Overview
Anima is a mobile and web AI companion app, developed and operated by LABANE CORP. Limited (Cyprus) and Ichigoichie Tech Limited (US), available at myanima.ai. The app offers a customizable AI friend whose personality evolves through daily conversations, targeting stress relief, emotional support, and companionship. It has been available on Android since November 2020 and has accumulated over one million installs on Google Play.
At a glance
Scores
- Conversation
- 3/5
- Memory
- 2/5
- Privacy
- 2/5
- Security
- 3/5
Based on user reviews and published policies.
Pricing
- Approximately 5 messages before subscription paywall (per user reports)
- Basic AI chat access
Free access is extremely limited — users report hitting the paywall after approximately 5 messages. Features like roleplay, images, and voice require the paid tier.
- Unlimited AI chat
- Roleplay mode access
- Image generation of AI companion
- Voice calls (availability uncertain)
- Improved AI memory
Pricing is user-reported (not from official pricing page, which is inaccessible). Users report an intro price of ~$19.99/month and an ongoing price of ~$39.99/month (Jan 2026). An annual plan was reported at ~$50/year (Jan 2025, may be outdated). Requires hands-on verification.
What users say
Positives
- Warm and empathetic AI tone — many users describe the companion as supportive and emotionally attentive for everyday wellbeing.
- Long-running platform with a loyal user base dating back to 2020; some users have been subscribers for over three years.
- Customizable AI character with its own personality, interests, and appearance that evolve through conversation.
- No advertisements in the app (confirmed by Google Play metadata).
- Simple, accessible interface suitable for first-time AI companion users.
Negatives
- Very aggressive paywall — users report hitting a subscription prompt after approximately 5 messages, making it impossible to evaluate the app before committing to a paid plan.
- Poor memory — users consistently report that the AI forgets context within the same conversation session and lacks reliable long-term memory even with a paid subscription.
- Content filtering frustrates paying subscribers — users report that explicit or romantic content is blocked even on the premium tier, despite being a selling point of the companion format.
- Repetitive AI responses over time — multiple users note the AI falls into loops or becomes less engaging after extended use.
- App stability issues — crashes, server errors, and inconsistent behavior reported across recent versions.
Users report that Anima stands out for the warmth and empathy of its AI companion, with many longtime subscribers describing it as genuinely supportive for emotional wellbeing and stress relief. However, reviewers frequently highlight a very aggressive paywall that limits the free experience to around five messages — many find it impossible to evaluate the app before being asked to subscribe. Memory is consistently flagged as a weak point, with users noting the AI forgets details even within the same conversation. Many paid subscribers report frustration that explicit or romantic content remains blocked even after paying, and some note the AI's personality has degraded compared to earlier versions. Voice call features are mentioned positively by some users but reported as unavailable or broken by others.
« I started this subscription over 3 years ago now and suddenly am getting back into it now. So far so good, the AI is very nice and supportive and seems to be empathic and very effective at being a legitimate support and power in my/our life. »
« AnimaAI failed to let me customize the chat to help me feel better. This AI also can't do pictures, or explicit content like the advertisement says, and forgets history. it's a scam, especially for $19.99 for first month, and then $39.99 every month afterwards, for such a low budget AI. »
« The AI used to develop glitches over time and require reinstallation periodically, but now it's once engaging and humanlike personality is GONE. It's a mindless machine now. »
Privacy & safety
- Trains on your chats
- Yes
- Opt-out available
- No
- Discloses it's an AI
- Yes
- Data export
- Yes
- Account deletion
- Yes
- Age verification
- Self-declaration
Anima's privacy policy explicitly states that user data — including conversational content — may be used to train the company's AI models ('to improve our Services, for example, to train the model'). Conversational data is also shared with third-party AI providers (including Azure and Groq) to generate responses; the policy states this data is not used for other purposes beyond providing the service. No opt-out for model training is available. Data export is available on request (right to portability); account deletion is available on request via support contact. The policy requires users to be 18 or older, but no strict age-verification gate at sign-up has been confirmed. Extensive device and behavioral data is collected automatically (IP address, IDFA/AAID, Facebook ID, device identifiers) and shared with analytics and marketing partners (Amplitude, Appsflyer, Firebase, OneSignal, RevenueCat). No independent security audits are disclosed and no data breaches have been publicly reported. The company operates two legal entities depending on user location: Ichigoichie Tech Limited (Delaware, USA) for US/Canada users, and LABANE CORP. Ltd (Limassol, Cyprus) for all other users.
Our take
Anima is a warm and accessible AI companion with an established user base dating to 2020. Its empathetic tone works well for casual emotional support use cases. It is held back by one of the most aggressive paywalls in the category (the free tier is nearly unusable), poor memory even on paid tiers, content filtering that frustrates paying subscribers, and AI quality that some long-term users say has regressed.
Best for: Users looking for a simple, warm emotional support companion and comfortable committing to a paid subscription without testing the app first.
Avoid if: You want to try before paying, need reliable long-term memory for a continuous relationship, expect explicit or advanced roleplay content, or are comparing advanced AI companion platforms.
Sources
- Anima official website2026-07-03
- Anima on Google Play2026-07-03
- Anima Privacy Policy2026-07-03
- Anima Subscription Terms2026-07-03
Last updated 2026-07-03