Disclosure: I work on Foreverse, one of the apps mentioned below. I've tried to keep this useful whether or not you pick us.
People keep asking the same question in r/SillyTavernAI: can I run SillyTavern on my iPhone? The short answer is no — not the SillyTavern server itself. The useful answer is that there are two routes that do work, and which one fits depends on whether you need the server or just your files.
Why the iPhone can't host SillyTavern
SillyTavern is a Node.js server. On Android you can keep one alive inside Termux (with some fighting against battery optimization). iOS does not let apps keep a server process running in the background, so there is no Termux-style route on iPhone and no packaged-server app like ST-android.
There is also no official SillyTavern mobile app on any platform. App Store listings with tavern-style names are independent apps that read the same file formats.
Route 1: a hosted SillyTavern in Safari
Keep SillyTavern running on a PC, a NAS, or a VPS, and open it in Safari. "Add to Home Screen" makes it feel app-like.
- You keep: every SillyTavern extension and setting, byte-identical behavior.
- You pay: something has to stay on and reachable. Away from home that means a VPN, a tunnel, or a public VPS — and then you are responsible for securing it.
Route 2: a native app that reads the same files
Several App Store apps import tavern character cards directly: Foreverse, MiniTavern, NativeTavern, and Tavo among them. They differ in which card versions, lorebook features, and providers they support, so check the import list before moving a big library.
- You keep: your cards, lorebooks, presets, and regex sets as standard files.
- You lose: third-party SillyTavern extensions. No native app runs them.
| Hosted SillyTavern in Safari | Native app | |
|---|---|---|
| What runs where | Server on your PC/NAS/VPS; iPhone is a browser | Everything on the iPhone; requests go to your model provider |
| Away from home | Needs the server reachable | Works anywhere with a network |
| Extensions | All of them | Built-in features only |
| Upkeep | You update and secure the server | App Store updates |
Getting your cards onto an iPhone
- In SillyTavern, export each card as PNG or JSON (lorebooks, presets, regex, and Quick Reply sets export as JSON).
- Save the files to the Files app — iCloud Drive is the easiest bridge from a PC.
- Import them in the app. In Foreverse you can also paste a Chub or JanitorAI character link and it fetches the card for you.
Embedded lorebooks and alternate greetings travel inside the card. Your desktop install is untouched, so you can run both while you decide.
What a native app still can't do
To be honest about the trade-off: third-party extensions don't run, vectorized lorebook lookup isn't there yet in Foreverse, and token budgeting is approximate rather than tokenizer-exact. If you depend on a specific extension, keep a hosted SillyTavern for that.
Which should you pick?
- You rely on extensions or tweak every setting → hosted SillyTavern in Safari.
- You mostly play cards with lorebooks and want it to work on the subway → a native app.
The full version of this guide, including the FAQ, lives here: SillyTavern on iPhone — what works on iOS. If you're comparing apps, there's an honest side-by-side of ten mobile options in SillyTavern alternatives on mobile.
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