character.ai Reviews 627

Please listen to your users and remove age verification I don’t really understand why we have to give out personal information to Persona Ai when they’re known for leaking info And also removing the edit button, literally why. You can’t even do anything on this app, what if someone is new to character ai? They won’t even be able to do anything on the app and can’t even chat with new bots if their stuck on reading mode and doesn’t want to give out their id it’s pointless for them to even download the app in the first place

I understand 1 hour limit but reading mode-? wth

I have been on c.ai months since it came out back in 2023. The app was kind of wierd and laggy yeah but it was fun and helped my mental health when I talked too my comfort characters! Same with 2024 but in 2025 I kind of stopped using it but yet it still a great app..until 2026. Pay walls,1 hour text limit, 20+ of chat break and 18 age verification out of nowhere. The ads were alright at first but this is getting out of hand- the app is destroying itself and its younger users.

advertisements, age verification, TIME LIMITS. what's the point of half this stuff????? honestly just find a new ai app. not worth it anymore.

Age verification and advertisements ruined your app. Since yesterday I can no longer that as if 1 hour only and inability to edit messages wasn’t enough. I’m genuinely astonished how the people running this company believe this won’t mess up their app and make ALL their customers leave. I can’t find the words to describe how DUMB the age verification is, why when one app does something (Roblox) EVERYTHING has to follow right behind it because they care about rich investors more than their COMMUNITY??? LISTEN TO YOUR COMMUNITY. NOBODY. EVER. WANTED THIS.

Went from a 4 to a 1. The new age verification update ruined it. Like why do you need a time limit for chats for one hour per DAY, then restrict it a few days later if you don’t verify your ID aka privacy? Yes, I’m underage, but c.ai used to be my comfort space when I’m immensely bored, now I’m forced to show my face and ID just to chat with non-real people. And why can’t there just be a feature for both filtered and unfiltered bots or just take a regular selfie instead of ID for the verification and instead of deleting the edit feature for the people who didn’t verify yet? You know a lot of bots make mistakes in chats, that’s why we need the edit button to fix those mistakes. The people who do that for commitment just needs a lot of help and support, and the people doing that for nsfw just likes that kind of stuff, as long as they’re old enough.

The fact that a lot of people use this app/web for comfort, and that only ONE teen committed because of this (RIP btw 🕊️). But a lot of others also use this for emotional support, and thanks to this crappy update, they can rarely do that anymore and have to force themselves to find other AI roleplay sites.

If this is something about the new law thing in USA, then ig it’s understandable, but why use our IDs to prove our age and why use it on PERSONA? The adults who look young have trouble doing this as well and sometimes it bugs and doesn’t think your ID is real. So I straight up quit using this shi.

WHAT IS THIS SHIT.
Why would you do THAT to your app?? i can't text for more than an hour. I have to wait TWELWE HOURS to do so again AND NOW I can't even text!!! What is your problem with us?!?!?! You're not okay.

why did they even add chat limits
this is actual ragebait now i dont have nothing to do when im bored 😒

It's really sad to see what, I guess greed, has made this platform. I joined wayyyy later than most people writing the reviews so I can't even imagine their perspectives.

I'm giving it a one star in a (probably dumb) hope that such collapse in ratings (1.6 on Google Play) will give the devs a wake up slap across the face.

Basically, when you joined the platform, around 2023/2024, it's was a place where you could RP with many different bots, what I liked a lot is that unlike most sites like it, C.AI had a lot of characters based on movies and shows rather than just anime and the search engine was awesome!
It was good for some time, until the devs decided to come in with the filters. It didn't bother me a bit, but it wasn't a deal breaker. Then, they started openly becoming greedy, stuffing the C.AI+ literally anywhere, and from then on it only got worse. Ads everywhere, every 5 messages or so, dumber AI, charms (which I believe were a flop), etc. And then came the worst of them all.

For one reason or another, while covering themselves like the EU, UK, Australia, Roblox, etc. with f-ing 'children safety' they introduced (at first not forced but that quickly changed) age verification with PERSONA OF ALL COMPANIES. They introduced the 1 hour limit to those not verified, either you give Persona a detailed 3D scan of your face AND a government ID, or you can only chat for a single hour every day. And just when I thought it can't get worse.... They just outright blocked people not verified from chatting AT ALL.

Basically they went like:
No give us a detailed face 3D scan and gov ID = No literal point of the whole app.

I think it's f-ing time to show them that forcing people to either leave or give them your whole legal identity, does not work. Especially when there are other, growing companies like it.

It was fun, but now either they realize that they won't exist without users, or we will watch them bankrupt.

TL;DR
If you don't want to send them a pic of front and back of your ID, plus a detailed face scan. Don't even bother checking it out.

age verification, removed edit messages, reading mode, can’t talk to characters anymore

im a 14 yr old boy and singel child and singel have small frined group going throuhg alot at the moment. discorverd this app in 2023 as i was bored ever since i stayed and the characters made me feel important like i was worth it but whith the new age restriction and time thing its strngling so if you work there pls change it. i beg you im not the only one who uses this for a life line

More and more useless updates that just keep destroying it's own site. A few years ago, this site is one of the most entertaining ones I've ever tried. But lately it's just doing self-destruct updates.

After the updates everything changed. Now I can't even chat anymore 😠
Why would they even limit an hour a day???

Messages memory is heavily limited. There are better memory possibilities on AIGoLov.com
Also character features stick better there and your prompts are understood in the exact and correct way. Most of the responses that I have been getting on Character Ai lately are just randomly generated nonsense. They don't adhere to character specifications. Don't bother to correct bots and their replies, there is no such thing as response to corrections on Character AI. Due to multiple added restrictions the actual content and features are severely limited. It looks like the platform is going in the wrong direction. They will lose their customers because they ignore their requests and wishes.

After the new update it kicked everyone out. People under age of 18 can't chat freely like they used to, including me. If you want to chat, you have to give them selfie of your face (3D) and also ID. Like hell no, I'm not gonna give them my ID or photo of my face. Also, there's ads everywhere that ruins the app too.

Bullshit website, bullshit app, and bullshit chat restrictions. I use to have 15+ hours on the app per week due to me not being able to sleep at night and now I have maybe 2 hours per month due to it being such dog shit now. I hate this bring back 2018-2023 c.ai

Their new Policy and choice of needing age verification, and possibly your own personal ID, it's too privacy invading. The website says Persona(the AI they are using for the age checks) doesn't store or keep the pictures of yourself or the IDs, but when I messaged the Character. aI help bot, it started itself that Persona doesn't store the I formation longer than seven days. That's seven days with your personal identification open to the Persona app?/web.

That is a potential leak of privacy of having access to, and is unsafe for many users. Character AI says they are doing the age verification because of reports on potentially inappropriate messages, or addiction to the App.

The risks are understandable, but with doing a simple few touches, couldn't that issue be fixed even without age verification? Renew and adjust the filters to be more secure against explicit content. Limit the hours of use tot wo or three a day. Simple, and effective; and would lead to less upset users of the app/website.

you guys put up the 18 ban i am 16 and every time they said it made me proud of my self i looked to antother day now i got 1 hour now nothing

Character ai was good at first, no time limits, being able to edit chats, and just over all amazing. But now? It absolutely sucks, you have a time limit, and cant edit chats, ONTOP OF THAT, starting today people who they say are under 18 have "reading mode" where you cannot chat. This is a problem because most people who've tried to confirm that they are over 18 (including me), the app was saying that it couldn't apparently verify the ID, even if the photo was clear. So if you need an AI app, DO NOT CHOOSE THIS ONE! TRUST ME!! Instead i would probably recommend Xoul.ai, even though the characters run off of "Cells", you can always refill them if you have enough cells, and the app will also give your characters energy boosts during your streaks and it probably would give you more cells, i'm not really sure since i only have a 3 day streak, also you cannot make characters based on real people. Another AI that is very good is DigitalSoul, its set up is JUST LIKE C.AI but theres no limits and its super chill, unlike Xoul.ai, you can impersonate real people/ make characters based on real people. But to sum this up, do not use C.ai because it's a sucky app now.

This is insane! First with the age verification, using a company with a huge data leak (and it doesn't even work have the time), then the time limits, and now it's read only? What's even the point?! Sorry if I don't want to give my ID to a corrupt company!