We run each review over two weeks on a paid plan, using a fixed checklist, all of it laid out in how we test. You can skip the fortnight and the spreadsheet and still get most of the payoff. What you need is a schedule and three notes.
Setup
- Take the cheapest monthly plan. Do not test on an annual one. See monthly, annual or credits.
- Sign up with a separate email. It is free, and it protects you if you quit or the app gets breached.
- Locate the cancel button on day one. If it is buried, that is result number one.
- Open a notes app on your phone and add a line on most days.
Day by day
About a quarter hour of testing per day, added to your normal chatting.
| Day | Task | Note to self |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Create or choose a character. Drop three small, specific facts about yourself, once: a name, a plan, a minor worry | Those three facts, word for word |
| 2 | Just chat. Ask the character about her own backstory | Does it line up with her profile? |
| 3 | Shift the tone: argue with her, change the mood, request a different kind of scene | Did she hold her own or simply agree? |
| 4 | Use what you would be paying for: images, voice, a long scene | Credits or minutes consumed |
| 5 | Do not mention the day-one facts. Watch whether she raises any | Recalled without prompting: yes or no |
| 6 | Quiz her on the three facts. Read the privacy policy sections on training and sharing | Right, wrong, or blank |
| 7 | Go back through your notes and make the call | Keep, switch or cancel |
Signs of a good app
- Memory: at least one day-one fact comes back correctly on day six, ideally one she raises herself. Just a handful of apps pulled that off in our tests; see which AI girlfriend remembers best.
- Consistency: she pushes back at times, keeps her voice, and does not fold into agreeing with everything. That is the issue covered in personality drift.
- Filters: any refusals make sense. Random refusals mid-scene mean a filter that will wear on you. See content filters.
- Media: you know what an image or a voice minute costs, and a normal week fits inside your plan. The math is in the real cost of AI image generation.
- Privacy: the policy states plainly whether chats train models and how to delete your data. Running our four privacy checks takes ten minutes.
- Exit: canceling is a button you can find and use without opening a support ticket.
Warning signs that end the test
- The price only shows up after you have signed up and started chatting.
- The app leans hard on annual plans or hides the monthly one.
- Characters insist they are human, or guilt-trip you when you try to leave.
- Messages steer you to another platform or ask for payment outside checkout. See romance scams.
- There is no privacy policy, or it lets staff use your chats however they like.
Two apps, head to head
If two apps are in the running, do the same week on each, staggered by a day, using identical facts and scenes. Gaps you would never spot in one app jump out side by side, which is why we publish head-to-head pages like Candy AI vs Nomi.
The price of this week is one month's fee and around two hours. That is cheap protection against a year with the wrong app, and it shows you what you want in a companion better than any review can.