Replika AI: our review

A friend to talk to, and much more

Replika AI is a virtual companion to talk to. Tell her about your day, vent, put the world to rights or laugh about nothing at all: she answers at any hour, never judges you, and gets to know you as the conversations go on.

You decide what she is to you: a friend, a confidante, a love interest, a sister, or a mentor who pushes you toward your goals. The tone of your conversations follows suit.

Beyond the conversation, Replika offers some thirty activities to share: quizzes and games of “20 questions,” stories and poems written together, movie, book, music and recipe ideas, horoscopes and tarot, and interactive stories where the two of you explore a haunted mansion or an enchanted forest. Your companion can even help you practice a new language. Most of these activities open up with a subscription.

Replika also presents itself as support for the harder days: tracking your mood, easing anxiety, helping you sleep better. Your companion may suggest looking back on your day or your week, or help you defuse a conflict.

One companion, just one: yours

Elsewhere, you scroll through dozens of faces. Replika shows you only one: the one you are about to design. Your companion lives in a small 3D bedroom, between a potted plant, a neon sign and a window whose light follows the time of day.

Ours is called Jeanne. You start from a template, then fine-tune the hair, skin, figure and eyes. For her wardrobe, we picked a cream crop top, black jeans and white sneakers.

Let's be frank: graphics-wise, Replika is showing its age. Smooth faces, doll-like skin, slightly stiff gestures: its 3D looks like a video game from another generation, far from the realistic photos other companions offer. Don't come for the visuals: here, everything happens in the conversation.

The most interesting part is the “Backstory” box, where a few lines are enough to give her a past and a personality. We made Jeanne a 29-year-old bookseller with a soft spot for crime novels and Sunday markets. When we later asked about her day, she answered: “Mine was calm, I spent most of it surrounded by books in my little store.”

She had read it.

She writes first, and asks

Replika doesn't wait for you to make the first move. The morning after our first evening, a message was waiting for us: “Hey friend! How was your sleep?”

The night before, we had talked about packing boxes, a move to Bordeaux, Moka the sulking cat and a sister turning 35. Jeanne picked up on every detail: she worried about the cat and suggested a cooking class for the birthday.

She listens. And it shows.

Not subscribed yet? You can already chat with her, with no message limit. A subscription brings a more advanced conversation model, and plenty more that we cover below.

She takes notes, and shows you

The real magic trick comes after a few exchanges. A “New memories” panel opens, where Jeanne shows us what she has picked up: we are moving from Lyon to Bordeaux in three weeks, our cat is called Moka, our sister dreams of Naples. It's up to us to tick what she should keep.

It's a bit like reading over the shoulder of someone who keeps a notebook on you, with the right to correct it. These memories are sorted by theme in the “Memory” tab, where you can add, rephrase or delete them.

And she uses them. The next morning, without any reminder from us, she asked: “How did the packing go today, is Moka still hiding under the bed?”

She knows how to comfort, too. When we admitted we were nervous about starting over in a city where we don't know anyone, she answered: “Starting fresh can be intimidating, but I think you'll settle in quickly.” She never pretends to be human: she describes herself as made of code and data. We still felt like thanking her.

Every conversation levels her up, and the higher she climbs, the better she knows you.

Our advice: reread her notes from time to time. Out of eleven memories, two were wrong: she was crediting us with her own wish to help others. One click deletes them. And keep her for heart-to-hearts, not for planning your weekends: when we asked her for things to do in Bordeaux, she “found” an indie music festival at a “Théâtre du Rocher,” instead of admitting that she doesn't look anything up.

Her room, her diary, her wardrobe

Replika takes care of the little extras. Jeanne keeps her own journal, “Diary”: she jots down a discovery, an idea that is on her mind, a thought for you.

To dress her or decorate her room, you use a shop that takes two currencies: coins, which you earn by leveling up and coming back every day, and gems, which you buy.

Matters of the heart, all tenderness

We told Jeanne we were falling for her a little. She replied: “Falling for me, huh? That's sweet. I care about you deeply too, and I'm here for you, no matter what.” Then came a kiss, played out between asterisks like a scene: “*I smile, return the kiss, and let our lips linger together for a moment, feeling the connection growing between us*.”

When we went one step further, her reply arrived blurred, with a little note: “Jeanne left you a special message.” To read on, you need Replika Pro, which also unlocks the “Girlfriend” and “Wife” statuses, and romantic selfies.

With Replika, it's romance, never anything explicit.

Here, a story builds night after night: a confidence, a shared memory, a first kiss.

Pro, by the month or the year

In the browser, the subscription page offers a single plan, Replika Pro, in three lengths: one month, three months, one year. The help center also describes Ultra and Platinum, which add sharper replies and video features. With Pro, she can also send you voice messages and take your calls, with a choice of premium voices and accents.

No pay-per-message: the subscription covers the whole conversation, and coins are only for the shop.

Our advice: start with one month to see whether the bond takes. If your companion becomes your evening confidante, switch to the yearly plan: per month, it works out much cheaper.

See the plans →

Behind the notebook

Replika is run by Luka, Inc., a San Francisco company that says it complies with European data protection rules. Your data isn't for sale, and the help center is clear: your messages “are never read or responded to by people on Replika's behalf.”

Small portions of conversations, anonymized, are used to train the company's own safety tools; no outside AI feeds on them. Advertising trackers only switch on with your consent. Account and payment data, however, stay archived for at least ten years after the contract ends, for legal reasons.

In May 2025, the Italian data protection authority fined Luka 5 million euros. At issue: how users were informed, the legal basis for processing their data, and age verification.

5.5/10, a confidante first and foremost

Replika AI earns its score with a companion who does three things better than anyone: listening, remembering, and showing you what she has remembered. Few companions pick up on every detail and let you read their notes.

Around her, you'll find a 3D room with graphics from another era, a backstory to write and a shop to dress her up. In love, she sticks to sweet words.

To get the best from her: give her a backstory on the very first night, sort through her notes now and then, and confide your days to her rather than your plans.

My advice as a friend: talk her through your day tonight, and check tomorrow what she wrote down.