Documentation / 1.12.1

Use Toskar on your phone, tablet, TV, watch, or in the car

Chat with the AI on your computer from your phone, tablet, TV, or watch, talk with it in the car, and ask Toskar about text in any app.

The Toskar app for phones, tablets, TVs, and watches uses the models on your computer, with your chats, memory, and knowledge. You connect each device to your computer once, with a code the computer shows.

A phone or tablet can also run a small model on the device itself, and a TV has a demo you can try without a computer.

What you need

Toskar running on a computer: Toskar Pro, or Toskar Core. See Install and start your first chat.
The Toskar app from your device's app store.
The device and the computer on the same network to connect. Away from home, Reach Toskar away from home keeps it working.

Connect a device

On the computer, open Computers and choose Connect a device. If network access is off, choose Allow and show a code. It turns on at once, with no restart.
On the device, open Toskar and choose your computer under On this network. If it isn't listed, enter the address the computer shows.
Type the 6-digit code. It works once, for 10 minutes. The computer shows the device's name when it connects.

Tip: The connection is encrypted. Once the device connects, it shows a short check code in its Settings. If it doesn't match the one the computer showed, disconnect the device and connect it again.

What a connected device can do

Each device gets a key of its own. That key can chat, see your conversations, and read lists such as models and computers. It can't change settings, models, or keys on the computer.

Disconnect a device any time in Settings, under Your devices. An Admin can also disconnect any device in API Access, under Devices. A disconnected device needs a new code to connect again.

Chat on the device itself

A phone or tablet can also run a small model of its own, for when your computer is off or out of reach. Open Models in the app and choose Install on one under On this device. These are the smaller models from the Toskar catalog, and the file stays on the device.

To chat on the device, choose a model under On this device in the chat's model menu. Auto there picks the best installed one for each message.
When the computer can't be reached, the error offers Chat on this device, which sends the same message to the device's model.
Nothing you write leaves the device. With Look up current information on, in Settings under Chat on this device, a question about the weather or news searches the web: only the search words leave the device, and the answer lists its sources.
If a model can't load or runs out of memory, a smaller one answers instead, and the answer says so.

Notifications on the device

Turn on Notifications from your computer in the app's Settings, under Notifications on this device. Your computer's notices, such as an automation's result, then arrive even when Toskar is closed or you're away from home. Choose what they say in Settings › Notifications on the computer, and see them all in the app's Activity tab. Notifications covers which notices there are.

Ask Toskar about text in any app

Select text in another app, then choose Ask Toskar from the share sheet or the text menu. Toskar can fix, rewrite, translate, explain, summarize, or reply to it. From the text menu, Replace puts the answer in place of the text.
Where the device has them, Fix, Rewrite, Translate, Summarize, and Explain with Toskar are also in Shortcuts, Spotlight, and Siri.

On your TV and your watch

On a TV, ask with the microphone on the remote, or type. Without a computer connected, the TV app's demo answers a few suggested questions with sample answers, and nothing leaves the TV.
On a watch, ask from the app or your watch face. The watch asks your computer directly, at home or away, and asks through your phone when it can't.

In the car

Talk with Toskar out loud on the car's screen (CarPlay). It speaks its answers and doesn't show them, so your eyes stay on the road. Set it up while you're parked.

Toskar Unlock, on this phone.
Something to answer: a computer you've connected, or a model on this phone.
The microphone and speech recognition allowed for Toskar. Open Toskar on the phone once to be asked.

Connect the phone to your car, and open Toskar on the car's screen. It starts listening right away.
Ask your question. A short pause tells Toskar you've finished.
Listen to the answer. It's spoken a sentence at a time.
Ask a follow-up in the next 5 seconds, and it continues the same chat. Say nothing, and it ends quietly and your music comes back.

New conversation starts over, Stop ends the answer, and End closes Toskar. Continue the conversation on the car's screen picks up where you left off.
If you open it and say nothing for 8 seconds, it closes on its own.
The chat is in the app afterwards, on whichever device answered.

Who answers in the car

The computer answers when the Chat tab is set to it. If the computer can't be reached, the model on this phone answers instead, so it still works with no signal. A follow-up that moves to the phone starts a new chat, because the earlier messages are on the computer.

With the phone locked, it can only use its processor and has little time, so a phone model answering in the car uses your smallest one. A connected computer answers instead when it can be reached quickly. A small model is the best fit for the car, and long answers may be cut short.

Make the voice sound better

Toskar uses the best voice on your phone for the language it's speaking. Most phones start with a basic one that sounds robotic, and apps can't download voices themselves. To get a more natural one, open the phone's Settings, go to Accessibility, Read & Speak, Voices, choose your language, and download a voice marked Premium or Enhanced. Toskar uses it the next time it speaks.

Troubleshooting

What you see	What to do
That code has expired	Choose Show a new code on the computer, and type the new one.
The code was cancelled after too many wrong tries	Choose Show a new code, and type it carefully.
The computer isn't under On this network	Enter the address the computer shows instead. Check that the device and the computer are on the same network.
Toskar may not look for computers on your network	Allow Toskar to use the local network in the device's privacy settings.
Can't reach your computer away from home	The computer may be off or asleep, or access from anywhere may be off on it. See Reach Toskar away from home.
Notifications are off for Toskar in this device's settings	Choose Open Settings, turn notifications on for Toskar, and come back.
Update Toskar on your computer to get notifications here	Update Toskar on the computer, then turn notifications on again.
In the car: Toskar needs the microphone and speech recognition	Once you're parked, allow both for Toskar in the phone's privacy settings.
In the car: Toskar isn't on the car's screen	While parked, check the car's app list in the phone's Settings, under General, CarPlay, and add Toskar. Update Toskar if it's an older version.
In the car: Toskar in the car comes with Toskar Unlock	Get Toskar Unlock on your phone once you're parked.
In the car: Toskar on your phone has no model yet	No computer could answer, and this phone has no model. Add a small one once you're parked, in Models on the phone.
In the car: That didn't work	The computer stopped answering partway, or the phone ran out of time. Try again. With the phone locked, a smaller model is more likely to finish.
In the car: it stops listening too soon	It stops after 8 seconds of silence when it opens, and 5 seconds after an answer. Choose Ask Toskar or Continue the conversation on the car's screen to start again.

These pages describe Toskar 1.12.1. Download 1.12.1 and its release notes ↗ · Need help? Report a bug or request a feature ↗