Are AI Companion Apps Safe? What to Check Before You Chat

What do AI companion apps store about you?

Your messages, first of all. Most apps keep chats on their servers, partly because the model needs earlier parts of the conversation to write a reply that fits, and partly so your history is still there when you log in on another device. Some also keep copies to review reports or fix bugs. How long they hold on to them varies a lot between apps, so check the privacy policy.

Account data comes next. That usually means your email address and a username, plus a few extra details if you sign in through another account. Many apps also log technical data such as your device type and an approximate location based on your IP address.

Card details usually don't stay with the app. Most apps send you to a payment provider's checkout, so the app gets a record of what you bought and when, but not your full card number. The privacy policy normally names the provider.

You don't have to read the whole policy. Search the page for these words and read the paragraph around each hit:

• "retain" or "retention" for how long chats and account data are kept
• "train" or "improve" for whether your chats are used to build AI models
• "share" or "third parties" for who else receives your data, and why
• "delete" for how to remove chats and the account
• "payment" for which company handles your card

Questions to ask before you sign up

Open the app's website in another tab and look for answers to these. If you can't find an answer at all, that counts as one.

• Is there a privacy policy you can follow? It should name the company behind the app and give you a way to contact it.
• Are chats used to train AI models? Look for a plain yes or no, and for a way to opt out.
• Can you delete a single chat, your whole history and the account itself? A button in the settings beats an email you have to send and then wait on.
• Where are payments handled? A checkout page run by a known payment provider means your card details go to the provider, not to the app.
• Is the pricing clear before you pay? You should be able to see what's free and what a subscription or credit pack includes without starting a checkout.
• How do you cancel? The steps should be written down somewhere, and cancelling shouldn't take more effort than signing up did.

What should you not share with an AI chatbot?

A character doesn't need your real details to be good company. Write as though someone else could read the chat one day, since a data breach or a shared laptop can make that happen. These are worth leaving out:

• Your full name, home address or workplace
• Passwords, sign-in codes or answers to security questions
• Bank, card or other financial details
• Other people's private information, such as a friend's health news or a colleague's phone number

Passwords, links and screenshots

Give the app its own password, ideally one generated by a password manager, and turn on two-step sign-in if it's offered. If some other site you use leaks its passwords, a reused one would open this account as well.

Be wary of links and payment requests inside a chat. A reputable app takes payment through its own checkout, never through a link a character sends. If a character asks you to open an outside site or send money, stop there and report it.

Screenshots leave the app. Once you post one, the app's privacy settings no longer cover it, so crop out usernames and anything personal first.

Treat what a character says about health, law or money like advice from a confident stranger. It can sound certain and still be wrong, so check anything that matters with someone qualified.

Money: subscriptions, credits and renewals

Most companion apps charge in one of two ways, and plenty use both. A subscription costs a fixed amount each week, month or year and renews on its own until you cancel. Credits come in packs and are spent on single items, such as an image or a voice message. Subscriptions are the ones people forget about, while credits tend to run out faster than expected.

Before you pay, read the renewal terms. Check how often you'll be charged, what the price becomes when any introductory offer ends, and whether cancelling stops the next payment or cuts off access straight away. Put a reminder in your calendar a few days before the renewal date.

Decide on a monthly budget before you buy anything, as you would for a game or a streaming service, and compare your bank statements against it now and then. If an app pushes countdown offers in the middle of a chat, you're free to ignore them.

Is it taking more of your time than you want?

Time tends to be the last thing people notice. A character who always replies can stretch a ten-minute chat into a whole evening without you ever deciding it should. Your phone's screen time settings show how long you actually spend in the app, and the figure is often higher than people guess.

Look back over an ordinary week rather than one evening. Did the chats add something to it, or did they eat into sleep and time with friends? If they take up more room than you'd like, give them a set slot in the day, or take a few days off and see how that goes. The guide on whether it's weird to have an AI girlfriend has more questions along these lines.

Content rules and how to report a problem

Reputable apps publish rules about what's allowed in chats and in the characters people create, usually in the terms or in separate guidelines. Read them once. They tell you what the app treats as a problem and what happens to accounts that break the rules.

Find the report option before you need it. It might be a button on a message or a character, or simply a support email address. Use it when a character asks for money, links or personal details, when a reply is abusive, when you come across someone else's private information or when a charge looks wrong. Keep a screenshot for yourself, with your own details cropped out, so you can show what happened.

Replies are generated by software, so an odd or plainly wrong answer now and then is normal. Check whether the app lets you flag a reply, and whether anyone answers when you do. On tempteo, for instance, the Privacy Policy, Terms and Safety Guidelines are published on the site, and online purchases go through a Stripe-hosted checkout.