Chai

Green flags, red flags

Warnings on record

• Removed from an app store
  The iPhone app was removed from the US App Store on 2026-10-22. The founder says it is unavailable while the company works on its Apple app. companionhunt.com
• Regulator finding or fine
  Australia's eSafety Commissioner found in October 2025 that Chai took no action against users under the minimum age in its terms. esafety.gov.au

Warnings are shown beside the score and do not change it. How we score

The rating

Chai scores 8.1 out of 10 on what it documents and which user protections it documents. Lawsuits and incidents are listed separately below and do not change the score.

The score measures what the vendor documents and which protections it documents. It says nothing about how good the chat is, and commissions never enter it. How we score

The fine print

Every line links the page it came from. All checked Oct 27, 2026 unless a line shows another date.

The app

Maker

Chai Research Corp. (Palo Alto, CA)chai-research.com · official site

Platforms

Android chai-research.com

Note

Company page: 'available as the CHAI app on iOS and Android'. As of 2026-10-27 the iOS app is delisted from the US App Store (page returns 404; installed copies keep working per the founder), so only Android (Google Play, 'Mature 17+') is downloadable. No official web chat app was found.

Where it works

Not stated as a list; 'In some regions, use of the service requires a paid subscription.' chai-research.com

Note

Safety Center, age-assurance section. Chai also sits in Australia's eSafety Commissioner transparency-notice findings (see safety).

Latest change

Privacy Policy updated Oct 12, 2026; Persona age assurance (selfie/ID) introduced in Oct 2026; iOS app delisted Oct 22, 2026. chai-research.com

Note

Chai Safety Center describes Persona age checks; the date they began is given as 'October' by third-party coverage, not by Chai.

Price

Free tier

Free tier exists but is region-dependent; in some regions a paid subscription is required. Message caps are not stated on official pages. chai-research.com

Note

'In some regions, use of the service requires a paid subscription.' Privacy policy: 'We use personal data to send you advertisements if you have a free subscription.'

Paid plans

• Premium (monthly): $13.99/moApp StoreNot described on the listing snippet; the price is from the US App Store listing's in-app purchase list ('Premium Subscription (Monthly) $13.99'). The listing was removed on 2026-10-22, so we read it through a search-index copy, not the live page.

apps.apple.com

Note

The App Store page returns 404 on 2026-10-27, so this price could not be re-checked live. Third-party reviews list a Premium yearly price and an 'Ultra' tier (about $29.99/month); neither is confirmed by a primary source.

Credits or coins

'Pieces' (virtual currency): 200 for $2.79, 500 for $6.99 on the App Store listing before its removal. apps.apple.com

Note

Read via search-index copy of the listing; page is now 404.

Age and content

Minimum age

18+ chai-research.com

Note

'CHAI is strictly for adults. Minors cannot use CHAI — you must be 18 or older to use the app.' Rated 18+ on the App Store and Mature 17+ on Google Play.

Age check

age assurance via Persona: selfie age estimation or government photo ID; in some regions a paid subscription is required chai-research.com

Note

'Age checks are provided by Persona, a third-party identity verification provider.' 'A quick selfie is used to estimate whether you are over 18.'

Under-18 policy

Users under 18 are not permitted; the company says it refuses content that sexualises minors. chai-research.com

Note

'Users under 18 are not permitted on CHAI.' 'Our models and real-time safety systems are designed to refuse the generation of restricted material, including sexually explicit content, self-harm content, and any content that sexualises minors.'

Content policy

SFW only chai-research.com

Note

Safety Center says models are 'designed to refuse the generation of... sexually explicit content'; EULA: 'The generation, sharing, or distribution of sexually explicit images or videos of any kind on the Chai AI platform is strictly prohibited.' App is rated 18+ for mature themes; users can turn on safety filters to hide explicit messages. Classification is our reading of these statements.

Adult-only app with a stated ban on sexually explicit output. The App Store listing declared mature/suggestive themes. User-created characters are a large share of the catalog (see privacy policy). No affiliate link is shown.

Features

Memory

Not stated by the vendor chai-research.com

Voice

Not stated by the vendor chai-research.com

Images

Not stated by the vendorImage generation; a third-party review says the app has no image generator chai-research.com

Group chat

Not stated by the vendor chai-research.com

Your own characters

Yes chai-research.com

Note

Privacy policy: users 'can interact with pre-existing chatbots (which may have been created by us or other users of the APP) or create new ones (which you can keep private or make available to other users).'

Privacy

How long chats are kept

For as long as necessary, 'not exceeding... the duration of the account and five (5) years following its deletion'. chai-research.com

Note

Privacy policy, last updated October 12th 2026.

Used to train models

Yes chai-research.com

Note

'We use personal data derived from your in-app conversations with chatbots to enhance and fine tune the artificial intelligence models on which these chatbots operate. Before we use any conversation data in this way, we remove personal identifiers.' No opt-out toggle is stated in the text read.

Deleting your data

In-app: Profile > Settings > Delete Account (all users, any country); permanent, subject to the retention limits above. chai-research.com

Note

'All users, regardless of their location or country of residence, can delete their account and associated personal data directly within the APP.'

What changed

Changes Chai made to its prices, free tier, rules or availability, each from a dated page.

• Oct 27, 2026
  Availability change, first seenChai's iPhone app no longer appears in any of the 52 App Store storefronts we checked. itunes.apple.com
• Oct 12, 2026
  Policy change, publishedChai updated its privacy policy. chai-research.com

Safety history

• Oct 22, 2026
  Chai's iPhone app was delisted from the US App Store (and other storefronts). Founder: 'while we're working on improving our Apple app, it is currently unavailable to download'; installed copies unaffected. Apple named no app; it published stricter App Review rules (guideline 1.2) on Oct 16, 2026. companionhunt.com
• Oct 1, 2025
  Australia's eSafety Commissioner published findings from transparency notices to Character.AI, Nomi, Chai and Chub AI: Chai 'took no action in response to users who were under the minimum age stipulated in their Terms'; Chai, Chub AI and Nomi did not direct users to crisis support on self-harm prompts. (eSafety page times out from our network on 2026-10-27; text read via search index. Exact October 2025 day not confirmed.) esafety.gov.au
• Mar 31, 2023
  Euronews, citing Belgian paper La Libre, reported a Belgian man died by suicide after weeks of conversations with a Chai chatbot named 'Eliza'; his widow blamed the chatbot. euronews.com

Is Chai safe? Age, privacy and safety on one page

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