“Edit: Yeah honestly there doesn't seem to be any more hope for this app anymore. Instead of making useful optimizations for the app, such as a smoother interface and less clunky UI, they decide to put in even MORE ads in to make it way…”
Independent automated assessment · 6 signal sources · 2,029 reviews scanned · analyzed 2026-10-06.
2.6 ★3,005,256 ratings
50M+Downloads
17+Age rating
271 MBApp size
FreeIn-app purchases
About this app
AI chat, reimagined. Character.AI isn't just another AI chat app—it's a playground for your imagination, creativity, and exploration. Dive into immersive conversations, create your own AI chatbots, and join a vibrant community of creators, just like you. • Text or talk—your next adventure begins here! Chat, call, text, and create with AI Characters. Explore countless possibilities as you create stories, build new worlds, exciting adventures, or just have fun with your favorite AI chatbots. • Your imagination, your AI Characters Character.AI is home to millions of user-generated AI Characters, offering a diverse and exciting world beyond basic chatbots.…
Preview
Real screenshots from the store listing.
Independent evidence report
The evidence behind this assessment
This is where the page changes from an app-store listing into an evidence report: findings, important reviews, pricing and a dated history.
Which version this describes
When we ran this analysis, and what the store lists now.
App Store
This analysis describes version 1.17.4 of the app, analyzed 2026-10-06 . The app may have changed since.
The store currently lists version 1.17.4, updated 2026-10-02.
Google Play
This analysis describes version 1.17.2 of the app (the version number recorded inside the package we inspected), analyzed 2026-10-06 . The app may have changed since.
The store currently lists version 1.17.4, updated 2026-09-29.
What we measured
Each line is a measurement published as a measurement, never a verdict.
Each line is a measurement, published as a measurement. Where we have not looked, the line says so rather than reading as a zero.
Developer replies to reviews
Replies to fewer than 1 review in 20
Price in the store description
States no price and billing period
Cancelling, in the store description
Does not say how to cancel
Themes reported by reviewers
2 themes reported
Counted from the reviews we have read for this app. "No theme reported" means no theme reached our reporting threshold — it is not a finding that nothing is wrong with this app, and we do not say it is.
Five-star share of ratings
Under 65% five-star
Arithmetic on the stores' own published rating counts. It says nothing about why the ratings fall where they do.
In the package we scanned
From the package we downloaded and read — version 1.17.2, scanned 2026-09-06.
Permissions Android classifies as dangerous
3–5 requested
Counted against the eighteen permissions listed in collect-package.ts. A dangerous permission is one Android asks the user to grant; requesting one is not itself a finding.
Analytics or tracking SDKs in the scanned package
3 or more found
Advertising SDKs in the scanned package
10 or more found
Counted as distinct SDKs in the package we scanned. One mediation bundle can contribute several, so this is not a count of advertisers.
Graded bands · predicate set 1.4 · how these are measured
What the analysis found
App-specific findings, grouped by what each one rests on. How they are graded lives on its own page.
The catch list 3
Charges we publish at a strength we stand behind: measured from an artefact, agreed by independent sources, or reported by enough users to clear that charge's own published bar.
Multiple ad networks bundled
The package embeds several distinct advertising or mediation SDKs — a stack built for ad volume, not for a single house ad.
What we saw: Bundles 11 distinct ad networks / mediation SDKs: Amazon Publisher Services, AppLovin MAX, Fyber / Digital Turbine Exchange, Google Mobile Ads (AdMob / Ad Manager) and 7 more
Price may differ from what you see here
The app ships a remote paywall-experimentation SDK, so the offer shown is configured server-side and may differ per user — including from anything we or a reviewer saw.
What we saw: Paywall is server-configured and A/B tested via RevenueCat Paywalls — the offer shown can differ per user
Reported by users: Aggressive ad load
Advertising volume or placement that interrupts normal use: ads between every action, unskippable or forced full-screen ads.
What we saw: Raised by 222 distinct reviewers — 11.2% of the 1,979 reviews scanned on this store leg (Google Play).
Positive evidence 2
Things this app does right, published at the same strengths as the catch list.
States a price, or offers a one-time purchase
The app's own text offers a one-time or lifetime purchase, or reviewers report that the price is stated clearly.
What we saw: Offers a one-time or lifetime purchase: "One time purchase"
Developer says data deletion can be requested
The developer's data-safety disclosure on the store states that users can request deletion of their data, or the app's own text offers a way to delete the account. This restates what the developer declares; it is not a test of whether deletion works. Apple publishes no equivalent disclosure, so on an Apple-only listing only the app's own text can support it.
What we saw: The developer's store data-safety disclosure states that data deletion can be requested; we have not seen a deletion control in the app's own text
One source only — shown, not confirmed 2
A single kind of evidence. We publish these because withholding them would be the bigger distortion, and we do not treat any of them as a finding we stand behind.
In the app's own text: Hard to cancel
Cancelling the subscription is blocked, hidden, multi-step, or simply does not take effect.
What we saw: Cancellation copy routes the user away from a direct control: "Before you cancel, please consider accepting this offer"
Reported by users: Paywall blocks the basics
The core of the app — not extras — sits behind payment, or previously-free function moved behind a paywall.
What we saw: Paywall blocks the basics: raised by 11 distinct reviewers (0.6% of 1979 reviews scanned)
Highlighted reviews
Representative public review excerpts shown as user reports, not Appworthy audit evidence.
“Stop changing things, I beg of you. I just want longer conversations, actual dialogue, and chatting styles that fit the character. I miss the story telling aspect. Why can't it be even in terms of talking and storytelling? And literally…”
“Yeah c.ai u have went down a lot I been using ur app for a long time now and now all of a sudden when I click on a character to start a chat I will freeze and hen immediately close out I did everything to fix this I even uninstallaed some…”
Assessment & version history
App changes and Appworthy events in one timeline.
Store listing updated to version 1.17.4.
What this app sells
Useful store-disclosed pricing, kept below the app listing.
Items shown0
Lowest—
Highest—
Google Play does not publish per-purchase prices.