Best AI companion apps - which one actually remembers you

Best for: A safe-for-work AI companion that remembers your days and checks in - the gentlest place to start.

The gentle starting point - safe, warm, free to chat

Replika is the best-known AI companion app and the one to try first if the idea feels odd. You create a character, chat with it, and it remembers what you tell it: your job, your dog, that thing you're worried about. It's warm rather than clever. The free tier gives you text chat as a friend; the paid Pro tier adds voice calls, romantic relationship modes and more. Romantic content stays non-explicit - Replika is not an adult app.

Best for: An adult AI companion with real memory and no filter fights - the one most people settle on.

The best memory, adults only

Nomi is an AI companion built for adults. It remembers - not just last week, but months back - and it doesn't slam a filter down the moment a conversation gets romantic. You can set it up as a friend, a mentor or a partner, and it's good at staying consistent. It runs on the web and as apps. There's a free tier with a limited number of messages; the subscription removes the limit and adds features like voice and picture sharing.

Best for: Millions of user-made characters to talk to for free - a fictional villain, a language tutor, a friend.

Biggest library of characters, strict filter

Character.AI is less a companion app and more a library of personalities. Users build characters - anime leads, historical figures, tutors, 'your supportive best friend' - and anyone can chat with them. The writing quality is the best of the free options and the roleplay is deep. It runs on the web and in apps. Free is generous; the paid c.ai+ tier gets you faster replies and priority access when it's busy. Explicit content is filtered out, firmly.

Best for: An unfiltered companion for adults who want to write the personality themselves.

Build the personality yourself, no filter for adults

Kindroid gives you a blank sheet and a lot of control: you write the backstory, the personality, the way it talks, and it follows. There's no content filter for adults, so it won't refuse a romantic or explicit scene. It has a memory system, voice calls, and group chats with several characters. Free lets you try it; the subscription gives the full message allowance and the extras. Runs in a browser and as apps.

Best for: A phone app for swiping through user-made AI bots when you want something quick and casual.

Quick, swipe-based, casual

Chai is a mobile app where you swipe through AI characters made by other users and start chatting with whichever one catches your eye. It's quick, casual, and a bit chaotic - quality depends on who built the bot. The free tier has a daily message limit; a subscription removes it. The filtering is looser than Character.AI but it's not an explicit app, and it's rated for adults on the app stores. Think of it as the TikTok of AI chat: fast, disposable, sometimes fun.

Best for: Polished AI characters with voices and a collectible-card feel - fun, not deep.

Voices and a game-like feel

Talkie is a character-chat app with a glossy, game-like presentation: characters have art, voices, and there's a card-collecting layer on top. The conversations are decent and the voices are a nice touch. It's free to use with in-app purchases for cosmetics and extras. Like Character.AI, it's not an adult app. It's a good pick if you want AI chat that feels like a mobile game rather than a text box.

Best for: Free roleplay with a huge library of user-made AI characters, including imported character cards.

Free character roleplay that imports cards from other apps

PolyBuzz is a character chat app in the Character.AI mould: pick a character someone else made, or build your own, and roleplay by text with voice replies. Its selling points are that chatting is free and that you can import character cards from other apps. Paid Basic and Premium memberships add stronger memory models and remove ads, and coins pay for extras. Its terms say it's for users 18 and over.