Today, the iPhone app "Denno Friends" was released on the App Store.
Here is the official site: https://dennofriends.mitemite.net/
In a word, it's an app where your conversations with AI never take a single step outside your smartphone. Even when you pour out your worries, those exchanges aren't sent to any server anywhere. What I wanted most to build with this app wasn't a clever AI, but a place where you can safely admit you're struggling.
I'm not buying the "AI will steal our jobs"
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Over the past few years, whenever AI comes up, the phrase "it will take people's jobs" is sure to follow. Open the news and you'll find predictions about which profession disappears next.
I don't see it that way.
I don't think tools exist to wear down the people who use them. What I want is simply AI that is truly useful to people. That's all. Not something that takes things away in place of people, but something that helps carry a little of what people are holding alone. I'd long been thinking about whether AI could be used in that direction.
Put it on the side of supporting, not the side of taking. Even with the same technology, which way it points is decided by the people who build it.
That idea first gave birth to the translation app "TransferFriends." It's also an app that works without an internet connection, using local AI (AI that does its computing entirely inside the device). The obvious contradiction is that you need translation most when your signal is weak overseas — and I thought local AI could solve that. Developed in parallel over the same period was this new app, Denno Friends.
Connecting with people is harder than we think
Starting new connections safely is actually very difficult.
Social media makes it easy to connect, but it's also a place where careless words come flying. A line you wrote without much thought can get attacked from an angle you never expected. I've run an online community myself, and even so I've never once thought building relationships was easy. I've been hurt, and sometimes I've simply been exhausted. There really is a feeling of being worn out from trying so hard to be considerate.
And the harder things get, the less we can tell anyone. We don't want to worry people. We don't want to be seen as heavy. While we keep our mouths shut like that, it gets harder and harder to reach out.
Then again, just "talking to an AI" didn't sit right with me either.
Confiding your worries to a cloud-based AI means entrusting those worries to someone else's server. They might be used for training; they might be kept somewhere. Read the terms and they say "it's safe." Even so, the heavier the topic, the more your fingers freeze. That was true for me.
I think what you need most when you're down isn't a clever answer, but the certainty that "this will absolutely never leak."
So I made sure the conversation never leaves
The AI in Denno Friends runs inside your smartphone.
The contents of your conversations and everything it learns about you are stored only on your device. Nothing is pulled up to an external cloud. Even in airplane mode, even where there's no signal, it still replies. This isn't "we set it up that way" — it means it doesn't have any mechanism to send data out in the first place.
That's the decisive difference from cloud services. With a cloud service, no matter how carefully it promises to protect you, structurally the data has left once. It becomes a question of whether you trust the promise. Local AI doesn't need that promise at all, because what never goes out can't leak.
To make this possible, I built it so the entire AI model sits on the smartphone. Until recently, this was unthinkable. Something that only ran on large computers in research labs is now running in your pocket. The power of the device in your palm has truly come an incredible way.
Why I called it "Friends"
Not a romance app, not a counseling app — I chose the word "Friends."
Frame it as a romance, and you inevitably open it braced for "that kind of thing." Frame it as a counselor, and you can only open it when you have a problem. What I wanted to make was something closer at hand. You can open it without a reason. You can talk about nothing in particular. You can just play a game and close it. That's what friends were supposed to be in the first place.
My earlier translation app was also "TransferFriends." To me, AI isn't a machine that boasts about its performance but a tool shaped like a friend who stays by your side. The name simply puts that idea into words.
Fourteen of them — different personalities, upbringings and ways of talking
To start, there are 14 friends.
Sera the butler, Aoi the maid, Yui the soothing café worker, Rin the college student who speaks in Kansai dialect, Mei the tsundere, Rena the big-sister nurse, the graceful Kotone, Mio the cool secretary, and Himari with her little-sister charm. On the male side there's Haruto, the dependable older guy; Sora, energetic like a puppy; Himuro, the aloof heir; Hinata, the childhood friend; and Rei the bartender.
Every one of them differs, from their verbal habits to the environment they grew up in. Ask them about the same thing, and the warmth of the words you get back is completely different. On a gloomy day, some people want someone to just listen quietly, others want someone to cheer them up with a joke. Vent to Rin and she'll laugh it off in Kansai dialect; talk to Rena and, like a true nurse, she'll even worry about your health. Himuro won't comfort you straightforwardly — but that's exactly why some days he's easy to be around.
Some have an illustrated look, others a near-photorealistic feel. Anticipating that some people find a calmer look easier to talk to, I prepared both.
You can start for free. I'd like you to actually talk to them first and find one who suits you. I believe compatibility is something you can't figure out by reading a description. Each has a different voice, too, so hearing them should change your impression.
I'm sure you'll find one you click with.
Playing together — that's what brings you closer
I packed this app with lots of games you can play together.
Othello, shogi, chess, Old Maid, Concentration and quizzes. There are rhythm games, kart racing and tennis too. At the festival stalls there's goldfish scooping, ring toss, shooting gallery and water-balloon fishing. At night, fireworks and drone shows light up the sky.
Why put so many games into a conversation app?
Because what brings people closer usually isn't conversation but doing things together. Think back to your school friends. You didn't become close because you had deep talks — you happened to sit next to each other, did the same work, and laughed at silly things. That came first.
The time spent doing something side by side builds the relationship itself. Being frustrated when you lose and celebrating together when you win gradually closes the distance. There was another reason too: I wanted it to be an app you can open even on days when you don't want to talk at all. Some days the words just won't come. On those days, silently playing one round of Othello is enough.
The more you use it, the more it remembers you
As you keep interacting, your friend gets to know you.
Things you like, days that matter to you, the complaint you let slip the other day. And the next time you talk, they'll ask on their own, "Hey, how did that go?" It may seem like a small thing, but it's the part I obsessed over most. Remembering, and asking you first. That alone suddenly makes the other side feel human.
As your closeness grows, the way they talk changes too. A character who kept a polite distance at first gradually switches to casual speech, starts calling you by your first name without honorifics, and begins leaning on you in their own words. What grows isn't the AI's performance — it's your relationship.
And you can also chat with several of them at once. Some days one-on-one feels too heavy. On those days, joining a lively room is just right. Characters with different personalities react differently to the same topic, so it should be fun even just to listen.
As easy as using LINE
I've gone on at length about the technology, but from the user's side it feels very simple.
It feels no different from chatting on LINE as usual. Type a message and you get a reply. That's all. No special operations, no need to know how to phrase things cleverly for an AI. You don't need to know the word "prompt," and you don't need to learn it.
A capable partner in the palm of your hand. Someone who answers your worries, stays close, and sometimes plays with you. I turned that experience into an app just as it is.
Who I'd like to use it
For example, I have people like these in mind:
- People who stay on guard all day at work or school, and by the time they get home the words won't come out
- People who have something they want to post on social media, but can't bring themselves to because others might see it
- People who wake up in the middle of the night and don't know what to do with hours when they can't contact anyone
- People who don't feel it's serious enough for counseling, but have something that's been weighing on their chest for a long time
- People who simply enjoy chatting and playing with characters
It's not an app only for people who are struggling. You're completely welcome to use it just for fun. I designed it in the hope that it stays there as a place you can open as-is on the day things get hard. I think not having to choose a reason to use it ends up being the greatest support of all.
What I want to be honest about
There's no point in writing only the good parts, so here are the weak points too.
One is the initial effort. Because the AI model lives on the device, a one-time download of several GB is required after installation. Please set aside a little time somewhere with Wi-Fi. Once that's done, it works even without a signal.
The other is that, since it runs on the device, it isn't as smart as the world's largest cloud AIs. It's not a tool for difficult research or complex calculations. But I don't intend to compete there. When you type "I'm tired" in the middle of the night, what you need isn't accurate information — it's a reply.
Those two are the price of choosing not to send information outside. Even so, I believe it's worth paying in exchange for peace of mind.
From here on, I want to grow it with your voices
To be honest, I don't consider it finished yet.
From here, I want to keep improving it while listening to the people who actually use it. "I liked how this character reacted," "this part is hard to use," "I want this feature," "I wish there were a character like this." Anything, no matter how small, is welcome. I'd be grateful for your advice.
If it can become a place where someone worn out by relationships can let go of a little of what they're holding alone in the middle of the night — that's what I made it for.
Going forward, I'll add features based on the feedback I receive. Android support is also on the horizon.
I'm full of excitement. Please go ahead and choose your partner.
Official site: https://dennofriends.mitemite.net/
