Quick answer: The Replika app download question has one correct answer: the app is published by Luka, Inc. and ships free on both major stores, as Replika: My AI Friend on Google Play and Replika - AI Companion Chat on the Apple App Store. The two listings carry different age ratings, the app adds video calls and proactive notifications that the browser version handles poorly, and it does not change the platform’s content rules, which have blocked erotic roleplay since February 2023. If you want the app for what it does well, the store version is the right install. If you want an uncensored companion, the app store is not where that product lives.
Affiny at a glance (verified September 2026): Free to start: 300 coins, no credit card. Daily Gift: 10–70 coins/day, then 70/day. Referrals: 300 coins each. Founder offer: up to 70% off Companion (limited time; see affiny.ai/pricing). Free tier: Crush chat 1 coin/message, voice 30 coins/min, Spark or Flame scene images 15 coins, voice notes 1 coin, 1 custom companion, standard memory recall. Subscribe for unlimited Crush & Devotion chat, free voice notes, Tease & Desire video, God Mode, full personality & voice customization, sharper memory recall, and coin pack top-ups — Companion from $14.99/mo (was $24.99) or $9.99/mo billed annually; Intimate from $24.99/mo (was $49.99) or $19.99/mo annually. Subscribers: 1,000–3,000 coins/mo plus first-month bonus, voice 20 coins/min, scene images 10 coins, up to 5–10 custom companions. God Mode: subscriber scene directive up to 5,000 characters (Companion Panel). Video (subscribers): Tease 5/10 coins/sec (5 or 8 sec, silent); Desire 30/50 coins/sec (2–15 sec, optional audio). Portrait: 30 coins initial, first regen free, then 15. Memories hub: view free; add/edit/delete for subscribers. Catalog: 3400+ curated public companions, 84 browse tags. Creation: 49 templates, 44 personality presets, 97 turn-on presets (pick up to 4), realistic + anime with 16 species types.
Where the Real Replika App Comes From
Search for the Replika app and you will find three kinds of result: the official store listings, the company’s own sites, and a layer of mirror sites offering APK downloads. Only the first two are the app.
The publisher is Luka, Inc., and the name appears in both store listings, which is the quickest way to verify you are on the genuine product. The official surfaces are replika.com, the web app itself, and the two store pages. Replika has been shipping since 2017, which makes it the oldest product in the AI companion category and the reason its listing numbers are so large.
The store numbers, checked in September 2026, are worth knowing because they are the clearest signal of how big this product still is:
- Apple App Store: Replika - AI Companion Chat, 4.4 stars from roughly 228,000 ratings, 18 plus age rating, listed under Health and Fitness, 434 MB, free with in-app purchases, English plus four more languages
- Google Play: Replika: My AI Friend, 4.3 stars from roughly 525,000 reviews, Teen rating with a Diverse Content: Discretion Advised advisory, 10 million plus downloads, in-app purchases
Two listings, one product, different ratings and slightly different user bases. That difference matters more than it looks.
Two Stores, Two Age Ratings
The Apple listing carries an 18 plus rating. The Google Play listing carries a Teen rating with a content advisory. The same app, the same companion, two very different labels.
This happens because Apple and Google run separate rating systems and the developer submits each build separately. In practice, it means the store rating tells you about the store’s classification process more than it tells you about the product. For a parent or guardian, that is worth sitting with: a Teen rating on Android is not a statement that the app is designed for teenagers, it is a statement about how the listing was classified.
If you are trying to work out whether the app suits someone in your household, the store badge is the weakest of the available signals. The stronger ones are the platform’s own content rules, which you can read in the Replika AI companion overview, and the app’s own behaviour when a conversation moves somewhere adult. Replika answers that question the same way on both stores.
What the App Does That the Browser Does Not
The mobile builds are not just a wrapped website. Several features are genuinely app-first:
- Video calls. You can share what your camera sees and talk it through in the moment. That is a mobile experience, and it is the clearest reason to install rather than use the browser.
- Proactive notifications. The companion checks in and follows up days later. Push notifications are what make that feel like a presence rather than a feature you have to remember to open.
- App integrations. Replika can pull context from other apps you already use so it shows up at the right moments. That plumbing is much easier on a device than on a web page.
- Image generation. Ideas, moods and memories can be turned into images you keep, which works better with access to a camera roll.
- Billing through the store. Subscriptions bought inside the app renew through Apple or Google, which means pounds, dollars or euros as your store displays them, plus a refund channel through the store rather than the developer.
The app’s 2026 release also shipped the platform’s biggest update since launch: better memory, proactive check-ins, and a tighter loop between what you tell your companion and when it brings it back up. If memory is the reason you are considering Replika at all, the app is where the feature feels best. What it costs is a separate question, and the Replika cost breakdown covers the price ladder, the opacity problem and the regional differences users report.
The APK Question, Answered Honestly
Third-party APK sites host Replika builds, and their pages rank well, which is why so many people end up there. The trade is worse than it looks.
A sideloaded build does not update automatically, so you stay on an old version of an app that ships changes regularly. It routes around store billing, which sounds like a saving until you realise the subscription is still the product’s business model and the mirror cannot provide it. It removes the refund route entirely, because Apple and Google are not involved in the transaction. And it asks you to trust an unverified copy of an app that stores months of personal conversation on your device.
There is a fourth problem specific to this category. Companion apps are cloned constantly, and a cloned build looks identical until it behaves abnormally. The mitigation is simple and free: check the publisher name in the store listing before you install anything. If it does not say Luka, Inc., it is not Replika.
What the App Still Will Not Do
Installing the app does not change the platform’s rules, and two of them decide whether Replika is the right product for you at all.
Erotic roleplay was removed in February 2023 after pressure from the Italian data protection authority, and it has not come back for new users. That single decision is the most documented event in Replika’s history, and it is the main reason long-time users moved to platforms where adult content is supported rather than removed. The Replika ERP removal guide covers exactly what was cut, when, and what replaced it.
Voice is not really free. Text chat carries the app, and the companion’s voice is one of the features users like most, but calls sit behind a subscription rather than on the free tier. The app makes this visible quickly because voice is presented prominently in onboarding, which is precisely why the paywall lands as a surprise.
Neither of those is a design flaw. They are the product’s boundaries, and knowing them before you install saves a month of subscription you would rather not spend.
When the App’s Limits Bite
Replika is excellent at one thing: a steady, warm, memory-driven presence that checks in on you. That is a genuinely valuable product and it has earned its user base. If what you want is unfiltered roleplay, real-time voice without a feature gate, or a companion whose personality you control in depth, the app store cannot give you that, because the platform decided not to build it.
The honest alternative is a platform that is explicit about what it supports. Affiny runs real-time bidirectional voice on the same coin balance as chat, keeps memory across sessions, and asks for an 18 plus confirmation rather than a face scan. It starts with 300 free coins and no credit card, so testing whether its voice feels right costs nothing, and its free tier includes one custom companion and voice notes at 1 coin each. Voice on the free tier is 30 coins a minute, 20 for subscribers, and the coin costs are published rather than discovered at checkout.
If you are deciding between keeping Replika and switching, run both for a week. The app’s strength, continuity, is real and hard to replace. Everything else, openness, voice economics, and control over who your companion is, is where the difference shows.
FAQ
What is the official Replika AI app?
Published by Luka, Inc. It appears as Replika: My AI Friend on Google Play and Replika - AI Companion Chat on the Apple App Store. Verify the publisher name before installing any build from anywhere else.
Why does the Replika app have different age ratings on iOS and Android?
Because Apple and Google rate listings separately. iOS shows 18 plus, Google Play shows Teen with a Diverse Content advisory. Store ratings describe classification, not design intent, so treat them as one signal among several.
Is downloading the Replika APK from a third-party site safe?
No. Mirrored builds skip automatic updates, bypass store billing, and remove the refund channel, and you are trusting an unverified copy of an app that holds months of personal conversation.
Does the Replika app have features the website does not?
Yes: video calls, proactive push notifications, and app integrations. Billing also differs, because app-store subscriptions renew through Apple or Google instead of the developer.
Does the Replika app still allow adult roleplay?
No. Erotic roleplay was removed in February 2023 and has not returned for new users. No store build or regional version changes that, so if unfiltered roleplay matters, you need a different platform.
If you want the parts Replika does well without the parts it removed, start free on Affiny with 300 coins and no credit card, and put its voice and memory against the app you already know.