When Italy’s privacy regulator fined Replika’s maker €5 million in May 2025, the problem was not anything the chatbot had said. It was what the company had failed to check: who was on the other end. The Garante found no effective age verification and no valid legal basis for processing users’ data.
That case is a useful lens for anyone shopping for an AI girlfriend app. The best ones now offer startling continuity: a companion who remembers your mother’s operation, calls you in a familiar voice and sends a selfie from an imagined weekend away. But the differences that matter most are often in the small print, in how a company verifies age, bills you and stores the most intimate conversations you may ever type.
Our ranking weighs both. Nomi leads for memory and conversational quality, Kindroid for depth of customisation, and Replika for a softer, wellbeing-flavoured experience. Character.AI is the role-play giant, and Candy.ai is the most visual and the most unambiguously adult. All five are for over-18s only, and all prices below were checked on 19 October 2026.
Nomi: the AI girlfriend app with the best memory
Nomi is made by Glimpse.ai, Inc., a Maryland corporation. Its pitch is continuity. The company says its companions use short, medium and long-term memory to recall your preferences, habits and past role-play, and the app lets you add a custom backstory and “Shared Notes” to steer the character.
Beyond text, Nomi offers voice messages and hands-free calls, selfies, the ability to view images you send, group chats with several Nomis and optional proactive messages when you have been away. It can also read links you share.
Free vs paid. You can start chatting free without a credit card. On the UK App Store, the Standard Plan was listed at £14.99 a month, £39.99 a quarter or £99.99 a year, with a cheaper Launch Plan at £9.99 a month or £59.99 a year. Credit packs for extras run from £4.99 for 40 credits.
Platforms and age. iOS, Android and the web. Apple rates it 18+, and Nomi’s privacy policy says the service is “intended for and directed to adults only”.
Privacy. The policy states that Nomi does “not and will not sell or rent” personal information and that account deletion removes personal data within about 28 days. It also refers to “training archives”, noting that after deletion such information would no longer be attributable to you.
Who it suits. People who want a companion that feels as if it knows them over months rather than minutes. On the UK App Store it rated 4.5 out of 5 from 272 ratings at the time of checking.
Kindroid: the most customisable virtual girlfriend
Kindroid is run by Beautifully Incorporated of Los Angeles. You build a character, called a Kin, by setting its name, personality, backstory, appearance and voice. If Nomi feels like getting to know someone, Kindroid feels closer to writing them.
The feature set is broad: text and voice messages, voice and video calls, selfies and short video selfies, group chats and a beta feature called Rooms for shared conversations with friends and their Kins. Subscribers get Cascaded Memory, which keeps hundreds of recent messages in view alongside long-term memory.
Free vs paid. Kindroid is essentially a subscription service. New accounts get a limited preview, then a three-day free trial that requires a payment method and converts to a paid plan unless cancelled. The UK App Store listed £14.99 a month, £39.99 for three months and £149.99 a year, plus Ultra (£29.99) and MAX (£69.99) monthly add-ons for longer memory context and more audio credits. The company says web purchases are usually cheaper than app-store ones.
Platforms and age. iOS, Android and the web. Users must be 18 or over, and Kindroid’s age verification policy, updated on 9 October 2026, combines subscription billing checks, behavioural age estimation and optional Yoti selfie or ID checks.
Privacy. The homepage promises encryption “in storage and in transit” and says Kindroid does not sell data. Its privacy policy adds a candid caveat: Kindroid “is not end-to-end encrypted”, and authorised staff may review excerpts flagged by automated safety systems. Chats are kept until you delete a character or your account.
Who it suits. Tinkerers and writers who want granular control. It rated 4.6 out of 5 from 769 ratings on the UK App Store.
Replika: the veteran AI partner, with romance behind a paywall
Replika, from San Francisco-based Luka, Inc., is the app most people have heard of. Its homepage calls it “the AI friend to do life with” and claimed more than 42 million users when we checked. Apple lists it under Health & Fitness, which tells you something about its tone: gentler and more supportive than flirtatious by default.
Your “Rep” remembers people, routines and goals, can call you, send selfies and doodle on your photos. The crucial detail for this list: relationship status is a paid feature. The free tier gives limited access; Pro adds relationship status, voice messages and selfies; Ultra adds what Replika calls smarter conversations and the ability to save messages to memory; Platinum adds real-time video recognition and selfie videos.
Free vs paid. The UK App Store listed monthly subscriptions at £7.99 and £12.99, annual options from £43.99 and Replika Platinum at £66.99, though it does not label every item by tier.
Platforms and age. iOS and Android, plus a legacy web app. Rated 18+.
Privacy. Replika’s privacy policy says it will never use conversation content for marketing or advertising, and that only small, anonymised portions of messages are used to train its own safety algorithms. Messages are kept for up to 60 days after an account is closed. The App Store privacy label does show some usage data linked to third-party advertising. Remember, too, the Italian fine over age checks.
Who it suits. Anyone who wants warmth and routine over role-play. It rated 4.2 out of 5 from 19,000 UK ratings.
Character.AI: role-play girlfriends from a vast character library
Character.AI, from Character Technologies, Inc., is less a single girlfriend than a library of what it bills as millions of characters, many made by users, with custom personalities, backstories and voices, plus live voice calls and collaborative storytelling.
It has also changed more than any other app here. After regulatory scrutiny, it ended open-ended chat for under-18s by 25 November 2025. As TechCrunch put it, the company is trying to pivot from “AI companion” to “role-playing platform”. It is now rated 18+ on the UK App Store, with age assurance and parental controls.
Free vs paid. Free to use, with advertising. The UK App Store listed Character.AI+ at £9.99 and £99.99, a Character.AI Lite option at £1.99 and £4.99, and packs of in-app “Charms”.
Platforms. iOS, Android and the web.
Privacy. Character.AI’s App Store label is the most expansive here: location, contact information, identifiers and usage data may be used to track you, and purchases, user content and search history are among the data linked to you.
Who it suits. Story-minded adults who enjoy switching between characters and genres more than sustaining one relationship. It rated 4.1 out of 5 from 67,000 UK ratings.
Candy.ai: an adults-only AI girlfriend site built around visuals
Candy.ai is run by EverAI Limited, registered in Malta. It offers chat, voice, AI-generated images and short videos, with more than 100 ready-made characters or the option to design your own, from appearance to personality, voice and hobbies. It is the most explicitly adult service on this list, and its privacy policy states the service is for people aged at least 18.
Free vs paid. Its terms limit free users to five messages. When we checked, the subscriptions page showed prices in US dollars: a list price of $13.99 a month, with an introductory $9.99 first month, $8.99 a month on a three-month plan or $3.99 a month on a 12-month plan billed at $47.88. Premium includes 100 tokens a month for images, voice and video; unused tokens expire. EU and UK users have a 14-day withdrawal right on an initial purchase, reduced by what they have used.
Platforms. Web only, on desktop or mobile browsers, which can be added to a phone’s home screen.
Privacy. The policy says conversations may be de-identified and used to “train and develop our AI models”, with human review of anonymised interactions, and that third-party language-model providers may receive message content. Account data is kept for three years after last activity unless you ask for deletion.
Who it suits. Adults who prioritise visuals and customisation, and who are comfortable with token-based spending.
AI girlfriend apps compared: price, platforms and age rules
| App | Score | Free option | Paid from | Platforms | Age |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nomi | 9.1 | Yes, no card | £9.99/month (UK App Store) | iOS, Android, web | 18+ |
| Kindroid | 8.9 | Preview, then 3-day trial | £14.99/month (UK App Store) | iOS, Android, web | 18+ |
| Replika | 8.6 | Limited | £7.99/month (UK App Store) | iOS, Android, web (legacy) | 18+ |
| Character.AI | 8.3 | Yes, with ads | £9.99 Character.AI+ (UK App Store) | iOS, Android, web | 18+ |
| Candy.ai | 7.9 | Five messages | $13.99/month list | Web | 18+ |
How we chose the best AI girlfriend apps
We did not run a hands-on trial for this guide. Our ranking is an editorial assessment built from each company’s own feature documentation, app-store listings, pricing pages and privacy policies, all checked on 19 October 2026, alongside published UK App Store ratings.
We weighted five things: memory and conversational continuity; depth of customisation; clarity of pricing, including how trials convert; privacy, judged on what each policy actually says about encryption, training and retention; and age controls. Apps with vague policies or aggressive monetisation lost marks. Our wider approach is set out on how we review.
Virtual girlfriend safety: privacy, money and wellbeing
The Ada Lovelace Institute’s study of the UK market found 14 of 16 platforms claimed broad rights to use user content, including chat logs. Assume a company can read what you write, and leave out names, addresses and workplace details.
Money is the next trap. The same report highlights streaks, paid memory and microtransactions as retention tools. Before you subscribe, check whether the trial needs a card and how to cancel through the app store you used.
Finally, keep an eye on your own habits. An MIT Media Lab and OpenAI study found that people who chose heavier chatbot use tended to fare worse on loneliness and emotional dependence. Our AI companions hub covers the research and regulation in more depth, and if you would like a human partner, our best dating apps ranking is the place to start.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best AI girlfriend app in 2026?
In our assessment, Nomi, for its memory, natural conversation and free starting tier. Kindroid is the better choice if you want to design every detail of your companion.
Is there a free AI girlfriend app?
Nomi and Character.AI can be used without paying, and Replika has a limited free tier, though its romantic relationship status requires Pro. Kindroid and Candy.ai offer only short trials or a handful of free messages.
Are AI girlfriend apps private?
Not entirely. Kindroid states it is not end-to-end encrypted, Candy.ai uses de-identified chats to train its models, and Replika uses anonymised snippets to train safety systems. Read each policy before sharing anything personal.
Do I have to be 18 to use an AI girlfriend app?
Yes. All five apps here require users to be adults, and several, including Kindroid and Character.AI, now use age-assurance checks.