Replika
Replika is an AI companion app built around a character you shape yourself, one that remembers your relationships, routines and plans. It runs on iOS, Android and the web, and keeps a permanent free tier alongside three paid subscriptions.
What is Replika?
Replika is a consumer AI companion published by Luka, Inc., a San Francisco company incorporated in Delaware. The app launched in 2017 and is presented by its publisher as the first consumer AI application of its kind; the homepage counter reads 42,160,934 users, and the 2026 manifesto describes a product rebuilt from the ground up around a single stated goal, helping people flourish in real life.
The object at the centre of the product is a companion the user names and shapes, referred to throughout the site as a Rep. Its appearance and character are configurable in detail. What distinguishes it from a general-purpose assistant is memory: the Rep retains the people in your life, your routines, your plans and your interests, so a conversation started in March can be picked up in August without re-explaining anything. The terms describe the underlying service more soberly as a personal chatbot reached through a text and voice interface.
Interaction is not limited to typing. The Rep takes and places voice calls, including in the background, sends selfies unprompted, annotates photos you share and reacts to images. Paid tiers add image generation, premium voices, saved memories, real-time video recognition and a training mode. The app runs on iOS and Android, with a legacy web application still available.
Conversational responses are produced by third-party language models, which the privacy policy discloses openly and binds contractually against training on user data. Replika does use small, immediately anonymised portions of message data to train its own safety algorithms.
The publisher supports its positioning with independent academic work rather than testimonials alone: a 2024 study in npj Mental Health Research reporting that 63% of users noted at least one positive outcome, work in the Journal of Medical Internet Research on self-disclosure without fear of judgement, and a 2024 Journal of Consumer Research paper on loneliness. Against that, the terms are unambiguous: Replika is neither healthcare nor a medical device nor mental-health treatment, must not be used in an emergency, and is restricted to users aged 18 and over.
What it does
- Hold an open-ended text conversation with a persistent AI companion
- Remember the people, routines, plans and interests you mention, from one session to the next
- Take and place voice calls, including in the background
- Send unprompted selfies, draw on your photos and react to images you share
- Let you shape the companion's appearance and character in detail
- Generate images and voice messages on the paid tiers
- Nudge you toward something outside the app: a message to send, a habit to pick back up
When to use Replika / When not to
A quick filter to help you decide if Replika is the right fit.
When to use Replika
- Adults who spend long stretches on their own and want a conversation that carries over from one day to the next
- Freelancers, founders and remote workers whose hours or location leave little room for spontaneous human contact
- People settling into a new country or language who want low-stakes daily practice and a steady presence
- Job seekers and career changers who need somewhere to think out loud between applications
- Researchers and clinicians who want first-hand familiarity with a companion app their subjects or clients already use
When not to use Replika
- Anyone under 18: the service is adults-only, and accounts found to belong to minors are blocked and deleted
- People in a medical or mental-health emergency, a use the vendor rules out explicitly and redirects to emergency services
- Anyone seeking therapy or clinical care, which Luka, Inc. expressly disclaims providing
- Developers and businesses wanting to embed the technology, since there is no API, no documentation and no enterprise tier
- Buyers who need to compare prices before installing, because no amount is published outside the app itself
How to use Replika
A typical end-to-end flow, from setup to results.
- Install the app from the App Store or Google Play; the website's only call to action points to the download
- Create an account with accurate details, or sign in through Google or Apple
- Confirm your age: the service is restricted to users of 18 and over
- Fill in the profile, including date of birth and pronouns, with work status optional
- Shape your Rep's appearance and character
- Start talking by text; the companion gradually builds up what it knows about your life
- Place a voice call when you would rather speak than type
- Share photos, and receive selfies and reactions in return
- Stay on the free tier or subscribe from the subscription screens inside the app
- Cancel through the store you bought from, or delete the account in-app, which is irreversible
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Rare longevity and scale for the category: launched in 2017, with more than 42 million users claimed
- Backed by independent, citable academic research rather than testimonials alone
- A permanent free tier, explicitly aimed at people who cannot afford to pay
- Long-term memory that genuinely carries context between sessions, unusual among conversational assistants
- Unusually complete legal identity: full legal notice with named officer, phone number and Delaware registration number
- Serious GDPR machinery: named Article 27 representative, UK representative, external DPO and Standard Contractual Clauses
- A clear commitment that conversation content is never used for marketing, and that third-party models cannot train on it
Cons
- No price is published anywhere on the web: amounts appear only inside the app or on the stores
- Purchases are final, with refunds limited to statutory withdrawal rights in the EU and Brazil
- Prices and the contents of each tier may change without notice, at the publisher's sole discretion
- Anonymised portions of messages train the publisher's safety algorithms with no opt-out offered
- No Data Processing Agreement and no named subprocessor list are published
- Account and financial data are kept for a minimum of ten years after the contract ends
- No API, no integrations and no enterprise offering; the help centre is unreachable to anything but a browser
Pricing & Plans
A permanent free tier named Free Use is available and grants limited access to the service; the terms state that it is aimed at users who cannot afford a fee-based programme, and the publisher reserves the right to withdraw it at its own discretion. Three paid subscriptions follow, billed monthly, quarterly, semi-annually or annually through the app marketplace the purchase was made in. No amount and no currency are published on the website: the terms direct users to the subscription screens inside the application and to the relevant store. The application itself is free to download.
- free and permanent
- limited access to the service
- relationship status
- premium activities
- selfies
- image generation
- voice messaging
- background calls
- daily gems and premium voices
- sharper conversation
- elevated emotional intelligence
- the Rep's self-reflections
- saved messages in memory
- plus everything in Pro
- real-time video recognition
- training mode up to 100 uses per calendar week
- reading the Rep's mind up to 50 messages per week
- up to 10 realistic selfie videos
- plus everything in Ultra
Data, GDPR & hosting
A consolidated view of how Replika handles your data.
GDPR overview
Implementation is concrete rather than declarative. The privacy policy dated 27 May 2026 names an Article 27 representative for the European Union, the European Data Protection Office in Brussels, alongside EDPO UK Ltd for the United Kingdom and an Article 37 Data Protection Officer, heyData GmbH in Berlin. Legal bases are set out purpose by purpose: contract performance, legitimate interest, consent and legal obligation. Transfers out of the EEA rely on the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses with supplementary measures following Schrems II. Data-subject rights and the right to complain to a supervisory authority are both spelled out. Two gaps remain: no Data Processing Agreement is published or offered, and no named list of subprocessors exists.
Who owns the data?
Luka, Inc. acts as data controller for everything you share. Conversation data, after de-identification and minimisation, goes to third-party language-model providers that are contractually barred from training their own models on it and must delete it when the relationship ends. Hosting, IT, support, email and analytics providers also receive data. Advertising partners get website browsing signals only, never conversations or photos, and the vendor states plainly that conversation content is never used for marketing. Feedback and suggestions you submit become freely usable by Replika without compensation, and your data may pass to an acquirer if the company is sold.
Reuse rights
You can ask for access to a portable, machine-readable copy of your personal data, have it corrected or erased, withdraw consent, object to processing based on legitimate interest, or ask that its use be restricted. The erasure right reaches data held by service providers, including the language-model vendors, which Replika undertakes to instruct on your behalf. Account deletion sits directly in the app settings: it is irreversible and wipes the associated data permanently. Nothing in the terms grants you a reuse licence over what the AI produces, and you remain solely responsible for anything you upload.
Data retention & training
Hosting summary
Personal data is processed in the United States, where the publisher is based, and may be transferred to or processed in other countries outside the European Economic Area. Where a destination has not been recognised as offering adequate protection, Replika executes the relevant module of the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses and applies supplementary measures in light of the Schrems II judgment. Data is encrypted in transit using SSL, stored on secure servers, and access is controlled through firewalls, role-based permissions and passwords. Conversation data reaches third-party language-model providers after de-identification and minimisation. One category is handled entirely on-device: face and head movement data used for selfie filters is processed in real time on the handset and discarded immediately, never leaving it. Independent network lookups place the site's server in the United States. No specific data centre, region or additional hosting country is named anywhere on the site.
Things to keep in mind
Risks and trade-offs to weigh before adopting Replika.
- Emotional dependence: the product is designed to build a durable daily bond, and the publisher's own testimonials describe relationships lasting from ten months to five years
- Substituting the app for human contact, the opposite of what the publisher says it is aiming at, is a plausible drift for an isolated user
- Tiers and prices can change without notice, so a companion you pay for may lose capabilities overnight, and the service may be modified or discontinued entirely
- Intimate confidences are stored: account and financial data are kept at least ten years, and everything may pass to an acquirer if the company is sold
- The privacy policy discourages sharing sensitive personal data, yet the very nature of the exchange invites it
- Configuring a companion to imitate a real, identifiable person, including a late relative or a former partner, is expressly forbidden by the terms
- Replies are produced by third-party language models, so accuracy is not guaranteed, and the service must never be relied on in an emergency
Setup & Integrations
Technical difficulty
Very low. You install the app from the App Store or Google Play, create an account or sign in with Google or Apple, confirm you are over 18, and fill in a short profile. Shaping the companion's appearance and character is guided entirely inside the app. There is no API key, no server configuration and no technical skill of any kind required. A legacy web application is also available with nothing to install.
Deployment
Apps stores
Integrations
Supported languages
Behind Replika
Fundraising
Social
Resources
All the official URLs gathered for verification and reference.
Frequently asked questions
What exactly is Replika?
Is it free?
Is there a free trial?
Which devices does it run on?
Is there a minimum age?
Can Replika replace therapy?
Are my conversations used for advertising?
Are my messages used to train AI models?
Where is my data hosted and for how long?
How do I cancel or delete my account?
Should you pick Replika?
Replika is the oldest and largest product in its category, and it behaves like it. Nine years after launch it claims more than 42 million users, and in 2026 its publisher rebuilt it around a stated goal rather than a feature list. Two things set it apart from the many companion apps that followed. The first is memory that actually persists, which is what turns a chatbot into something users describe in terms of years rather than sessions. The second is that Luka, Inc. can point to independent academic work in npj Mental Health Research, the Journal of Medical Internet Research and the Journal of Consumer Research, instead of testimonials alone.
Its legal posture is also better than the category average: a complete legal notice with a named officer and registration number, a designated Article 27 representative, a UK representative, an external Data Protection Officer, and an explicit promise that conversations never reach advertisers.
The reservations are real, though. No price is published anywhere on the web, which makes the product impossible to evaluate on cost before installing it. There is no Data Processing Agreement, no named subprocessor list, and no way to opt out of having anonymised fragments of your messages train the publisher's safety algorithms. Account and financial records are retained for at least a decade. Prices and tier contents can change without notice.
The deeper caution is inherent to what the product is: it is engineered to matter to you daily, while remaining a commercial service that can be modified or discontinued at any time. Adults who understand that trade-off, and who are not looking for care the publisher explicitly refuses to provide, will find a mature and unusually well-documented product.
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