Zimmer AI FAQ
Zimmer AI gives one person a local workspace on macOS or Windows and gives a team a private-network appliance on company-owned Apple-silicon hardware. Both run open-weight models on hardware the user controls, keeping prompts, code, documents, and answers on that machine or network.
Three answers first
- Zimmer Desktop is free forever for individual personal or commercial use on an Apple-silicon Mac or Windows PC.
- Zimmer Server is the separate multi-user appliance for private team networks, with a free three-seat pilot and Team pricing from $29 per user monthly.
- Zimmer for Android is live on Google Play for supported Android 15+ phones with at least 12 GB RAM and 8 GB free storage.
By Omer Khan, Zimmer (Fihi Labs UG) · Published May 3, 2026 · Updated August 27, 2026
Choose the Zimmer AI surface that matches the job
The deciding question is not which tier unlocks more features. It is whether one person, a team, or a supported Android phone needs to run the model.
| Situation | Use | Hardware | Honest boundary |
|---|---|---|---|
| One person | Zimmer Desktop | Apple-silicon Mac or Windows PC | Linux is not supported. |
| Private team network | Zimmer Server | Company-owned Apple-silicon Mac | No Windows/Linux server host or Enterprise SSO yet. |
| Supported phone | Zimmer for Android | Android 15+, 12 GB RAM, 8 GB free | It is not a Desktop or Server client. |
For one person on a Mac or Windows PC
Choose Zimmer Desktop when the work belongs to one person and one computer. The app is complete on its own, not a trial or a reduced edition of Zimmer Server.
What is Zimmer AI?
Zimmer AI is a local-first workspace for running open-weight models on hardware you own. Zimmer Desktop serves one person on a Mac or Windows PC, while Zimmer Server serves teams from a company-owned Apple-silicon machine. Prompts, source code, documents, and answers stay on your machine or private network.
Is Zimmer Desktop really free for individual use?
Yes. Zimmer Desktop is free forever for personal and commercial use on one machine, with no subscription, token charge, usage cap, or trial expiry. Optional sign-in exists for account and subscription features, but local models do not require an account. The paid Team product solves a different multi-user problem.
Which computers can run Zimmer Desktop?
Zimmer Desktop supports Apple-silicon Macs and Windows computers in x64 and arm64 builds. Linux is not supported. A useful local coding setup starts around 16 GB of unified memory with a 4B-class Q4 model; 32–36 GB is a comfortable range for 14B-class models or larger mixture-of-experts models.
Do I need Python, Docker, a terminal, or an API key?
No. Zimmer Desktop bundles a llama.cpp server for GGUF models and downloads the runtime automatically. You can browse Hugging Face models, choose a quantization, and launch one through the app. Zimmer can also connect to Ollama, LM Studio, vLLM, or a hosted endpoint when you deliberately choose one.
For a team on a private network
Choose Zimmer Server when several people need governed access to shared models and documents. The constraint is team architecture, not an upgrade path from Desktop.
What does Zimmer Server cost?
Zimmer Server includes a free three-seat pilot. The Team plan costs $29 per user each month or $250 per user each year when billed annually, for businesses from five employees. Enterprise pricing is custom. Nothing is metered, so heavier model use does not create a larger per-token bill.
What hardware does Zimmer Server require?
Zimmer Server currently runs only on Apple-silicon Mac hardware. A Mac Studio is recommended for a team, while a Mac mini is supported for a small team. More Macs can join as nodes in about two minutes. Linux, GPU nodes, and native Windows server hosting are roadmap items, not shipped capabilities.
How are document permissions enforced?
Zimmer Server applies group permissions as a hard filter inside vector retrieval. Restricted passages are removed before the model receives context, so the model cannot reveal text it never saw. Grants and revocations take effect on the next question, and every permission change and denied retrieval is written to an access log.
How do employees connect without exposing the server?
Zimmer Server opens zero inbound ports. A single-use enrolment payload remains valid for 60 minutes; the employee pastes it once, and the device creates a keypair with its private key sealed in the Mac Keychain. Browser users receive a one-time code, and revocation blocks a device on its next request.
Privacy, offline use, and licensing
Local content processing and the small amount of account or licence data are separate paths. These answers state exactly where that boundary sits.
Does Zimmer AI send prompts, files, or answers to the cloud?
No. Local inference, document indexing, retrieval, and agent tool calls run on your computer or Zimmer Server. Opt-in desktop telemetry is off by default and carries performance metadata only, never prompts, answers, file paths, or identity. Account, payment, pilot-registration, and licence records are separate from customer content.
Does Zimmer AI work offline or on an air-gapped network?
Local inference works offline after a model has been downloaded. Team and pilot deployments normally verify the licence roughly every seven days and continue through a 14-day grace period. Fully air-gapped Enterprise deployments use a signed offline licence file instead. Internet-backed connectors naturally stop when their external services are unreachable.
What does the Team licence heartbeat send?
The Team heartbeat sends exactly six fields: licenseKeyId, instanceId, nonce, appVersion, platform, and the aggregate seatsUsed count. It does not send user identities, prompts, responses, document content, model names, file paths, or hostnames. The check runs roughly every seven days, with a 14-day grace period.
Zimmer AI on Android
The Android app is public, but handset eligibility is deliberately narrow. Check the floor before installing so the on-device model has enough memory and storage.
Is Zimmer AI available on Android?
Yes. Zimmer for Android is public on Google Play and runs Gemma 4 E2B on the handset. The supported floor is Android 15 or later, 12 GB of RAM, and 8 GB of free internal storage before the roughly 2.58 GB model download. Unsupported devices may not see the listing.
Does the Android app run desktop models or connect to Zimmer Server?
No. Zimmer for Android is a separate on-device assistant built around Gemma 4 E2B. It does not run the same models as Zimmer Desktop, host Zimmer Server, or connect to a Zimmer Server. It offers a seven-day trial followed by a one-time Zimmer Lifetime purchase through Google Play.
Where Zimmer AI is not the right fit
A useful FAQ should make rejection as easy as selection. These are the current trade-offs and unshipped boundaries that matter before download or deployment.
When is a hosted frontier model the better choice?
Choose a hosted frontier model when maximum reasoning quality matters more than local control, or when your computer cannot run a useful open model. Claude, GPT, and Gemini outperform models that fit on a typical laptop. Zimmer trades some peak capability for privacy, offline operation, ownership, and predictable cost.
What important features are not shipped?
Zimmer AI does not support Linux Desktop, Linux or GPU server nodes, native Windows server hosting, or Enterprise SSO today. Zimmer also does not train or fine-tune models and is not a complete IDE replacement. Voice dictation and JJ Mode are macOS-only; chat and agents work on macOS and Windows.
Continue with the relevant detail
Explore models and hardware fit, review the team security architecture, or compare current plans and the free three-seat pilot. For personal use, ; supported Android users can install it from Google Play.