Survive · Offline kit

When the internet
goes down

Download these while you still can: a private AI assistant, an offline encyclopedia and medical reference, and maps. Then work out how much power you need to keep them running.

Local AI assistant

An AI model that runs entirely on your own computer or phone. Once downloaded it needs no internet and nothing you type leaves the device. Bigger models are smarter but need more memory.

How much memory (RAM) does your device have?

Mac: Apple menu → About This Mac. Windows: Settings → System → About. Phones: most recent phones have 6–12 GB.

Recommended for 16 gb laptops

Gemma 4 E4Bgemma4:e4b · 6.6 GB download
Gemma 4 12Bgemma4:12b · 7.7 GB download

Noticeably better reasoning and writing. The sweet spot for most people.

Easiest: an app

1Install LM Studio (Mac, Windows, Linux) or the Ollama app.
2Search for Gemma 4 E4B and click Download (6.6 GB).
3Start a chat to check it works.
4Turn off Wi-Fi and try again. If it still answers, you're set.

On a phone

1Install PocketPal AI (iPhone and Android) or Google’s AI Edge Gallery.
2Download a small model from inside the app (around 1–3 GB).
3Test it in airplane mode.

Command line (Ollama)

After installing Ollama, download a model once, then chat with it any time, offline:

ollama pull gemma4:e4bollama run gemma4:e4b

See what’s installed with ollama list. Models are stored in ~/.ollama/models, so you can copy them to a USB drive and onto another machine.

Don’t trust it blindly.

Local models can be confidently wrong, especially about medicine, doses and anything that happened after they were trained. Check important answers against WikiMed or the guides on this site.

All model sizes

Memory	Model	Ollama tag	Download
4 GB+	Llama 3.2 3B	`llama3.2:3b`	2 GB
	Qwen 3.5 2B	`qwen3.5:2b`	2.7 GB
8 GB+	Gemma 4 E2B	`gemma4:e2b`	4.6 GB
16 GB+	Gemma 4 E4B	`gemma4:e4b`	6.6 GB
	Gemma 4 12B	`gemma4:12b`	7.7 GB
32 GB+	gpt-oss 20B	`gpt-oss:20b`	14 GB
	Gemma 4 26B	`gemma4:26b`	16 GB
64 GB+	Gemma 4 31B	`gemma4:31b`	19 GB
	Qwen 3.6 35B	`qwen3.6:35b`	23 GB
128 GB+	gpt-oss 120B	`gpt-oss:120b`	65 GB

Sizes from the Ollama library, checked October 2026. New models come out every few months.

Offline Wikipedia and medical reference

1Install the free Kiwix app (phone, tablet or computer).
2Download one or more of these libraries from inside the app.
3Everything opens like a website, with no internet needed.

WikiMed (medical Wikipedia)
Wikipedia's medical articles with images: conditions, drugs, anatomy, first aid.
2.1 GB
Wikipedia, introductions only
The opening section of every English article. Fits on almost any phone.
13 GB
Wikipedia, text only
All of English Wikipedia without pictures.
49 GB
Wikipedia, complete
All of English Wikipedia with images.
119 GB

Start with WikiMed: it’s small and the most useful in an emergency. Sizes from download.kiwix.org, October 2026.

Offline maps

1Install Organic Maps (free, no account) or use offline areas in Google Maps.
2Download your region and anywhere you might evacuate to.
3Search, directions and your GPS position all work without signal.
4Keep a printed paper map too. Batteries run out.

Power

How big a solar panel and battery you need to keep a device running off-grid.

Device

Hours of use per day3 h

Peak sun hours per day4 h

Days with no sun2

Peak sun hours: roughly 2–3 in a northern winter, 5–7 in a sunny summer.

Energy per day: 180 Wh
Solar panel: 60 W
Battery: 450 Wh

When the internetgoes down