Verdict
Character.AI is the biggest character-chat service, eighth on a16z's 2026 list of AI websites, and its bots can be funny and quick. It has settled lawsuits from US families whose teenagers harmed themselves or died after using it, faces suits from Kentucky and Pennsylvania, and was fined €158,000 by Italy's privacy regulator in July 2026 over weak age checks. Chats can be used to train its models and the app shares data for advertising.
Privacy note. Trains on chats and shares data for ads (character.ai/privacy); settled teen-suicide suits, Kentucky and Pennsylvania suits, Italian €158,000 fine for age-check failures (thestar.com.my, Reuters)
Best for
Adults who want light role-play and story games with fictional characters
Skip if
You are under 18, or you'd rather your chats weren't used for training and ads
Key facts
- Category
- AI companions & chat characters
- Made by
- Character Technologies, Inc.
- Based in
- United States
- Launched
- 2022
- Works on
- iPhone, Android, Web
- In the UK
- Yes
- Price from
- £9.99 a month
- Free plan
- Free with ads, daily limits and some features (such as voice) reserved for subscribers
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Billed |
|---|---|---|
| Character.AI+ | £9.99 | month |
| Character.AI+ | £99.99 | year |
What it does
- chats by text or live voice call with AI characters
- offers millions of user-made characters
- creates custom characters with personalities, backstories and voices
- shares characters with the community
- builds stories and role-play adventures
Ratings
What people say
Users say the bots can be entertaining but repeat themselves, and long-time fans in user reviews complain about age verification, ads, removed chat models and usage limits in 2026. The gap is wide. 4.1 stars from 67,330 UK iPhone ratings against 1.9 from 2.4 million Google Play ratings and 1.2 on Trustpilot.
“the responses are often pretty entertaining. but yeah it repeats itself if you keep asking similar questions so it's not exactly a deep conversationalist”
Individual user review, 22 September 2026 · source
“I’m personally a fan of the platform as a premium user, I’ve never experienced or encountered a platform with it that wasn’t navigable with a little bit of adapting and adjusting.”
Individual user review, 29 September 2026 · source
“Everyone, including me... had high hopes for the new CEO to fix Character.AI... but instead, Age Verification!”
Individual user review, 3 April 2026 · source
“I can't believe they removed the rest of the chat models”
Individual user review, 8 May 2026 · source
“Chatbots created by AI companion company https://t.co/itGQhnjh8h sometimes advised users to cut, starve or kill themselves, according to a new filing by Kentucky’s attorney general in a lawsuit against the firm over child safety”
Post on X, 9 October 2026 · source
Press reviews
- Common Sense Media (with Stanford Brainstorm), reported by CNN 2025-04-30
Rated social AI companions including Character.AI an 'unacceptable' risk for under-18s; a test account posing as a 14-year-old got sexual content from a bot.
- The Bureau of Investigative Journalism 2025-10-29
Found dozens of dangerous bots, including paedophile and school-shooter characters and fake 'doctors'; one 'therapist' bot suggested meeting in a hotel room. Character.AI then barred under-18s from open chat.
- 404 Media 2026-05-27
Ads, usage limits and a new model have left long-time users feeling the app has been 'completely ruined'.
- The Verge 2026-01-07
News report: Character.AI and Google reached settlements in principle with families in Florida, Colorado, New York and Texas over teen suicide and self-harm.
Privacy
- Trains on your data
- Yes. The privacy policy (effective 1 Jul 2026) lists chat communications and voice recordings among data collected and says it uses information 'to train our artificial intelligence/machine learning models'
- Opt-out
- No in-app training opt-out confirmed. The policy lists a right to object for UK/EEA residents via [email protected] or the help centre; a third-party guide (joindeleteme.com) describes a UK/EEA 'Improve the Model' toggle but could not find it. Accounts can be deleted from the profile page, but public Characters a user made may stay live
- Retention
- 'For the time necessary for the purposes for which it is processed'; no fixed period stated
- Incidents
- Oct 2024: Megan Garcia sued after her 14-year-old son Sewell Setzer died by suicide; Jan 2026 Character.AI and Google agreed settlements in Florida, Colorado, New York and Texas cases (Reuters, The Verge). Sep 2025: one of seven firms sent FTC 6(b) orders on companion chatbots and children. Oct 2025: TBIJ found paedophile, school-shooter and fake-doctor bots; under-18 open chat ended 25 Nov 2025. Jan 2026: Kentucky attorney general lawsuit (consumer protection and data privacy), with an Oct 2026 filing alleging bots advised users to cut, starve or kill themselves (Reuters). May 2026: Pennsylvania sued over a bot claiming to be a licensed doctor. Jul 2026: Italy's Garante fined Character Technologies €158,000 over age-verification and privacy failures. UK: Oct 2024 bots imitating Molly Russell and Brianna Ghey were removed after press reports
- Age limit
- Terms bar under-13s, and under-16s in the UK and EEA. Since 25 Nov 2025 under-18s cannot have open-ended chats; age assurance uses an in-house model plus Persona selfie or ID checks. App Store UK rates it 18+, Google Play PEGI 18
FAQ
Is Character.AI safe for children?
Common Sense Media rates AI companions like it an unacceptable risk for under-18s. Since November 2025 Character.AI has blocked open-ended chat for under-18s and uses selfie or ID age checks, but its own terms allow 16-year-olds in the UK to sign up for the limited version.
Is Character.AI free?
Yes, with ads and limits. Character.AI+ costs £9.99 a month or £99.99 a year on the UK App Store, and there are 'Charms' credit packs from £0.99.
Does Character.AI read or train on my chats?
Its privacy policy says chats and voice recordings are collected and used to train its AI models, and data is shared with advertising and analytics partners. UK users can ask to object or delete data via [email protected].
What happened with the Character.AI lawsuits?
Families in Florida, Colorado, New York and Texas sued after teenagers harmed themselves or died by suicide. In January 2026 Character.AI and Google agreed to settle, with terms undisclosed. Kentucky and Pennsylvania have since brought their own cases.
Does Character.AI work in the UK?
Yes. It is on the UK App Store (rated 18+) and Google Play (PEGI 18), and on the web.
Scores are based on published evidence, not lab tests. How we score.
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