Filmina in the cloud: study on any computer

Update, October 2026: it's out. Filmina runs in your browser, on any computer or phone, with a free plan and Pro as a monthly subscription; Mac and Windows apps are on the way. What follows is the post as I wrote it on September 29.

Filmina in the cloud is coming in the next few days. It's the same lecture explained out loud, slide by slide, but the model doing the thinking no longer runs on your computer: it runs on our servers. That means you'll be able to use Filmina on the web, in the Mac app and, further down the line, on Windows, whatever computer you have.

I want to explain why, because it's a big shift from how this all started, and I'd rather be upfront about it.

Running the model on your Mac works

Filmina started as a Mac app with everything inside: the model that explains each slide and the voice that reads it both ran on the same machine. I loved that idea. No accounts, no connection, nothing running out halfway through a slide deck.

And it works. Over the past few weeks we've run a lot of tests, on different Macs and with different lectures, and on a Mac with a good processor and plenty of memory the explanation comes out well: fast, complete, and pointing at the part of the slide it's talking about.

The problem is that phrase: "a Mac with a good processor and plenty of memory."

The catch: almost nobody studies on a MacBook Pro

For the model to run really well, you generally need a MacBook Pro. On Macs with less memory, which are the ones most people actually buy, explanations take a long time, the whole computer slows down while it works, or the larger model simply doesn't fit. We built a lighter version for those machines, and it helps, but it's not the experience we want for someone opening Filmina the night before an exam.

When we looked at it honestly, it didn't add up. Filmina is for students, and most students I know don't study on a MacBook Pro. They study on whatever they have: a MacBook Air that's a few years old, a Windows laptop, the family computer, or one in the university library.

A study app that only works well on the most expensive computer is a study app for very few people. That's the opposite of what I want.

So we decided to move to the cloud

The fix is to take the heavy lifting off your computer. If the model runs on a server, all your computer has to do is show the slide and play the voice, and any computer can do that.

And you feel it everywhere else too. Since your computer no longer has to process every explanation, it uses far less battery, doesn't heat up or slow down while you study, and you can keep other things open at the same time. The explanations get better as well, because on a server we can use larger models than the ones that fit on a laptop.

That opens several doors at once:

• Filmina on the web. Open it in your browser, upload your slides, done. Nothing to install, no models to download.
• The Mac app, without pushing your Mac. The app stays, but it runs on cloud models: it no longer needs a powerful machine to explain things well.
• Windows, later on. It's one of the things people ask for most, and with the model in the cloud it finally makes sense to build.
• Any computer. If it has a browser, it works. New, old, borrowed or in the library.

What doesn't change is what Filmina does: it explains your lecture PDFs and slides the way a professor would, with a frame pointing at the part of the slide it's talking about, plus everything we've added around it: asking questions, your class notes, practice, review, and a summary at the end.

What it costs, plainly

There's one part I'd rather tell you before you find out: running the model in the cloud costs money. Every lecture Filmina explains uses servers we have to pay for, and that cost grows with every person who uses it.

So Filmina Pro, which is what the cloud version will be called, will most likely be a monthly subscription. We don't have a price yet, and I don't want to announce one I might have to change later. What I can tell you is that the goal is for a student to be able to afford it; otherwise this whole change would be pointless.

If you want to know the day it opens, there's a Filmina Pro waitlist on the home page. We'll email you that day, with the price.

What happens to the current Mac app

The Mac app is staying, but it will run on models in the cloud, not on your computer. Today's version, with the model running on your Mac, is there so you can try Filmina in the meantime, and it will most likely go away once we launch the cloud. How it works today, which models it downloads and what it needs is all in the documentation.

There will still be a free version to try Filmina, it's just going to be in the cloud: you'll be able to use it from any computer before deciding whether you want Pro. From now on we'll be designing Filmina for any computer, not for the most powerful one.

Why I'm telling you this way

I could have waited until everything was ready and announced it with a video. But I've met a lot of Filmina users through this blog, and it feels right that you hear it here first, and hear why: we haven't stopped believing in the Mac app idea, but a study tool has to work for the people who need it, and right now most of them don't have the computer to run it.

If you want to know how it all started, I wrote about it in why I built Filmina. This is the next step.

Frequently asked questions

What is Filmina Pro?

It's Filmina's paid plan: more hours of explanation per month, unlimited documents and more questions for Mina. It's a monthly subscription, and the price is on the home page.

Will there be a free version of Filmina?

Yes, it's already here: a free plan, no card needed, that you use in your browser with a monthly cap on explanation minutes. The Mac app with the model on your computer is no longer available to download.

Will Filmina work on Windows?

Yes. It already works on Windows through the browser, and a Windows app is on the way.

When is Filmina in the cloud coming out?

It's already out. You use it in your browser, on any computer or phone, with nothing to install.