Who gets your chats if an AI companion app is sold?

Almost every app can pass your data to a buyer

The wording is usually a short paragraph called something like Business Transfers. It says that if the company merges, is bought or sells its assets, your information can go with it. 18 of the 28 policies name bankruptcy or liquidation outright. Most say your data may be transferred or shared; Dippy’s also says it may be sold as part of such a deal.

Silence does not protect you. Chai’s current policy has no sale clause, but its Google Play page still links to a 2021 policy that has one. Romantic AI’s has none. Neither forbids a sale.

Almost nobody asks first

6 other policies promise some warning. PolyBuzz says it will name the purpose, the data and who gets it. Janitor AI says it will tell you and name any choices you have. Emochi promises reasonable efforts. Botify AI, Sakura and SpicyChat promise notice. Two say the rules stay the same: RolePlai says its policy keeps applying after a deal, and Linky says it will ask the new owner to keep to it. None of them makes a transfer depend on your yes.

Ours did not either. Our policy let a successor take over with notice to you. After reading the others we rewrote it on November 6, 2026: your account, chats and characters move to a new owner only if you say yes, and otherwise they are erased. It should not be unusual: Sydney Saubestre of the Center for Democracy and Technology told The Record that, at the very least, customers should have to opt in.

All 28 policies

Notes on single apps

• Character.AI. Its site blocks automated reading, so we read the copy in the Internet Archive. Export is in the app settings; the company says it can take 3 to 4 weeks.
• PolyBuzz. Promises to name the purpose, the data and the recipient. Says photos may train its AI; says nothing either way about chats.
• Talkie. Says your companion learns from your interactions and that chat content is not used for advertising.
• Chai. The policy on its site has no sale clause. The older policy its Google Play page links to, dated March 2021, allows a transfer in a merger or sale.
• Replika. Says small portions of messages, anonymized first, may train its safety systems and improve the chatbot.
• Emochi. Promises reasonable efforts to tell you before different rules apply to your data.
• Linky. Says it will ask the new owner to keep to the same policy. Names liquidation rather than bankruptcy.
• Kindroid. Self-serve export every 30 days.
• Janitor AI. Promises to tell you and to name any choices you have. Its site blocks automated reading, so we read the copy in the Internet Archive.
• Pi. Also names a shutdown of the company. Its site blocks automated reading, so we read the newest copy in the Internet Archive.
• Anima. No relation to Anima, the company behind Amavie.
• RolePlai. Says the same policy keeps applying after a merger or acquisition, and that its AI providers may not train on your content.
• Nomi. Says information in its training archives stays there after you delete your account, no longer tied to you.
• Candy AI. Says de-identified chats may be reviewed by people when preparing training data.
• Amavie. This is us. Until November 6, 2026 our policy let a successor take over with notice. We rewrote it after reading the others: your account, chats and characters move only if you say yes, otherwise they are erased.

6 apps tell Google Play they collect no data

Every app on Google Play has a Data safety section, and the developer fills it in. On November 6, 2026 it said “No data collected” for Talkie, Paradot, Rosytalk, Dippy, Fantasia and Joyland, apps with at least 67 million installs between them. Each of their privacy policies describes the information they collect, and an app that remembers your chats has to keep them somewhere. We do not know why the label and the policy differ, and we have asked no one. The CSV marks these apps.

Why the wording matters in court

In a US bankruptcy, what can happen to personal data depends on the company’s own privacy policy. Under section 363(b)(1) of the Bankruptcy Code, if the policy bars a transfer, a sale has to fit the policy or go through a consumer privacy ombudsman, a neutral person who advises the court. The rule grew out of Toysmart, an online toy shop that had promised not to share customer data and tried to sell its customer list in 2000. The FTC stepped in.

Character.AI’s case is the first big test for chats like these. On October 27 the US Trustee asked the court for an ombudsman before any sale of customer data, and 39 states and DC joined in, citing about 12 million active or past users, minors among them. KQED reported that Character.AI would not say whether chats are part of the sale. Under the proposed schedule, bids are due on November 20, an auction would follow on November 23 and the sale hearing is on November 24.

A policy that allows a transfer gives a court and a regulator less to hold a buyer to. That is why one paragraph that few people read decides how much protection your chats have.

Your chats may also train AI

11 policies say conversations may be used to train or improve AI models. Replika limits this to small portions, anonymized first. Candy AI says people may review de-identified chats when preparing training data. Nomi says information in its training archives stays after you delete your account, no longer tied to you. Most of the others do not say either way; “not stated” in the table does not mean no.

Getting your data out

Only 4 of 28 offer a download you can start yourself: Character.AI, Kindroid, RolePlai and Amavie. Most others give a copy on request, often as a legal right in certain regions, and some policies do not mention a copy at all. An app may offer more than its policy says, so check the settings too.

What you can do

• Search your app’s privacy policy for “merger”, “sale” and “bankruptcy”. It takes a minute.
• Ask for a copy of your data now, while the company is there to answer.
• Delete what you would not want to change hands. Deleting your account is the strongest step the policies leave you, though data already used for training may stay.
• Write as if a new owner might read it one day.

How we read them

• Apps. AI companion and character apps with at least 100,000 Google Play installs that also appear in lists of Character.AI alternatives, two large web apps without a Google Play app, and Amavie.
• Reading. On November 6, 2026 we opened the policy each app links to and read it ourselves. Character.AI, Janitor AI and Pi block automated reading, so we used their newest copies in the Internet Archive; the file gives the date of each copy.
• Data can go to a buyer. “Yes” if the policy allows personal data to be shared or transferred in a merger, acquisition, asset sale, bankruptcy or similar deal without your consent.
• Tells you first. “Promised” if the policy commits to notice before or at the transfer.
• Google Play label. We read the Data safety section of each app’s Google Play page in the United States on the same day.
• Chats may train AI. “Yes” if the policy says your content or conversations may train or improve AI models.
• Copy of your data. “Self-serve” if you can start the download yourself, “by request” if you have to ask.

What this cannot tell you

• A policy is a promise, not a test of what a company does. We did not audit anyone.
• A clause that allows a transfer does not mean a company plans one.
• Google Play lets developers leave some processing out of the Data safety section, so a label can be narrower than a policy.
• Policies change, and several here are years old. The table shows each date.
• Laws such as the GDPR give people rights a policy may not spell out.
• We read the English versions. This is not legal advice.

Who made this

We make Amavie, an app of AI characters, so we have a stake in this. Amavie is in the table. Our policy had the same gap until we read the others and changed it on November 6, 2026, and the note on our row says so. If we got a policy wrong, write to us and we will fix it. Character.AI, Replika and the other names are trademarks of their owners; we are not affiliated with them.

Use this data

• All 28 policies, CSV.
• Free to use under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0: credit Amavie and link to this page.
• Cite as: Amavie, “Who gets your chats if an AI companion app is sold?,” read November 6, 2026, amavie.ai/who-gets-your-ai-chats.
• Questions and corrections: support@amavie.ai.

Frequently asked questions