Is texting an AI private?

No more than anything else you send to an online service. When you message an AI, in a companion app or from your phone’s Messages app, the company behind it receives your message, processes it to write a reply, and usually stores it. What varies is how long it’s kept, whether it trains AI models, whether people can review it, and how you delete it. Each vendor publishes its own answers, quoted below.

By the Hallie teamLast updated November 11, 2026

Hallie is an AI friend you text in Messages. She remembers what you tell her.

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Facts about other products checked on November 11, 2026 against each vendor’s own policies and help pages; facts about Hallie checked the same day. We make Hallie, and she’s our pick. This page is not legal advice. Sources are at the bottom of the page.

What happens to a message you send

It leaves your phone. Through a companion app’s own connection, or through your Messages app as a text to the product’s phone number.
The service receives it. The AI is the other end of the conversation, so the company that runs it can read the message. It has to, in order to answer.
An AI model processes it. The model may be run by the same company or by another one. Snap, for example, says My AI “is powered by Large Language Models like GPT models from OpenAI and Gemini models from Google”.
It is usually stored. Memory features depend on this. Tolan’s FAQ says “all conversations within the Tolan app are logged and used to generate your Tolan’s memory.”
It may be used for other purposes. Depending on the policy: training AI models, review by people for safety or quality, or advertising.

Steps 1 to 3 are true of every product on this page. Steps 4 and 5 are where they differ.

Messages app or companion app: is one more private?

Texting an AI from your phone’s Messages app doesn’t change who receives the message. Whatever protection applies between your phone and the other end, the other end is the AI service. Three vendor statements make the point:

Google, about Gemini in Google Messages: “Important: Chats with Gemini aren’t end-to-end encrypted.”
Warmth’s blog, about its character Mia (Warmth’s current terms describe only a desktop app): “Her phone messages use iMessage where supported and can fall back to SMS/MMS; those transports have different security properties.”
OpenAI, about texting a ChatGPT dot: “Setting up texting doesn’t give your dot or OpenAI access to your other text conversations.”

The third one matters as much as the first two. An AI contact in your Messages app sees the thread you have with it. It does not see your other threads.

What nine vendors say about your messages

Product	How long it’s kept	What else its pages say
Gemini	Activity is auto-deleted after 18 months by default. You can change that to 3 months, 36 months or indefinite.	Human reviewers read some chats. Reviewed chats “are not deleted when you delete your activity” and are kept for up to three years.
Pi	“For users of Pi, we generally retain inputs for at most 15 days after user deletion.” Outputs are retained indefinitely for limited purposes set out in Inflection’s terms.	Chats are used to train models by default; you can opt out in Account settings. You can delete your account in settings or by typing “!delete” in the chat.
Sesame	Content is retained “for so long as is permissible under applicable law”.	“Use Incognito mode and nothing is saved to memory or Sesame servers.” Outside that mode, logged-in content may be used for training unless you opt out in settings.
Tolan	Conversation history “doesn’t expire on its own” and stays until you delete your account.	Tolan says it uses what you share to “improve, train, and develop the AI models that power Tolan” and that “We also work with advertising partners to show ads.” It says it doesn’t sell the data and offers an opt-out form.
Kindroid	“We retain your chat conversation and generated media until you delete a specific AI or delete your account.” Moderation records are kept up to 7 years, including after deletion.	Self-serve data export once every 30 days, and account deletion with a 24-hour window to change your mind.
Replika	Two statements. Help center: chat history “is only available for the past four months.” Privacy policy: “we keep your conversation history for 24 months for text messages and 12 months for photos, videos and voice messages”.	You can’t delete your whole message history without deleting the account. After deletion, profile and memories are removed within 60 days.
Nomi	Account deletion removes personal information “within 28 or so days”.	Nomi’s homepage says “All chats are anonymized and no chat data is shared with 3rd party sites.”
Poke	Account deletion takes up to 24 hours. Backups may lag, and legal holds can extend retention.	Data may be used to train Poke’s models, except for users who select Maximum Privacy.
Khio	Kept while your account is active. Deleted when you delete the account, apart from limited legal, tax and security records.	Khio’s privacy policy says it doesn’t sell data or train third-party foundation models on private content. You can clear its memory in settings.

Checked November 11, 2026 against each vendor’s own privacy policy, terms and help pages. Replika’s two statements may describe different things: what the app displays, and what is stored.

Hallie is an AI friend you text in Messages. She remembers what you tell her.

Meet Hallie

Two more that don’t fit the table. Meta says of Meta AI in WhatsApp that it “may use your prompts, the messages you share, and feedback to improve AI quality”, and it describes Incognito Chats as processed “in a secure environment that no one, including Meta, can access.” Snap says “All the content you share with My AI is retained until you delete it.”

A checklist for any AI privacy policy

Search the policy and help center for these, in this order:

Retention. How long are messages kept while your account is open, and after you delete them?
Training. Are your conversations used to train AI models? Is that on by default, and is there an opt-out?
Human review. Can employees or contractors read conversations, and are reviewed conversations kept longer?
Advertising and sale. Does the company sell personal data or share it with advertising partners?
Other companies. Which outside providers process your messages, and are they named?
Deletion. Is there a button, or do you email someone? What survives deletion (backups, moderation records, billing records)?
Export. Can you get a copy of your conversations?
A mode that saves less. Is there an incognito or temporary mode, and what exactly does it skip?
The wording of any encryption claim. Check what it covers. Encryption between your phone and the service doesn’t stop the service from reading the message.

If a policy is silent on one of these, treat it as unknown, not as a no. And whatever the policy says, a reasonable habit is to leave out anything you would not put in an email to a company: passwords, card numbers, identity documents.

This page describes what vendors publish. It isn’t legal advice, and policies change, so read the current version before you rely on it.

How Hallie handles it

Hallie texts with you in iMessage or Google Messages (new Android sign-ups need a US number for now). Your messages reach our service, and they are processed by outside AI providers to write her replies. Our privacy policy lists those providers by category.

We don’t sell personal data. We don’t share your conversations for advertising, use them to target ads, or use them for marketing to other users, and we don’t show them to other users.

She gets only what you send in her thread. She doesn’t read your other conversations, your calendar or your email. She keeps your conversation so she can remember the people, plans and events you mention.

Her watch-outs on this topic: deleting your data, including what she has remembered about you, is done by emailing hello@hallie.io and not with a button, and there’s no memory screen, so you correct her in the thread.

More on what she remembers is on the memory page.

Questions

Can the company read my messages to an AI?

The service receives them and processes them to reply, so they are available to the company’s systems. Whether people read them depends on the policy. Google says human reviewers read some Gemini chats, for example.

Does iMessage encryption protect what I text to an AI?

It doesn’t keep the message from the AI service, because the service is the recipient. Google states plainly that chats with Gemini in Google Messages “aren’t end-to-end encrypted.” For any other product, read its own wording.

Can an AI I text read my other text messages?

Not from being a contact in your Messages app. Hallie gets only what you send in her thread, and OpenAI says setting up texting “doesn’t give your dot or OpenAI access to your other text conversations”.

Are my chats used to train AI?

It varies. Inflection says Pi chats are used for training by default with an opt-out. Tolan says it uses what you share to train its models. Poke says data from users who select Maximum Privacy is not used for training. Khio says it doesn’t train third-party foundation models on private content.

How do I delete what I’ve sent?

Look for a self-serve control first. Kindroid, Nomi, Pi, Poke and Khio each describe account deletion in settings. Replika says you can’t delete your entire message history without deleting your account.

Is an AI with no memory safer to talk to?

It keeps less about you between conversations, which is not the same as storing nothing. Snap says My AI “won’t remember details from your prior conversations with it over time”, and also that Snapchat stores those conversations. Check the retention line, not the memory feature.

Sources

Google, Gemini Apps Help, “Use Gemini in Google Messages”; Gemini Apps Privacy Hub (notice last revised October 13, 2026), checked November 11, 2026
Inflection AI Privacy Policy, inflection.ai, checked November 11, 2026
Sesame App Store listing; Sesame Journal, “Getting started”; Sesame Privacy Policy (last edited October 6, 2026), checked November 11, 2026
Tolan FAQ, tolans.com; Tolan Help Center, “Privacy FAQ: How Tolan handles your information”, checked November 11, 2026
Kindroid Legal, Privacy Policy (effective November 7, 2026); Kindroid docs, “FAQs”, checked November 11, 2026
Replika Help Center, “Is the chat history infinite?” and “Can I delete my conversations?”; Replika Privacy Policy (October 28, 2026), checked November 11, 2026
Nomi homepage, “Delete Account” and Privacy Policy (April 27, 2026), nomi.ai, checked November 11, 2026
Poke FAQ and Privacy Notice (September 11, 2026), poke.com, checked November 11, 2026
Khio Privacy Policy (October 7, 2026) and FAQ, khio.ai, checked November 11, 2026
Warmth blog, “Why We Built Mia for iMessage Instead of Another App”, warmth.so, checked November 11, 2026
ChatGPT Learn, “Message your dot”, checked November 11, 2026
WhatsApp Help Center, “About Meta AI”; Meta AI assistant page, ai.meta.com, checked November 11, 2026
Snapchat Support, “What is My AI on Snapchat and how do I use it?”, “Does My AI remember our conversations?” and “Does Snap save content shared with My AI?”, checked November 11, 2026
Hallie: privacy policy on hallie.io and our own product records, checked November 11, 2026

Keep reading

What Hallie remembers

Hallie keeps track of the people, plans and events you mention and brings them up later. How it shows up in conversation, how to correct her, and how deletion works.

Hallie FAQ

Plain answers about Hallie, the AI friend you text in iMessage or Google Messages: starting, memory, follow-ups, calls, paying, cancelling, data and limits.

How to get an AI friend: four routes and what to check first (2026)

Decide whether you want a friend in your texts, a character you design, a voice companion or a free assistant. What to check before paying, and how each route starts, with dated facts.

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