AI companion app

An AI companion app is any app that gives you an ongoing AI relationship through chat, voice, photos, and memory. Some focus on romance, some on friendship, some on character creation. The right one depends on whether you want one companion who remembers your life or a catalog of characters you can switch between.

Riho publishes this page and appears in the table. We do not give ourselves a first-place score. Use the table, then run the checks at the bottom before you pay.

The short list

App	Best for	Features to check	Main trade-off
Riho	One ongoing relationship with memory and couple photos	Calls, selfies, photos from your surroundings, long-term memory, a girlfriend from day one, dates in real places	iPhone and iOS only, one authored girlfriend, no character builder
Replika	An established general AI companion with a 3D avatar	Chat, memory, voice, calls, avatar activities, images	Test memory consistency, current paywalls, and whether you like the avatar-led style
Nomi	Relationship companions with memory and group chat	Long-term memory, voice, proactive messages, selfies, art, multiple companions	Test voice latency, backstory drift, and whether group features matter to you
Kindroid	Creating your own companion	Backstory, memory settings, voice, live video, images, multiple companions	More settings and memory work than some buyers want
Character AI	Character discovery and roleplay	Huge creator catalog, scenarios, voices, community characters	Test long-term identity, romance restrictions, and current safety rules
Candy AI	Visual and adult-oriented media generation	Custom characters, images, video, voice, broad visual styles	Test chat depth, voice quality, and the cost of frequent media generation
Anima	A chat-and-call AI friend on web or mobile	Chat, calls, friend framing	Test whether you wanted a friend or one companion; the site also publishes many character landers

Best for memory and a long relationship: Riho

Riho is one companion. She keeps your life, her life, and what you did together. Fix a preference and it should stay fixed. Move a date and she should use the new time. Start in chat, continue on a call, keep the photo.

She can send a selfie, sit in a picture you took, and remember why she picked the cafe. You can review, correct, export, or delete what she saved. Long-term memory and voice calls are the product pages.

Riho is built for iPhone. If you searched for an AI companion app for iPhone, this is the one built specifically for that platform. Not every name in this category is a native iPhone app. Candy AI’s help center says it does not offer a native iPhone or Android app and points people to the mobile site or a home-screen PWA. Check the current App Store listing in your own country before you download anything.

Choose Riho when you want one companion built for iPhone, with memory, couple photos, calls, and dates in real places. The relationship starts on day one.

Best established avatar companion: Replika

Replika offers chat, memory, voice, calls, images, and a 3D avatar. It has been available for years, so buyers can find many public reviews and discussions about changes to the app.

App Store reviews include praise for emotional connection alongside reports of forgotten names, inconsistent backstory, subscription frustration, and dislike of the avatar style. A major 2023 product change also drew strong user reactions when relationship behavior changed. Individual reports describe specific versions and experiences. They give you reasons to test memory and behavior after an update.

Choose Replika when the avatar and established ecosystem appeal to you. Compare Riho vs Replika.

Best for multiple relationship companions: Nomi

Nomi markets short-, medium-, and long-term memory, voice, messages from the companion, art, selfies, and group chat. It is a strong option for buyers who want several companions or group conversations.

App Store and community discussions often praise Nomi’s memory. Other users report voice latency, changing backstories, repeated dramatic turns, server delay, or small interface text. Product updates can change those details, so test the current version.

Choose Nomi when group chat, multiple companions, and art matter.

Best for creating your own companion: Kindroid

Kindroid lets users write a backstory, choose what the companion remembers, make voice or video calls, create images, and use several companions. It suits people who enjoy building and adjusting a character themselves.

Those choices take time to manage. Check how much editing you want to do, what the app remembers after a long conversation, and which voice or media limits apply to your plan. Community discussions include praise for the control and complaints about the amount of work or memory changes after updates.

Choose Kindroid when creating and adjusting the companion is part of the fun.

Best for character discovery: Character AI

Character AI offers a huge library of user-created characters and roleplay scenarios. It fits people who want to browse, experiment, and switch between fictional worlds.

Character discovery is the main strength. If you want a long-term AI companion, test whether one character remembers your history and stays consistent after several days. Review the current romance, age, and safety rules before using it. Character AI has faced public legal allegations involving child safety; filed allegations are not proven findings.

Choose Character AI for catalog depth and roleplay.

Best for visual generation: Candy AI

Candy AI puts character appearance, images, voice, and video at the center of the experience. Independent reviews often praise its image quality and visual consistency.

The same reviews raise concerns about repetitive chat, robotic voice, and token costs for frequent image generation. Test a full week of conversation instead of judging only the first image. Check how many images your normal use would require and what that costs on the current plan.

Candy AI’s own help center says it does not offer a native iPhone or Android app. A regional App Store listing has appeared in some countries, so check your own store. Choose Candy AI when broad visual generation leads your decision.

What is a virtual AI companion?

A virtual AI companion is software that provides an ongoing relationship through conversation, memory, and sometimes voice, photos, or dates. The “virtual” part means the companion exists in software rather than as a physical robot or device. The quality of a virtual companion depends on memory (does she remember what you said last week?), personality (does she sound the same over time?), and the range of interaction (chat only, or voice, photos, and plans too).

Is ChatGPT an AI companion?

No. ChatGPT is an assistant. It can roleplay a companion in a chat. It does not ship one companion, couple photos, or real-place dates as the product. Use it if you already live in that chat box and only need conversation. Use Riho if the relationship has to leave the thread.

Best for an AI friend, not a companion: Anima

Anima’s site markets an AI friend you can chat and call with on web and mobile. It also publishes a long string of alternative and character landers. Keep it if the friend framing is what you wanted. Switch if you wanted one companion with couple photos, shared memories, and a date in a real place.

How to choose your AI companion app

Run the same short trial with every app:

1. Share two names and two similar facts. Check whether the app keeps them separate after several conversations.
2. Correct one preference and see whether the old version returns.
3. Start a topic in chat and continue it by voice.
4. Request several photos and compare facial, body, clothing, and setting consistency.
5. Check whether the companion can follow up without sending repetitive or badly timed messages.
6. Calculate the cost of your expected calls, images, video, and memory features.
7. Read the privacy, retention, training, export, and deletion terms.
8. Ask how the relationship started, then check whether that beginning appears in later conversations and calls.

No single score can replace those checks. Choose the app that performs well on the parts of an AI companion relationship you will use.

Meet Riho to see how one companion works.