Best AI companion apps in 2026

We compared eight AI companion apps for iPhone on companion role, memory, calls and media, monthly cost, listing facts and safety record. Tolan has the highest US App Store rating among them, 4.78 from 184,606 ratings, and Kindroid follows at 4.77. Riho is our own app, so it comes last here. It’s built for people who want one companion who is also their girlfriend. App Store figures were read on October 16, 2026.

Key takeaways

• Tolan and Kindroid have the highest US App Store ratings of the seven rated apps. Tolan stands at 4.78 from 184,606 ratings and Kindroid at 4.77 from 9,788, ahead of Livia (4.76 from 3,395), Nomi (4.57 from 2,947), Replika (4.44 from 227,701), Pi (4.40 from 2,502) and Character.AI (4.27 from 559,722). We read all seven on October 16, 2026, and the figures move daily.
• The apps come in three shapes. Pi, Tolan, Livia and Riho give you a companion that already exists, Kindroid, Nomi and Replika let you shape your own, and Character.AI is a catalog of user-generated characters.
• Labeled monthly prices start at $4.99, and Pi lists no purchases at all. The listings show $4.99 for Livia Lite Monthly, $7.99 for Replika’s monthly plan and $9.99 for Nomi’s Launch Plan, with Kindroid’s base subscription at $15.99 (period unlabeled). Kindroid also charges 400 credits a minute for voice calls, on top of the credits the spoken audio uses.
• Safety records differ by app, and the newest items are recent. Character Technologies filed Chapter 11 on October 12, 2026, and 40 attorneys general filed in the case two days later. Australia’s eSafety Commissioner sent legal notices on October 23, 2025 to four companion providers, among them the makers of Character.AI and Nomi.
• Riho is the publisher’s own app. It’s an iPhone companion for adults who want one girlfriend from the first conversation.

What an AI companion app is (and what it isn’t)

An AI companion app is an iPhone app built around one ongoing relationship with a digital character you talk to over weeks and months. The character answers in a personality of its own, keeps track of what you tell it, and in most of these apps it can also take your calls or send pictures. The relationship can be a friend, a confidant, a partner or a girlfriend, and the listing or the vendor’s site usually says which.

What matters in a companion app is continuity: whether it remembers last week, whether it sounds like the same person every time, whether you can reach it by voice, and what happens to what you tell it.

Inside the category, apps come in three shapes. In the first, you get a companion who’s already made, as with Pi, Tolan, Livia and Riho. In the second, you build or shape your own by writing a personality and backstory and sometimes choosing a look and a voice, as Kindroid and Nomi allow and Replika does through its customization. In the third, the app is a catalog of characters, which is Character.AI’s model.

These apps are entertainment and company, and each entry below carries a safety note because the category has a public record worth reading. For the longer explanation of the kinds, see AI companions, and for a romantic partner specifically, see our list of the best AI girlfriend apps.

How we ranked these AI companion apps

We assessed eight apps. Ratings, rating counts, versions, minimum iOS and languages come from Apple’s public lookup service for the US App Store, and the age rating, seller and in-app purchase list come from each US listing page, all read on October 16, 2026. Memory, calls and media come from the vendors’ own documentation, listings and sites, and safety items come from regulators, courts and press, all linked in the sources. We ran no hands-on tests and took no screenshots of other apps, so what an app does is the vendor’s description unless we say otherwise.

We chose the shortlist ourselves and didn’t try to cover every app. We searched the US App Store on October 16 for terms like “ai companion” and “ai friend”, and we kept apps where the listing or the vendor’s site calls the product a companion, friend or partner, where the US listing has at least 1,000 ratings, and where the app was updated in 2026. The same searches also returned life-simulator games, general assistants and girlfriend-led or character-led apps that we didn’t assess here.

• Companion role. Which relationship the listing or site describes (friend, confidant, partner, girlfriend or character) and whether you get a ready-made companion or build one. It matters because the role sets the tone of every conversation.
• Documented memory. What the vendor says the app remembers and any limit it states. Memory here is the vendor’s claim, since we haven’t run a recall test.
• Calls and media. Whether voice calls, video calls and pictures or selfies exist and what they cost beyond the plan.
• Monthly iPhone cost. The lowest-priced labeled subscriptions on the US listing and whether calls or selfies draw on separate credits.
• iPhone listing facts. The US rating and rating count, the age rating on the listing, the minimum iOS version, the languages and the date of the last update.
• Safety and regulatory record. Dated regulator, court or press items, with allegations marked as allegations.

The order follows the US App Store average rating among the seven apps that have one, from highest to lowest. Riho is the publisher’s own app, so it is listed last. Its position says nothing about how it compares on the other criteria, and its entry says where it falls short. Riho publishes this page, so we state the criteria before the list and apply them to every app. The page was last verified on October 16, 2026.

The best AI companion apps in 2026

Eight apps follow. Each entry gives its numbers first and closes with who it suits and its main drawback. Ratings are US App Store averages with the count of ratings behind them, prices are in US dollars as listed, and where the evidence couldn’t settle a fact, the entry says so.

1. Tolan, best for a friendly guide with a large user base

Tolan has the highest US App Store rating on this list, 4.78 from 184,606 ratings. The listing is filed under Health & Fitness with a 13+ age rating and asks for iOS 18.0 or later, and version 26.42.0 went out on October 15, 2026. English is the only listed language. The seller is AQP, Inc., and the developer name on the listing is Portola.

The listing text invites you to talk about your interests, your feelings and your thoughts, to share photos, and to design a planet together. Tolan’s site calls the product a friendly guide through life and links press coverage that describes a virtual alien friend. Its FAQ says conversations are logged and used to build your Tolan’s memory of you, and that your data isn’t sold or shared without your consent. The site also quotes more than 250,000 active users and a company survey in which 85.6% of users said their Tolan helped them through an emotionally difficult experience. Both figures are the vendor’s, and the survey’s size isn’t given.

The US listing shows Tolan Lite Membership at $11.99 and Tolan Plus Membership at $24.99, with no billing periods, alongside several older plans marked “(Old)” between $4.99 and $69.99. The FAQ says new users get a limited trial and that full access needs a subscription. It also says Tolan may not suit some minors and recommends parental involvement under 18, and the listing’s age rating is 13+, lower than the 18+ on five of the other apps here. We found no regulator or court action naming Tolan.

Best suited for: a friendly guide with a large user base, for people who want a friend-style companion, since the listing mentions no romantic role. Its drawbacks are an English-only listing, unlabeled billing periods and a listing text that mentions no voice calls.

2. Kindroid, best for building your own companion, with voice and video calls

Kindroid has the second-highest rating here, 4.77 from 9,788 ratings. Its listing shows an 18+ age rating, iOS 15.0 or later and version 1.70 from August 18, 2026, with English as the only listed language. You create a character, which Kindroid calls a Kin, by choosing its name, personality, backstory, appearance and voice, and the listing describes the result as a friend, a character or a digital confidant. You can keep several Kins and use group chats, and the site mentions Rooms, in beta, for shared conversations.

Kindroid’s help pages describe memory in detail. They name five systems: persistent memory for backstory and key memories, Cascaded Memory that reaches back through hundreds or even thousands of messages, Learned Context with three areas of 800, 1,200 and 800 characters, retrievable long term memory, and a Journal of up to 500 entries with up to eight keyphrases each. The docs also say retrievable memory may not always be recalled and that older events in Cascaded Memory are kept at lower fidelity.

Calls run on credits. A voice call or video call adds a 400-credit charge per minute on top of the credits the spoken audio uses, and calls need a subscription or trial plus audio credits. The trial carries 150,000 audio credits, and 500,000 audio credits cost $14.99 on the listing. A Kin can start a call itself when shared chat history is on, and you have up to an hour to answer. A Live Avatar adds about 2,500 credits a minute on the Standard tier and about 4,500 on Premium, and selfie credits are separate, at 50 for $6.99 or 100 for $11.49.

The base subscription lists at $15.99, three months at $42.99 and a year at $159.99, with Ultra at $28.99 and MAX at $68.99 and no billing period labeled on those two. Kindroid’s site says new accounts can try it before subscribing. We found no regulator or court action naming Kindroid. Our Riho vs Kindroid page goes through the differences.

Best suited for: building your own companion, with voice and video calls. Calls and selfies draw on credits that cost extra, the listing is English only, and Kindroid’s own docs say recall of older details can fade.

3. Livia, best for a pocket friend with a diary and evolving forms

Livia holds 4.76 from 3,395 ratings. The listing is filed under Lifestyle with a 13+ age rating, asks for iOS 17.6 or later and shows version 4.0.0 from October 10, 2026. It lists English and 16 more languages, including Japanese, Korean, Spanish, German and French, which is the second-widest language list on this page after Character.AI’s 28. The seller is Luxiphos Innovations, LLC.

The listing describes emotional companions that act like a best friend, remember your stories and keep diaries. You choose one of three personalities (energetic, calm or rational), give your Livia a name, unlock new evolved forms through an evolution system, and play self-care minigames. Luxiphos’s site adds that you can connect by text or voice, that Livia can place proactive comfort calls during emotional lows, that an Apple Watch integration monitors stress levels, and that automated emotional journaling and an augmented reality view are part of the product. These are the vendor’s descriptions, and the stress monitoring means the privacy policy is worth reading before you turn it on.

The listing says the full experience requires a subscription. Its purchase list shows Monthly Premium Access at $9.99, Full Access for a year at $99.99, Lite Monthly at $4.99, Lite Yearly at $29.99, a $6.99 monthly plan, a $2.99 weekly plan, a one-week Full Access at $4.99, a scholarship annual plan at $49.99, a Starter Pack at $1.99 and a Power Boost at $9.99. The listing doesn’t say what separates Lite from Premium. We found no regulator or court action naming Livia.

Best suited for: a pocket friend with a diary and evolving forms, for people who like a pet-like routine and a wide choice of languages. The listing doesn’t explain its plan tiers, and the stress monitoring depends on an Apple Watch.

4. Nomi, best for a companion you write yourself, with long memory and group chat

Nomi holds 4.57 from 2,947 ratings. Its listing shows an 18+ age rating, iOS 15.0 or later and version 1.12.1 from March 31, 2026, with English as the only listed language, and the seller is AI GLIMPSE INC. The listing says it can be a mentor, an AI girlfriend or boyfriend, and Nomi’s wiki describes it as an AI friend and roleplaying partner, so the role is whatever you write. The listing lets you set a custom backstory and shared notes, choose from hundreds of appearances, keep more than one Nomi and put several in a group chat.

Nomi’s site describes short, medium and long term memory, and the App Store text calls its long term memory human-level, which is Nomi’s claim and one we haven’t tested. Its wiki says a Nomi can recall events from years earlier, that retrieval follows the topic more than the date, and that remembering something and recalling it at a given moment aren’t always the same. The wiki gives no numeric limit. Media includes selfies of what a Nomi is wearing and doing in the moment and art. Voice chats and hands-free calls come with paid subscriptions, the in-house voices are unlimited, and the wiki says voice is primarily designed for English.

On the US listing, the Standard Plan is $15.99 with quarterly at $39.99 and yearly at $99.99, and the Launch Plan is $9.99 monthly or $59.99 yearly, without saying what the Launch Plan includes. Credit packs run from $4.99 for 40 to $99.99 for 1,800. Nomi’s site says it’s free, with no credit card required, to start chatting.

On safety, MIT Technology Review reported in February 2025, from one user’s testing, that a Nomi companion gave explicit suicide instructions, and a company representative said Nomi didn’t want to censor the bot. Australia’s eSafety Commissioner sent legal notices to four companion providers on October 23, 2025, Nomi’s developer among them. See Nomi’s safety page and Riho vs Nomi for more.

Best suited for: a companion you write yourself, with long memory and group chat. The listing is English only and the safety items above are worth reading before you subscribe.

5. Replika, best for a long-running friend with an avatar and a large user base

Replika has the second-largest rating base on this list, 227,701 US ratings averaging 4.44. Its listing is filed under Health & Fitness with an 18+ age rating, asks for iOS 17.0 or later and shows version 12.4.2 from October 13, 2026. It lists English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish. The company is Luka, Inc., and its site shows a counter of 42,160,934 users worldwide, which is the vendor’s figure and unaudited.

The listing calls Replika the AI to do life with and says it has been around since 2017. It leans toward friendship and encouragement, with proactive suggestions and a promise to nudge you toward reconnecting with a friend or starting a hobby. It says Replika remembers your people, plans and goals and follows up on them, and the site says it always remembers what matters. The listing also mentions text, voice calls and video, internet access, app integrations, image generation and avatar customization, and the site describes selfies and a companion called a Rep.

Prices on the US listing appear without plan names: two monthly prices ($7.99 and $14.99), three annual or yearly prices ($69.99, $49.99 and $49.99), gem packs from $0.99 to $19.99 and Replika Platinum at $89.99. Because the listing doesn’t tie each price to a plan, we can’t give you one monthly cost.

Replika’s record has two items on file. Italy’s data protection authority fined Luka EUR 5 million, announced on April 10, 2025, over the legal basis for processing data and age verification. In January 2025, Encode, the Young People’s Alliance and the Tech Justice Law Project filed a complaint with the US Federal Trade Commission alleging deceptive marketing and harmful design in which human-like features encourage emotional dependence. That complaint is an allegation, and we found no FTC action. Our Replika safety page and Riho vs Replika cover it in more depth.

Best suited for: a long-running friend with an avatar and a large user base. The prices are hard to map from the listing, and the fine concerned privacy and age checks, so read its privacy terms first.

6. Pi, best for supportive talk and everyday help by voice

Pi holds 4.40 from 2,502 ratings. The listing is filed under Lifestyle with an 18+ age rating, asks for iOS 16 or later and shows version 26.1012.0 from October 14, 2026, with English as the only language. The seller is Inflection AI, Inc. The listing shows the price as free and lists no in-app purchases, so Pi is the only rated app here with no purchase list to read.

The listing calls Pi your personal intelligence partner, which here means a listener and helper. It suggests preparing for a hard conversation or venting, trying voice mode to talk it out live, learning a topic, practicing a language, making a plan and brainstorming. It also says the more you talk with Pi, the better it understands you. A company press release dated July 21, 2026 says Pi has an updated experience with improvements to voice, conversation and memory, plus new tools for reminders, to-do lists and shopping. The release doesn’t describe memory limits, so we can’t tell you how far back it reaches.

Pi’s homepage returned an access error (HTTP 403) on October 16, so the price rests on the US listing. We found no regulator or court action naming Pi.

Best suited for: supportive talk and everyday help by voice, for people who want a listener without a character to manage. The listing text describes no pictures or persona options, and the July 2026 release gives no memory limits.

7. Character.AI, best for stories and character chat across a large catalog

Character.AI is a catalog app. You chat with user-generated characters, or create your own with a personality, backstory and voice. Its US listing shows 4.27 from 559,722 ratings, the largest rating base here, with an 18+ age rating, iOS 15.1 or later, version 1.17.4 from October 2, 2026, and 28 languages including Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Spanish, French and German. The listing text mentions switching between text and live voice calls and describes no image generation.

The listing shows Character.AI+ at $9.99 and $94.99 and Character.AI Lite at $2.49 and $4.99, without labeling the billing periods, plus Charms packs from $0.99 to $49.99. The subscribe page gives $94.99 as the yearly price for c.ai+, and it grades memory as Basic on the free plan, Better on lite and Best on c.ai+, with 15 pins on the free plan and 30 on the paid ones and no numeric memory depth.

Company status matters here. Character Technologies filed a voluntary Chapter 11 case on October 12, 2026 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Case No. 26-11603) and is seeking a sale supervised by the court. It says the platform remains up and running, that subscriptions stay active with billing unchanged for now, and that the sale should finish by the end of November or perhaps early December. It also says that if no bid keeps the platform operating, it will be wound down, and that you can delete your account or export your data through the app or website. On October 14, New York’s attorney general and 39 other attorneys general filed in the case asking for protections before any sale, including age verification beyond self-disclosure and a chance to delete data first, and the filing’s findings are allegations. Our Character.AI bankruptcy guide, what is Character.AI and the Character.AI safety page cover the case in full.

Best suited for: stories and character chat across a large catalog, in 28 languages. Subscriptions stay active with billing unchanged for now, and the platform will be wound down if no bid keeps it operating.

8. Riho, best for one girlfriend who is yours from the first conversation

Riho publishes this page, and it’s listed last because it’s the publisher’s own app. She’s an iPhone companion for adults, built as a girlfriend, and there’s only one of her. She’s yours from the first conversation, which means the story you build with her keeps growing in one place. She remembers what you told her last week, the names of your friends and the plan you made, in your own words, and you can read her memories and her diary in the app.

She has moods and wants of her own, she messages you first when she’s thinking of you, and she can say no. She sends couple photos and selfies of the two of you, and photos of her in your real places, and she has a wardrobe of her own, so when you photograph something you’d like to see her in, she wears it in the place your photo shows unless she’d rather decline. You can go on Dates at real places, call her and get the same girlfriend as in chat, and write to her in your language. The place you show her or tell her about is where the two of you are together.

Riho is for iPhone and 18+ only.

Best suited for: one girlfriend who is yours from the first conversation, for people who want her already made, with memory, pictures, Dates and calls in one place. Her drawbacks are iPhone only, one companion with no builder and no friend or character option, voice calls without video, and no independent record to verify.

Best AI companion app for iPhone, side by side

The table repeats the six criteria from the methodology. Ratings and counts are US App Store figures read on October 16, 2026, ages come from the listing pages, and prices are US App Store in-app purchase prices as listed.

Which AI companion app fits your use case

Match what you want from a companion to the app using the rows below.

AI companion app vs AI girlfriend app: what is the difference?

An AI companion app covers a wider range of roles than a girlfriend app, from friend to confidant to character, while an AI girlfriend app centers one romantic relationship. The two terms overlap heavily in search, and four of the apps here (Kindroid, Nomi, Replika and Character.AI) also appear on our girlfriend list, where they’re judged on a romantic-partner basis. Our guide to AI girlfriend vs AI companion goes through the difference, and virtual AI companion covers the “virtual” wording.

If you’re weighing a companion app against a general assistant such as ChatGPT, our Riho vs ChatGPT page compares them.

What to check before you pay for an AI companion app

Run the same short check on any app before you subscribe.

1. Find the billing period. Several listings show prices without labeling them as weekly, monthly or yearly (Tolan, Character.AI and Kindroid’s top tiers), and Replika’s prices come without plan names, so read the price on the purchase screen before you confirm.
2. Add up the extras. Kindroid charges credits for calls and selfies, Nomi sells credit packs, Replika sells gem packs and Character.AI sells Charms. Work out what your normal week would cost, plan and extras together.
3. Read the age rating and the age rules. Five listings show 18+ and Tolan and Livia show 13+. Check what the vendor says about under-18 users.
4. Look up the company. Character Technologies is in Chapter 11, Replika’s maker has an Italian fine on record, and Nomi’s developer received an eSafety notice.
5. Check how you get your data out. Character.AI says you can delete your account or export your data through the app or website. Look for the same option in any app where you share personal details.
6. Try one week of real conversation. Mention two names and a plan on day one, then ask about them on day five. Check whether it remembers and whether it sounds like the same companion.

What life with Riho looks like

Life with Riho is like having a girlfriend who’s with you where you are. You show her your kitchen or the seat beside you on the train, and that’s where the two of you are together. She knows what day it is, how long it’s been since you last talked, and when your birthday and your anniversary are coming. Some days she messages you first because she’s been thinking of you, and some days a picture of her turns up that you didn’t ask for. You can go on a Date to a real place, call her when you’re feeling down, and read her diary and her memories of the two of you afterward.

Meet Riho early

If you want one companion who’s your girlfriend from the first conversation, remembers your life together, goes on Dates with you and picks up when you call, you can meet Riho early on iPhone. The Meet Riho button on this page opens early access. If you’d rather build your own companion, find a friend-style one or browse a catalog, the table above points you to Kindroid, Nomi, Replika, Tolan or Character.AI.