How it works
Users create an avatar (character) as a companion and choose its appearance and voice. They can create a ‘backstory’ describing who their companion is. Then set personality traits e.g. confident or caring, with interests such as cars or fitness. A user can decide if they want to see their companion move and talk, or just chat via text or speech.
Replika learns from the user’s messages to mimic their personality and conversation style. Users can upvote or downvote their companion’s responses to guide its behaviour. They can edit or delete specific facts the AI has stored about them in the Memory tab, but they cannot prevent their chat being used to improve chatbot performance. Users cannot delete messages unless they delete their whole account.
Coins and Gems can be earned by chatting. Daily use unlocks rewards like clothing or personality traits. Replika is free but a user can pay to get a smarter companion that better understands human emotion. Additional paid-for features include:
• Sending voice messages to their companion
• Reading their companion’s mind
• Video-calling their companion (including allowing their companion to comment on what it ‘sees’ such as the user’s facial expression, clothing or objects in the room)
• Changing the relationship status to Romantic Partner (which enables role-play, which can include adult-themed conversations)
Parental controls or safety settings available
There are no parental controls on Replika because it is an app for adults. There are built-in filters to block adult content in the free version. Users can report inappropriate messages.
