With LLM chat applications becoming mainstream, I’ve noticed something quite interesting. Most major companies now offer their apps across Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows – which is great, really. We can work from any device we want.
But here’s the thing that’s been frustrating me: synchronization.
Imagine this – I’m working on a chat on my Windows machine, then I switch to my Android device. The chat isn’t there. Sometimes it takes a few moments. Other times, much longer. I’ve actually found myself force-stopping and restarting the app multiple times, and even that doesn’t always work.
Features That Would Make Life Easier
- Manual Refresh Button: You see, email apps sorted this out ages ago. They have a simple refresh button. One click, and you’re exactly where you left off on your other device. Why can’t LLM chat apps do the same? It would make working across devices so much smoother and help us stay in the flow.
- Draft Saving: Imagine you’re typing out a complex prompt, and suddenly you get interrupted and have to close the app. Right now, all that work is just gone. If these apps could save our typed questions as drafts, we could simply pick up exactly where we left off – whether we closed the app accidentally or had to step away for something urgent.
- Tagging System: This is where apps like Pocket really got it right. I’d love to add tags to my conversations – things like “product ideas,” “code analysis,” or “research”. Cataloging answers this way would make finding past conversations so much easier, especially when I’m juggling multiple projects and need to reference specific insights quickly.
- Session State Preservation: Beyond just syncing the conversation content, what if the app preserved my exact position – scroll location, selected text, open sidebars? When I switch devices, I shouldn’t just see the right conversation; I should land at the exact spot where I was working.
- Conflict Resolution: When I’m editing the same conversation on two devices at once, there needs to be a way to intelligently merge the changes or give me an option to choose which version to keep – just like cloud document editors handle it.
- Offline Queue Mode: Picture this: I’m on a flight or at a remote location, typing out prompts without internet. The app queues them automatically and executes once I’m back online, with results syncing across all my devices. That would be a game-changer for frequent travelers.
- Cross-Device Activity Indicators: A small notification showing “You have this conversation open on Windows” when I open it on mobile would actually prevent duplicate work and help me decide which device to continue on.
- Smart Bandwidth Management: For those of us on limited mobile data plans, the app could sync the conversation text immediately but hold back images, code outputs, or large attachments until we’re connected to WiFi. Just like how cloud uploads works in some apps.
- Conversation Pinning: I want to pin important chats that automatically stay at the top across all devices, making critical workflows instantly accessible.
These aren’t revolutionary ideas, really. They’re features we’re already using in other apps every day. It’s high time our LLM chat apps caught up.
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