Work
Hola — Offline AI Spanish Tutor for iOS
What Is Hola?
Hola is a native iOS app that teaches Spanish through real conversation. Not flashcards. Not multiple choice. Adaptive AI dialogue that meets you where you are — adjusting vocabulary, speed, and complexity in real time. The entire speech-to-text → AI → text-to-speech pipeline runs fully on-device with zero network dependency.
Tagline: Language learning shouldn't feel like homework.
Status: Functional prototype. App Store submission in progress, 2026.
What Makes Hola Different
Most language apps are gamified repetition engines. Hola is a conversation partner. Whether you're practicing ordering coffee or discussing current events, the tutor adapts in real time to your level, never repeats itself mechanically, and never gets impatient. Because it runs entirely offline on your iPhone, it works on a plane, in a rural area, or anywhere without signal.
Three Tutor Modes
- Conversational — natural dialogue, immersive practice
- Analytical — grammar and structure explained as you go
- Translation — bilingual back-and-forth for building fluency
Three Vocabulary Levels
- Child — basic concepts, simple vocabulary
- Teen — intermediate, school subjects and everyday topics
- Adult — advanced, professional and complex contexts
Tech Stack
Hola is built entirely on edge AI — everything runs on the iPhone itself:
- Speech-to-text: WhisperKit on Apple Neural Engine (CoreML)
- Language model: Qwen3-1.7B running on Metal GPU via llama.cpp
- Text-to-speech: AVSpeechSynthesizer (es-MX) with sentence-level streaming
- Platform: Native Swift/SwiftUI
No server. No API calls. No subscription required to use the core product.
Development History
Hola began as a Python/FastAPI web app and was completely re-architected into a native iOS app to achieve full offline capability. The shift from client-server to edge AI was a deliberate product decision — language learning needs to be available everywhere, not just where there's WiFi.
Expansion Plans
After Spanish, Hola is planned to expand to Portuguese and French.
Common questions
What is Hola? Hola is Blacksky's offline AI Spanish tutor for iPhone. It teaches through real adaptive conversation, runs entirely on-device with no internet needed, and adjusts to your level in real time.
Does Hola require internet? No. The entire pipeline — speech recognition, AI response, and text-to-speech — runs on your iPhone. It works offline anywhere.
Who is Hola for? Anyone learning Spanish: students, adults making career moves, heritage speakers reconnecting with the language, travelers. Three vocabulary levels make it appropriate from kids to professionals.
Is Hola available now? It's a functional prototype heading to the App Store in 2026. Contact info@blackskymedia.org to stay updated on the launch.
Will Hola support other languages? Yes. Portuguese and French are planned after the Spanish launch.
What devices does it run on? iPhone. Native iOS only — built in Swift/SwiftUI with Apple Neural Engine for speech recognition and Metal GPU for the language model.