Asiden is an AI desktop companion for Windows 11 that runs on your own hardware by default. Your conversations, your companion’s memories and anything it sees on your screen stay on your PC unless you deliberately switch on a cloud feature.
This page explains exactly what that means — what leaves your machine, what never does, and where the honest limits are.
1. What “private” usually means, and what it means here
Most AI companions are websites with a character on top. You type, the text travels to a company’s servers, a model on those servers produces a reply, and the whole exchange is stored in an account you do not control. That model can be swapped, the personality can be retuned, prices can change and the service can end — and the conversation history that mattered to you is on the other side of a login.
Privacy in that world is a policy: a promise about what a company will and will not do with data it already holds. It can be a perfectly good promise. But it is still a promise.
Asiden takes the other route. In its default local mode, there is no server holding your conversation, because the model producing the reply is running on your own graphics card, a few centimetres from your keyboard. Privacy stops being a policy and becomes an architecture. You do not have to trust us with the transcript, because we never receive it.
2. What local-first actually means in Asiden
When you install Asiden, it sets up a local language model on your PC. Choosing a companion, talking to them, building up memories over weeks — all of that runs through that local model. There is no queue, no rate limit and no “you have reached your daily messages” wall, because nothing is being metered on a server somewhere.
It also means Asiden keeps working when your connection does not. On a train, on hotel wifi, during an outage, or with the network switched off entirely, your companion is still there and still remembers you.
Local processing has a real cost, and we would rather state it plainly than bury it: the work happens on your machine, so the quality and speed of replies depend on your hardware. A capable gaming PC gives you a fast, fluent companion. A thin laptop with no discrete graphics will feel slower. That is the trade you are making in exchange for the transcript never leaving your desk.
3. What stays on your device
In local mode, all of the following stay on your PC:
- Every message you send and every reply your companion gives.
- The memories your companion forms — people, dates, routines, the things you told it in March that it brings up in June.
- Anything screen vision observes while you play, work or browse.
- Your choice of companion, your settings and your personas.
None of this is uploaded, backed up to us, mirrored, or reviewed by a human at Asiden Labs. There is no “anonymised sample” pipeline. The full detail is in the Privacy Notice.
4. What happens if you turn a cloud feature on
Asiden also offers optional managed cloud models, cloud voice and cloud vision, for people who want higher-end model quality than their hardware can produce locally. These are opt-in, never the default, and never silent.
When you enable one, the information needed for that specific request is sent securely to Asiden’s proxy and on to the selected provider. The app tells you, on screen, when you are running a cloud request rather than a local one. You can switch back to local at any time, and switching back means the traffic stops — there is no lingering sync.
Nothing leaves your machine without you choosing it, and when something is leaving your machine, the app says so while it is happening — not in a settings page you have to go looking for.
5. Your memory file is yours
A companion that remembers is only comforting if the remembering belongs to you. Asiden’s memories live in a folder on your drive. You can reset a companion’s memory from inside the app whenever you want, or delete the folder yourself and start clean — the files are on your machine, so nobody has to approve it.
There is no export request to file, no support ticket, no thirty-day deletion window. It is a file on your computer, and you own the computer.
6. No message limits, no account, no meter
Asiden is a one-off $10 during early access. After that, local conversations are unlimited: no daily cap, no token budget quietly counting down, no sign-in and no monthly fee. Optional cloud subscriptions exist inside the app for people who want premium models, but nothing about the core local experience is gated behind them. See pricing.
Asiden is currently in early access, and managed cloud plans are limited to 100 subscribers during that period. Local use is not limited at all.
7. When Asiden is not the right fit
We would rather you know before you download.
- You are not on Windows 11. Asiden is built exclusively for Windows 11. There is no macOS, Linux, iOS or Android version.
- You want it on your phone. Asiden is a desktop application. A companion that runs on your PC cannot follow you into your pocket.
- Your PC has no capable GPU. Local models are demanding. Without decent hardware, local replies will be slow, and you would be relying on the optional cloud features — which is a legitimate way to use Asiden, but it is not the private one.
- You need support, not a companion. Asiden is not a therapist, a medical professional or a crisis service. Please read the Safety and Crisis Protocol.
8. Common questions
Does Asiden train on my conversations?
No. In local mode there is nothing to train on, because we never receive your conversations. Managed cloud requests are used to answer that request and are covered by the Privacy Notice.
Is anything sent at startup or in the background?
The app checks for updates and, if you hold a licence or cloud entitlement, validates it. That is licensing and version information — not conversation content.
Can I use Asiden entirely offline, forever?
Yes, once installed and set up. Local chat, memory and companion behaviour do not require a connection.
Who is behind Asiden?
Asiden Labs Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (number 17312549). Our contact address and details are in the footer of every page.
Try it on your own machine.
Asiden is a one-off $10 during early access. Buy it once and local conversations are unlimited — no account, no internet connection, no monthly fee.