ValenceHelix AI Labs

October 4, 2026

Valence for Android 1.5.18 alpha - Watch it think

This release is about seeing what Valence is doing. While it works on your question, the steps above the answer now move: an eye while the model thinks, a scanning search icon while it looks something up on the web. When it’s done, every step tells you how long it took. And Valence has a new icon.

Dark mode. Under the question "what's the date tomorrow and the weather in Chicago", a row reads Thinking… next to a round amber eye icon, with the model's thinking streaming in below it: the user is asking for two pieces of information, the date tomorrow and the weather in Chicago.
While the model thinks, the Thought row shows an animated eye, and its thinking streams in underneath.
Dark mode, the same question a few seconds later. Finished rows read Thought · 12s, Current date and time with a check mark, and Analyzed the result · 3s. The last row, Search the web, is still running, with its search icon mid-scan and the note Searching Tavily for "weather in Chicago…".
While Valence searches the web, the search icon scans. The steps above it already show how long they took.

What’s new

  • An eye while it thinks. While the model is thinking, the Thought row shows an animated eye. Tap the row afterwards to read what it thought, with the thinking level and how long it took.
  • A search icon that shows what happened. While Valence searches, the icon scans. When the search ends, the icon shows whether it found results, found nothing, or couldn’t search, for example when the phone is offline.
  • Every step shows how long it took. Steps now read “Thought · 12s” or “Search the web ✓ · 3s” instead of character counts. Steps that finish in under a second show no time. Reopen the chat later and the times are still there. Chats saved before this update show no times.
  • A cleaner list of steps. Only the answer sits in a card. The steps line up in one column above it, and a › on the right marks the steps you can open.
  • A new app icon. An orange shattered V on black. The same V is now on the Quick Settings tile, in notifications and on the home-screen widget.
Light mode. The question "what's the date tomorrow and the weather in Chicago today", then five step rows in one column: Thought · 9s, Current date and time with a check mark, Analyzed the result · 3s, Search the web with a check mark · 2s for "weather in Chicago today", and Analyzed the search results · 6s. Below them, the answer card: tomorrow's date will be Monday, October 5, 2026, and Chicago shows 64°F and Fair, citing source 3, with Sources (3).
A finished answer in light mode: every step with its time, and only the answer in a card.
Dark mode. The Thought · 12s row is open. Its first line reads Thinking: Low · 12s, followed by the model's plan: call the time tool to get the current date, then call the search tool to find the weather in Chicago. The other steps follow underneath, each with its time.
Tap Thought to read the model's plan, with the thinking level and how long it took.
The new Valence app icon in the phone's app drawer: an orange shattered V on a black background, labelled Valence.
The new icon, in the app drawer.

Every screenshot here is from this release, running on a motorola razr plus 2023 and captured from the phone's own screen.

Good to know

The on-device model can still use a web result for the wrong day. In one of our test runs it answered “the weather in Chicago” with a forecast for a different date, though it did say the date didn’t match. Check the Sources under the answer.

Download

Valence-1.5.18-alpha-arm64.apk · 64-bit Android 7.0+ · 33 MB

SHA-256: 6A100AE033BB4550941D5C3860D58496220EEB59F6F06401DD481783AEDDBA9C

Installs straight over 1.5.14 or later and keeps your chats and your downloaded model.

Found something broken? Write to help@helixailabs.com.

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