Compare / Replika

Replika review

AI companion chat app · Luka, Inc. (Delaware; San Francisco, CA) · Last checked November 2026

Affiliate disclosure: some links to the platforms on MeetWaifu.now may earn us a commission if you sign up or pay. It never costs you more, and no platform pays to be listed or to change what we write. How we rate

Replika is the app most people mean when they say "AI companion". It has been around since 2017, it does text, voice and video calls, and the companion can be a friend, partner or mentor. It is the only app in this comparison that is not built around explicit content: its terms ban pornographic material, so if that is what you are after, look further down the table.

It also has the longest regulatory record. Italy's data protection authority blocked it in 2023 and fined its developer, Luka, €5 million in 2025 over its legal basis for processing data, its privacy policy and weak age checks. In January 2025 three advocacy groups asked the FTC to investigate its marketing and upgrade prompts, which they say appear during emotionally or sexually charged chats. We found no FTC action on that complaint so far. If you are weighing it as company through a hard stretch, read what the research says about AI companions and loneliness first.

The privacy policy is clearer than most here: text chats are kept 24 months, media 12, and it says conversations are never shared with advertisers. But it also says it "sells" other personal data for targeted ads. Treat it as an app that knows a lot about you, and read our privacy guide before you tell it anything you would not want leaked.

The facts

Cost

The app is free to download, with paid subscriptions and gem packs sold in-app. On Nov 10, 2026 the US App Store listed subscriptions from $7.99 to $14.99 a month and $49.99 to $69.99 a year, a $89.99 "Replika Platinum" item, and gem packs from $0.99 to $19.99. Replika does not publish a web price list, and the App Store does not label which price belongs to which tier.^[1]

Who it's for

Replika is a general companion app (friend, partner or mentor) that offers text, voice calls, video calls and image generation. Its terms say it is only for adults 18 and over. On Nov 10, 2026 the US App Store listing showed a 4.4 rating from about 228,000 ratings and an 18+ age rating. Luka does not publish a current user count. TIME describes the user base only as "millions".^[1][2][3]

Content & age checks

Users give a date of birth at sign-up. The terms say Replika "may use age-assurance measures" and will block and delete accounts it finds belong to under-18s. The terms ban sexual content involving minors, real or fictional, and ban companions roleplayed as under 18. They also ban "pornographic" content in general. In 2025 Italy's regulator found that Replika had no age verification before Feb 2023 and that its later system was "still deficient in several respects".^[2][4]

Privacy record

The privacy policy says Replika "sell[s]" personal data and does targeted advertising, sharing device, sign-up and purchase data with Meta, Google and AppsFlyer, though it says conversations are never shared with advertisers. Text chats are kept for 24 months and photos, video and voice for 12 months. Small anonymized portions are used to train Replika's own safety models, but not third-party LLMs. Profile data is deleted within 60 days of account deletion. Mozilla's Feb 2024 review gave Replika its *Privacy Not Included warning.^[5][6]

Complaints & regulators

Italy's data protection authority (the Garante) ordered Replika blocked in Italy in Feb 2023. In Apr 2025 it fined Luka €5 million for processing data without a legal basis, an inadequate privacy policy and missing age verification, and it opened a separate probe into how Replika's AI model was trained. In Jan 2025, the Tech Justice Law Project, Young People's Alliance and Encode asked the FTC to investigate alleged deceptive marketing and manipulative upsell design. We found no public FTC action as of Nov 2026.^[4][7][3]

Visit Replika · Compare all platforms