The best AI friend apps, and who each one is for

At a glance

Other products: checked November 11, 2026 against each company’s own pages and store listings. Hallie: checked November 11, 2026.

Hallie

Best for: people who would rather get a text than open an app, and who want a friend who brings up what they said last week.

Where it wins: She is in Messages on both iPhone and Android, so there is nothing to install and no second inbox to check: her thread sits next to your other conversations. You meet her as she is. Sign-up is a few questions on the web about how you like to text, and then you text her. She keeps track of the people, plans and events you mention and brings them up later. After you’ve texted her she starts conversations too, usually about something you told her, so if you mentioned a date or an exam she may ask how it went. If you go quiet she checks in once or twice, then waits for you, and if you ask her to stop, she stops. She understands the photos, voice memos and links you send, and paid members can call her number like a regular phone call. Of the AI companions we’ve used, Hallie is the one that feels most like texting a person. That is our judgment, and we make her.

Watch-outs: She has no avatar and her replies are text, and she can miss a detail or get one wrong, in which case you tell her in the thread.

How you pay: A subscription. Depending on the offer, your first conversation is free or you start with a free trial. There’s no free plan. The price is shown before you pay, and you can cancel any time in your account.

Replika

Best for: people who want one long-running companion they can see, in an app made for it.

Where it wins: You shape the avatar (the homepage says “Every detail is yours to shape”) and you choose the relationship: friend, mentor, partner, or seeing how it develops. Replika describes itself as available “by text, voice calls, and video”, and it has a Memory screen where you can read what it has saved and remove a memory.

Watch-outs: Conversations happen in Replika’s own app or web app. Each account gets one Replika. Setting the relationship to Romantic Partner needs the Pro subscription, which is also what gives full access to selfies, image generation, voice messaging and background calls. The help center also says access to free use “may be denied at Replika’s discretion”, and that there is no free trial of the paid plans.

How you pay: Free text chat, or a paid plan: Pro, Ultra or Platinum. Replika does not publish prices on its website. It says the cost “is shown in the app on the subscription screens and in the relevant store.”

More detail: Hallie vs Replika.

Kindroid

Best for: people who want to write the character themselves, or keep several.

Where it wins: You set the personality, backstory, key memories, avatar and voice, and subscribers get 10 Kindroid slots and group chats of up to 10 Kindroids. It has real-time voice calls, live video calls with a lip-synced avatar, and selfies.

Watch-outs: There is no ongoing free tier. Kindroid retired free messaging on October 1, 2026; a new account gets a one-time preview of 50 messages (15 in some regions) and then becomes read-only. Messages that the character sends first are for paid subscribers. Calls need a subscription or trial and draw on audio credits. Texting from Messages is for subscribers, reaches one Kin at a time, and does not work over SMS or MMS.

How you pay: A subscription on a 1-month, 3-month or 1-year plan, with a 3-day trial that needs a payment method and converts unless you cancel. Kindroid does not publish prices on its site. It says you see “the exact price for your country and platform at checkout” and that buying on the web is usually cheaper than through the app stores. Larger memory is sold as Ultra and MAX monthly add-ons.

More detail: Hallie vs Kindroid.

Character.AI

Best for: people who want to roleplay or build stories with lots of different characters.

Where it wins: Its characters are mostly made by users, and its sign-up page claims more than 10 million of them. You can make your own with a personality, backstory, greeting and voice, and two-way voice calls with characters are available.

Watch-outs: On October 12, 2026 Character.AI said it had started a voluntary Chapter 11 process for a court-supervised sale of the company. It said the platform remains up and subscriptions stay active, and that the platform will be wound down if no bid allows it to keep operating. The sale hearing is scheduled for December 3 and 4, 2026, so check its status before you subscribe. The company describes itself as “a leading platform for entertainment and fandom”, which is a different thing from one friend who knows your week. Its help center says a character “will appear to forget things if they were not mentioned recently.” The free plan has ads and a slow mode. We found no Character.AI page that describes characters messaging you first.

How you pay: Free, or (c.ai) lite at $4.99 a month or $2.49 a week in the US (Character.AI help center, “About (c.ai) lite”, checked November 11, 2026). Lite has fewer ads, and the higher c.ai+ plan has none. Character.AI has no pricing page, and it says prices vary by country.

Sesame

Best for: people who would rather talk than type.

Where it wins: Voice is the core of the product: you call or text one of four ready-made characters (Maya, Miles, Simone or Charlie) in the Sesame app, and Sesame says memory is continuous across voice and text. An Incognito mode saves nothing to memory or to Sesame’s servers.

Watch-outs: Sesame calls these “personal agents”, not friends, and says they are “not designed for romantic roleplay”. Conversations happen in its app. Its terms say the service is intended for users in the United States, although its getting-started page lists other countries too. Its privacy policy says content from logged-in users may be used to train its models unless you opt out in settings. We found no Sesame page that describes an agent checking in on you unprompted; what it describes is skills that run on a schedule you set.

How you pay: The App Store lists Sesame as free, with no in-app purchases, and there is no pricing page on sesame.com. The App Store listing describes the iOS app as a preview.

Pi

Best for: people who want one ready-made AI to talk things through with, by text or voice, with memories they can edit.

Where it wins: Pi’s App Store listing offers it for when you want to “talk through a difficult topic, or just want someone to listen”, and you can talk to it by voice with the call button in the mobile app. It has a Manage Memories screen where you can add, delete and update what it remembers.

Watch-outs: Conversations happen in the Pi app or on the web. Pi’s help center says it skips “Fleeting plans”, and gives “I’m going to the store tonight” as an example, so by its own description tonight’s plans are the kind of thing it leaves out. Its Daily Brief is a catch-up on news and topics you follow. It can’t generate, upload or edit images. Inflection’s privacy policy says chats are used to train its models unless you opt out in your account settings. We could not open pi.ai itself on November 11, so everything here comes from Inflection’s site, Pi’s help center and the store listings.

How you pay: We found no pricing page for Pi.

More detail: Hallie vs Pi.

ChatGPT

Best for: people who need an assistant for work, research or writing more than they need a friend.

Where it wins: OpenAI describes ChatGPT as “Your everyday AI assistant”, and that is what it is good at; it works on the web, iOS and Android, and every plan includes voice. On the Pro plan you get a dot, which OpenAI describes as “an always-on agent that keeps work moving across your tools and projects”, and a dot can text you over iMessage or RCS in a beta for Pro users in the U.S.

Watch-outs: It is an assistant, and OpenAI frames the dot around tasks and work. Memory is listed as limited on the Free plan. Dots and their texting are not included in the Free, Go or Plus plans, so being texted by ChatGPT starts at the Pro price.

How you pay: Free at $0 a month, Go at $8 a month, Plus at $20 a month, and Pro from $100 a month (OpenAI, “Pricing”, ChatGPT Learn, checked November 11, 2026).

More detail: Hallie vs ChatGPT and AI friend vs AI assistant.

Which one should you pick?

• You want a friend in iMessage or Google Messages, on iPhone or Android: Hallie.
• You want to get a text asking how it went, about the people and plans you mentioned: Hallie.
• You don’t want to install an app or design anyone: Hallie.
• You want to design the character’s personality, looks and voice: Kindroid.
• You want many characters to roleplay with: Character.AI, after checking the status of its sale.
• You want an avatar you can see: Replika.
• You want to talk out loud: Sesame.
• You want one ready-made AI to talk things through with, and a screen for editing what it remembers: Pi.
• You want help with work, research or writing: ChatGPT.

Two apps that aren’t on this list have their own pages: Hallie vs Nomi and Hallie vs Tolan.

Questions

Which AI friend apps are free?

Hallie is a subscription. Depending on the offer, your first conversation is free or you start with a free trial. Among the other apps here, Replika says text chat will always be free, Character.AI has a free plan with ads and no cap on messages, ChatGPT has a Free plan, and the App Store lists Sesame as free with no in-app purchases. Kindroid no longer has an ongoing free tier; it gives new accounts a one-time preview of 50 messages (15 in some regions). These facts were checked on November 11, 2026.

Which AI friend texts you in iMessage or Google Messages?

Hallie does, on iPhone, Mac and Android (new Android sign-ups need a US number for now), and there is no app to install. Kindroid subscribers can text one of their characters from Messages after turning it on in Kindroid’s settings. A ChatGPT dot can text Pro users in the U.S., but it is a work agent. The other apps on this page talk to you inside their own app. For the full list of products that work in the messaging app you already have, see AI friends you can text without downloading an app.

Which AI friend app lets me see what it remembers about me?

Replika has a Memory screen where you can read and remove memories. Pi has a Manage Memories screen where you can add, delete and update them. Kindroid subscribers can view and edit a Learned Context section. Hallie has no memory screen; what she has kept shows in what she brings up. AI companions with memory compares these in detail.

Is ChatGPT an AI friend?

OpenAI describes ChatGPT as “Your everyday AI assistant”, and its texting feature belongs to an agent built for tasks. If what you need is help with work, research or writing, it is the better pick. AI friend vs AI assistant explains the difference.

Is Character.AI shutting down?

As of November 11, 2026 it is running. On October 12, 2026 the company said it had started a voluntary Chapter 11 process to sell the company under court supervision, that the platform remains up, and that it will be wound down if no bid allows it to keep operating. The sale hearing is scheduled for December 3 and 4, 2026. Check Character.AI’s own blog for the current status.

Can I design Hallie’s personality or looks?

No. There is one Hallie and you meet her as she is. The questions at sign-up are about how you like to text. If you want to write a character’s personality, backstory and appearance, Kindroid or Character.AI is the better pick.

How do I start with Hallie?

Go to hallie.io, answer a few questions about how you like to text, and then text her from your phone. She never texts a number that hasn’t texted her first. The price is shown before you pay.

Sources

• Replika Help Center, “Is Replika free?”, “Choosing a Subscription”, “Do you offer a free trial?”, “What is Replika Pro?”, “What is Replika?”, “How many Replika accounts can I create?”, “What does my Replika remember about me?” and “What platforms and devices are supported?”, checked November 11, 2026
• Replika homepage, replika.com, and Replika’s App Store listing, checked November 11, 2026
• Kindroid docs at kindroid.ai: “Subscriptions”, “FAQs”, “Chat features and tools” (Text Messaging and Away proactive actions guide), “Memory”, “Group chats”, “Voice, calls, and video calls”, “Selfies, video selfies, & avatars”, checked November 11, 2026
• Kindroid’s App Store listing, checked November 11, 2026
• Character.AI Help Center, “About (c.ai) lite”, “Character Calls & Voice FAQ”, “Why do Characters forget things?”, “Is there an iOS/Android App version?”, checked November 11, 2026
• Character.AI blog, “An Update on Character.ai” (October 12, 2026), “Chapter 11 Update and Transaction Notice” (November 5, 2026), “The Next Chapter of Entertainment and Fandom” (September 18, 2026), checked November 11, 2026
• Character.AI homepage and App Store listing, checked November 11, 2026
• Sesame Journal, “Getting started” (October 5, 2026), Sesame Terms of Use and Privacy Policy (both last edited October 6, 2026), sesame.com, checked November 11, 2026
• Sesame’s App Store and Google Play listings, checked November 11, 2026
• Pi Help Center, “Pi’s memory”, “How do I use voice to talk with Pi?”, “Daily Brief FAQ”, and the image generation article, checked November 11, 2026
• Inflection AI Privacy Policy, inflection.ai, checked November 11, 2026
• Pi’s App Store and Google Play listings, checked November 11, 2026
• OpenAI, “Pricing” (ChatGPT Learn, learn.chatgpt.com), the plan comparison at chatgpt.com, “Meet dots” and “Message your dot” (ChatGPT Learn), checked November 11, 2026
• ChatGPT’s App Store listing, checked November 11, 2026
• Hallie: hallie.io, Hallie Privacy Policy (updated August 24, 2026), Hallie Terms of Service (updated November 6, 2026), checked November 11, 2026