Two routing systems
Smart Router can use Apple’s on-device Foundation Model, keeping the routing decision local, or a small configured remote model that receives the message and limited routing context.
| System | How it decides |
|---|---|
| Smart Router | Evaluates each message before generation and selects the everyday or stronger model. |
| Phone a Friend | Lets the local tool-capable model begin the turn and request a handoff only when needed. |
Set up Autopilot
- Open Settings → Autopilot and choose Smart Router or Phone a Friend.
- Select the everyday local chat model.
- Choose a configured stronger remote model or, on supported Macs, a second installed local model that fits alongside it.
- For Smart Router, select an on-device or remote router.
- Review the privacy disclosure, test the configuration, and turn on Autopilot.
Escalation levels
| Level | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Conserve | Keeps nearly everything on-device. |
| Balanced | Escalates when the stronger model is likely to make a meaningful difference. |
| Frontier | Escalates more readily when answer quality may benefit. |
Privacy controls
Pause cloud escalation keeps answers on-device. With a remote Smart Router, that router may still evaluate the message even though the answer is not handed to the stronger cloud model.
Knowledge-base excerpts stay local by default. They are included in a remote escalation only when you enable Allow escalation for knowledge-base chats.
Failure behavior and receipts
If routing is unavailable, times out, or produces an unreadable decision, Noema falls back to a local heuristic. If escalation is blocked by Off-grid Mode, unavailable, or incompatible with an attachment, the turn stays local.
- The response can show where the answer ran and why.
- Receipts identify local fallbacks, the stronger model, and user overrides.
- Totals can summarize local, cloud, and override behavior together with estimated energy or remote-cost savings.
- Use message actions to retry or reroute when you want a different model.