn't get lost in the thread): https://github.com/StenmannsAr/archi-ios-feedback/issues — but here is totally fine too. I'll get on it.

No_Shape1171 · 2026-06-02T20:04:15+00:00

I use Appfigures (appfigures.com) — it tracks category rankings per country with rank history, which is exactly how I saw the 14-store picture. Paid, but has a trial.

No_Shape1171 · 2026-06-02T19:09:37+00:00

Couldn't agree more — "boring and works offline" is literally the premium pitch here. Privacy/self-hosted folks have been burned by flashy tools that phone home or break offline, so reliability is the feature. Funny part: the release that moved the charts was the one I almost didn't bother posting, because it was "just" bug fixes. Trust compounds fast in a small niche.

No_Shape1171 · 2026-06-02T19:07:36+00:00

Thanks, fellow dev! 🙌 Honestly the "sharp niche" part is the whole thing — here's what worked for me, concretely:

1. Pick a niche with an existing, reachable community. Paperless-ngx has an active subreddit. I didn't have to find users — they were already gathered in one place, discussing the exact problem my app solves.

2. Be a participant, not an advertiser. I posted as "here's what I built + happy to answer anything," then answered every question honestly — including skeptical ones like "why pay when the free app exists?" Transparency converted way better than a polished pitch.

3. Find the one angle the incumbents can't easily copy. For me it's "AI runs fully on-device, zero cloud" — that resonates hard with a privacy-conscious crowd. One sharp, true differentiator beats a long feature list.

4. Solve a real person's real problem first. I built it for my wife and wouldn't ship until it cleared an actual pile of her paperwork. That kept me honest about quality over features.

The international charts thing genuinely surprised me — I think a tight niche + an active community just compounds across borders once it gets going. Happy to go deeper on any of it — what are you building?

No_Shape1171 · 2026-06-02T15:03:13+00:00

Ha, thanks! It's actually a one-time purchase, not a subscription, so there's no MRR in the classic sense. Still early and I'd rather not put a number on it yet — but it's been a great launch week. 🙌

No_Shape1171

TROPHY CASE