Baku AI — for journalists
Everything you need on one page. Quotable facts, founder background, high-resolution screenshots, contact info. Nothing behind a form.
One-line description
Baku AI is an iPhone bedtime-story app for children ages 3–8 that runs Google's Gemma 4 language model entirely on-device — no internet, no accounts, no data collection. $5.99 one-time purchase.
Quick facts
| Launched | April 23, 2026 (App Store) |
| Platform | iOS 17+ (iPhone only) |
| Pricing | $5.99 one-time lifetime · optional $0.99/month for Personal Voice |
| Languages | English, Simplified Chinese, Spanish |
| Age range | 3–8 years |
| AI model | Google Gemma 4 E2B (4-bit quantized, ~1.5 GB) via MLX-Swift |
| Required hardware | iPhone 13 Pro / 14 / newer (≥ 6 GB RAM) |
| Compliance | COPPA + GDPR-K compliant by design (zero data collection) |
| App size | ~280 MB (excluding model) |
| Built by | Jingyang Ye (independent developer, no team, no VC) |
| Built in | San Francisco, 2025–2026 |
| App Store | apps.apple.com/app/id6762072650 |
What makes Baku AI newsworthy
- First fully on-device AI bedtime story app for kids in 2026. Most "AI for kids" apps send voice + prompts to a cloud LLM. Baku runs Gemma 4 entirely on the iPhone. Verifiable: airplane mode works.
- Built solo. One indie developer (Jingyang Ye), no team, no VC, no paid marketing. Shipped in ~6 months.
- Privacy-by-architecture, not by policy. The privacy story is a code-level guarantee, not a legal promise — there is no server to send data to.
- Anti-subscription. One-time $5.99 in a category dominated by $60–$130/year subscriptions (Calm Kids, Moshi, Headspace for Kids).
- App Store Kids category compliant (Guideline 1.3 + age 4+ rating) with parental gate, math-challenge for purchases + AI consent, no open chat input for children.
Founder bio
Jingyang Ye is an independent developer based in San Francisco. He built Baku AI for his own daughter after spending a year as a paying Calm Kids subscriber and reading the privacy policy. Before Baku, he worked in product at startups across the US and China. Baku is his first solo iOS project.
Quotable: "I wanted a bedtime app that doesn't send my daughter's voice to a server. I couldn't find one, so I built it. The whole thing is two thousand lines of Swift and a 1.5-gigabyte AI model. The hardest part was making the moon look right."
Screenshots & assets
High-resolution screenshots and the app icon are available at the App Store listing. For 1200×2670 device-frame mockups, custom hero shots, or anything else for editorial use, email Metaphoria1688@gmail.com with subject "Press: [publication name]" and we'll send the same day.
Story angles already pitched
- "Privacy-first" angle — kids data, COPPA, on-device vs cloud trade-offs
- "Indie technical achievement" angle — one developer ships an LLM-powered iOS app
- "Anti-subscription" consumer angle — for subscription-fatigue families
- "Apple Silicon AI showcase" angle — tech-press friendly
- "Parenting tool review" angle — practical, week-long trial pieces
Happy to provide founder time (call, email, or written Q&A) for any of these angles. Lead time: 24–48 hours.
Contact
Email: Metaphoria1688@gmail.com
Response time: within 24 hours during US business hours
Time zone: Pacific (San Francisco)