Eney: Is MacPaw's New AI Companion Truly Ready to Run Your Mac?

At TheSweetBits, we have a soft spot for MacPaw. They don’t just build apps; they craft experiences. Their latest project, Eney, promises to be more than just another chatbot—it’s designed to be an AI-powered Mac assistant that actually does things for you, not just answer questions.

What is Eney?

Eney isn’t being marketed as just an app, but as a “Computerbeing”—a digital partner that lives on your desktop.

Here’s what can Eney actually do?

• Gets what you’re saying and gets your context
• Goes beyond a chat — it actually solves tasks on Mac
• Learns what you like and adapts to your preferences
• Completes many tasks locally, without sending your data anywhere.

As Oleksandr Kosovan, Founder and CEO of MacPaw, puts it:

“We are developing Eney to simplify workflows and reduce the time, and sometimes headaches, that users experience when interacting with their devices. Eney’s single, universal interface will eliminate the need to switch between applications. Eney is your digital co-creator. Its fun nature simplifies interaction — just tell it what task you would like to perform, and it will do the rest.”

Watch the Eney official video:

Our Hands-on Eney Review

We’ve been living with Eney for the past week, and while the vision is sweet, the reality is a bit of a mixed bag. Here is our full breakdown.

The setup

After installing Eney, the first thing you’ll notice is that it requires Full Disk Access to function properly. This is essential for its task-oriented promise — searching files, reading calendars, interacting with apps — but it’s still a big permission ask.

During initial setup, Eney downloads its local AI models, which power its various “skills”. Once complete, the assistant is ready to use and immediately visible on your desktop.

From a UX standpoint, the onboarding is smooth, but the permission requirements may give more cautious users pause — even though MacPaw is generally a trusted name in the Mac ecosystem.

The vision

The “Sweetness” of Eney lies in its ambition. Unlike web-based AI, Eney is built to:

Tell your Mac what you want to do — in natural language — and Eney will actually do it.

Not suggest steps.
Not explain how.
But perform the action.

In theory, this includes tasks like you can simply tell it to “Schedule a meeting,” “Search for a file,” or “Compress this image,” and it will perform the action rather than just explaining how to do it.

This positions Eney as something more ambitious than Siri or a generic AI chatbot — closer to a true AI operator for macOS.

At the time of writing, Eney already supports workflows with services like Google Drive, Google Calendar, and Google Docs, though the depth of these integrations varies depending on permissions and the specific task. It’s a solid start, but still far from the seamless, end-to-end automation MacPaw is ultimately aiming for.

The local advantage

Where Eney truly differentiates itself is its local-first architecture. Instead of sending everything to the cloud, Eney downloads its AI models during setup and runs them directly on your Mac.

Recently, MacPaw shifted Eney’s architecture so that it now runs primarily on local models by default.

In practice, this means:

• AI models are stored and executed locally.
• Many core tasks work offline.
• Your personal data isn’t automatically uploaded to remote servers.

This design choice reflects MacPaw’s long-standing privacy philosophy — and it immediately sets Eney apart from most AI assistants on the market.

Why This Matters

For many Mac users, privacy isn’t an abstract concern. Calendar events, file names, system data, and app usage patterns are deeply personal. Eney’s local approach ensures that everyday interactions — searching files, checking system status, triggering maintenance actions — stay on your machine.

When Eney does need more power (for example, long-form summaries or more complex reasoning), it asks for your permission before using cloud processing. That explicit consent model is rare in today’s AI landscape, and we genuinely appreciate it.

The Trade-Off

Local AI comes with unavoidable constraints. Because Eney relies on on-device models and Apple silicon hardware, its “intelligence” is currently more narrow than cloud-based AI assistants.

As a result:

• Model size and reasoning ability are limited
• Task complexity is constrained
• Results can feel underwhelming compared to cloud-heavy tools like ChatGPT

This is the core tension at the heart of Eney: strong privacy, but modest cognitive depth.

What Eney Can Do Well Today

Within those limits, Eney performs best when handling practical, system-level tasks rather than open-ended conversation. Right now, its local skills are most reliable for:

• Unit and format conversions
• Local file search
• System status and hardware checks
• Image compression
• Triggering CleanMyMac or ClearVPN actions

These are not glamorous tasks — but they’re useful, fast, and private. And they hint at what Eney could become if its execution layer matures.

The real-world testing

In our hands-on testing, however, the “intelligence” felt more like a work-in-progress. We tried using natural language to “Add a meeting to the macOS Calendar,” but Eney failed to perform the task or couldn’t even open the Calendar app. This may be related to system permissions, but the behavior felt inconsistent.

Strangely, when we typed:

“Find yesterday / today / tomorrow”

Eney was able to:

• Query calendar events correctly
• Open the Calendar app successfully

However, when it comes to opening apps, Eney currently behaves in an unintuitive way:

• Typing the exact app name works
• Saying “open XX app” in natural language often results in an error

Weather queries are also unsupported at the moment, which feels like a basic omission for an assistant positioned as a daily companion.

For pure AI conversational use, Eney’s local model frequently produces hallucinations. One particularly telling example: it confidently described Heated Rivalry as a book about technology and business competition — which is simply incorrect.

At this stage, we found the experience felt remarkably similar to using a slightly more visual version of Siri.

How Does Eney Compare?

In the world of Mac AI, not all assistants are created equal. While ChatGPT is great for brainstorming and Siri is fine for setting timers, Eney tries to occupy the space in between: Local Privacy + System Action.

Feature	Eney	Siri	ChatGPT (Desktop)
Primary Logic	Local-First (Private)	Local / Cloud Mix	Cloud-Based
Core Strength	Executing Mac Tasks	System Settings	Writing & Research
Execution	Automated (Does it for you)	Limited (Basic apps)	Manual (Gives advice)
Privacy	High (On-device models)	High	Cloud-based (data handling varies by settings & plan)
Offline Ability	Yes (Core skills)	Very Limited	No
Natural Feel	High (Visual “Companion”)	Low (Functional)	High (Chatbot)

Our take: Siri is deeply integrated but often feels “stiff” and restricted to Apple’s first-party apps. Eney feels more modern and conversational, with the potential to control third-party apps through its growing “Skills” library. But it’s not the kind of advanced, analytical consultant that ChatGPT excels at.

The availability

Before you dive in, it’s important to be clear about Eney’s current constraints:

• Beta software — features change frequently
• Apple silicon (M-series) Macs only
• Exclusive to Setapp subscribers
• Not available as a standalone app (yet)

This means you’ll need an active Setapp subscription to invite this little AI companion onto your desktop.

FAQs

Q: Does Eney work offline?

A: Yes! Because Eney uses a local engine (ELIX), it can perform core tasks like file conversions, system cleanups, and basic searches without an internet connection. Only “heavy” tasks like long summaries or third-party cloud integrations (like Google Drive) require a connection and your explicit permission.

Q: Is my data safe?

A: This is Eney’s biggest strength. Unlike ChatGPT, your conversation history and “context search” data are stored locally on your Mac. MacPaw does not use your data to train their models.

Q: Why can’t I install it on my Intel Mac?

A: Eney relies on the Neural Engine found in Apple Silicon (M1, M2, M3, M4 chips) to run its AI models locally. Older Intel-based Macs simply don’t have the specific hardware architecture required to run these models efficiently.

Q: Is Eney a replacement for Siri?

A: Not officially. Siri still excels at Apple ecosystem and HomeKit commands, while Eney is being built for deeper third-party workflows and local task execution. Today, neither fully replaces the other.

Q: How do I get it?

A: Currently, Eney is in Beta and is exclusively available to Setapp users. If you have a Setapp subscription, you can find it in the app library and start using it immediately.

Our Verdict

Eney represents one of the most interesting ideas in the Mac AI space right now — not because it’s powerful today, but because of what it’s trying to become.

We admire:

• The local-first, privacy-respecting architecture.
• The clear intent to move beyond “chatbot AI”.
• The tight alignment with macOS workflows.

But in its current beta form, Eney:

• Struggles with natural language execution.
• Suffers from inconsistent app control.
• Produces frequent hallucinations in conversation.
• Doesn’t yet outperform Siri in day-to-day usefulness.

For now, Eney feels like a promising assistant in training, not a dependable productivity partner.

If MacPaw can improve task reliability, expand system integrations, and gradually enhance its local AI capabilities, Eney could eventually become a standout Mac companion — especially for privacy-conscious users.

We’ll be watching its progress closely.

Published on Dec 17, 2025, by TheSweetBits Team