Apple’s cloud AI. Free for small devs.

Daniel Nguyen (builds BoltAI) applied and got approved in 30 minutes. Apple now lets small developers run its own AI model on its servers, inside their apps, and pays the bill itself. No API key. No token costs.

↑ Daniel’s post, 10 Oct 2026. 34.6K views, 542 bookmarks.

You pay

for every message every user sends. More users = bigger bill. Free plans hurt.

$0

Apple covers it. Each user gets a daily limit tied to their own iCloud account.

Qualify, then apply.

Be an Apple developer

You need a paid Apple Developer Program account. You must be the Account Holder, not just a team member.

Join the App Store Small Business Program

Free. For anyone under $1M a year in App Store proceeds (new developers qualify automatically). Bonus: Apple’s cut drops from 30% to 15%.

accept the Paid Apps agreement in App Store Connect list any linked developer accounts developer.apple.com/app-store/small-business-program

Request PCC access

Go to developer.apple.com/private-cloud-compute → Request the entitlement. Apple pre-fills your name, email and Team ID. Tick one box, press Request access.

↑ My own request, sent while making this guide. Daniel’s approval email came within 30 minutes.

Switch it on, then call it.

Turn on the capability for your app

Apple’s email says the entitlement is “assigned to your account”. Now attach it to an app: Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles → Identifiers → your App ID, turn on Private Cloud Compute, then refresh signing in Xcode.

One line of Swift

It’s the same Foundation Models framework as the on-device model. You just swap the model:

import FoundationModels

// on-device: SystemLanguageModel  (4K context)
// Apple's cloud: 32K context, reasoning, images, tools
let model = PrivateCloudComputeLanguageModel()

if model.isAvailable {
  let session = LanguageModelSession(model: model)
  let reply = try await session.respond(
    to: "Summarize this: \(text)")
}

Handle the daily limit

Each user has a daily quota. Check model.quotaUsage.isLimitReached, then fall back to the on-device model or show a quiet “limit reached” state. Test it in Xcode: Scheme → Options → Simulate Apple Foundation Models Availability.

5 catches. 1 big win.

Apple apps only

Runs inside iOS, iPadOS, macOS, visionOS, watchOS apps. No web app, no Android, no calling it from your server.

Newer devices only

OS 27+ on Apple Intelligence devices. Always keep a fallback for everyone else.

2 million download cap

Any app over 2M first-time downloads? You get 6 months to move to another AI provider. TestFlight installs don’t count.

No paid tier yet

Apple says paid expanded access is coming. Until then, outgrowing it means switching.

Users have a daily limit

Their own iCloud quota, raised with iCloud+. Don’t build features that need hundreds of calls a day.

The win: free plans that don’t bleed

Summaries, chat, photo-to-text, smart search. Give AI away free and charge for the rest. Your margin goes up.

• Apple Developer account ($99/yr)
• Join Small Business Program
• Request PCC entitlement
• Wait for Apple’s email
• Turn it on for your App ID
• Swap in the PCC model
• Handle quota + fallback
• Ship on TestFlight first

Next →

Free AI means nothing without an app. Turn the page for how I build mine with Claude Code.