Staying power over gimmicks
With most unfiltered apps, a scene slowly drifts and the character loses its edges, leaving you to keep dragging things back on track. During my two weeks, Secret Desires was the app I had to correct least often.
| Secret Desires | Joi | Camsoda AI | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scene handling | Holds the scene | Relies on you | Depends on your build |
| Boundaries in builder | Available | Not available | Available |
| Phone apps | None | None | None |
| Price shown upfront | No | Lowest listed | No |
Why boundaries help
Besides describing who your companion is, the builder lets you spell out what it must never do. That single setting is the difference between a character that respects a line and one that ignores it.
What holds it back
You can only use it in a browser, and it will not tell you what it costs until you have registered. The shared character gallery is enormous but uneven in quality; I skipped it and built my own.
Forty messages, one scene
I kept one scene going for over forty messages, and the setting, the boundary and the character's voice never slipped. In Joi, a scene that long would have meant restating the setup again and again.
