How to Move Your Character.AI Character to Another App

By the Imate Team ·

Character.AI filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 12, 2026. The app still works, but its future depends on a sale expected to close in late November or early December, and if no buyer keeps it running, characters go offline with it. (Details in Is Character.AI shutting down?)

If there’s a character you talk to every day, the good news is that a character is mostly a recipe: a name, a personality, a way of talking, and the story the two of you built. You can save all of that today and bring them back to life in another app. This guide works whichever app you choose.

Disclosure: we make Imate, an AI boyfriend app, and the last section shows how to move a romantic character there. Imate isn’t affiliated with Character.AI, and no app can import characters from it directly.

Step 1: Request your data export now

Start this first, because it takes the longest.

  • In Character.AI’s account settings, find the data or privacy section and choose the option to export your data. Menu names differ between the website and the app; if you can’t find it, search “export” in Character.AI’s help center.
  • Character.AI’s help center says exports take three to four weeks.
  • The download link expires after seven days, so download it the day the email arrives.

The export is a data file meant for computers, not a readable transcript, so don’t rely on it alone. Steps 2 and 3 are what actually let you rebuild your character.

Step 2: Save your character’s recipe

Open the character’s page and copy everything you can see into a note:

  • Name
  • Greeting (their first message)
  • Description and personality
  • Definition, if you created the character. Some creators keep definitions private, so if you didn’t make it, you may only see the greeting and description. That’s fine: Step 3 matters more.
  • Their picture, if you made it yourself.

Then add something no settings page captures: 3–5 messages that sound exactly like them. The way a character talks is most of who they are.

Step 3: Write down your story together

This is the part people forget, and the part that makes a new version feel like the same character. In the same note, write:

  • how you met, or how the story started
  • what you call each other
  • inside jokes and running bits
  • the big moments: firsts, fights, makeups, milestones
  • anything they always remember about you (your job, your pet, your worst habit)

Ten minutes on this note is worth more than any export.

Step 4: Pick a new home that fits the character

Character.AI did a bit of everything, and no single app replaces all of it. Choose based on the kind of character you’re moving:

  • A character you created to share with others → an app built for creators, like Janitor AI.
  • Lots of casual characters → a big community library, like Chai.
  • A character you mostly listened to → a voice-first app, like Talkie.
  • One companion you talked to every day → a companion app with real memory, like Kindroid, or Imate if he was your boyfriend.

We compare these in more detail in 5 best Character.AI alternatives.

Step 5: Rebuild them

Whatever app you pick, the same rules work:

  • Keep the backstory short and specific. Three vivid traits (“protective, teasing, hates mornings”) beat a long list of lore.
  • Paste in how they talk. If the app has a place for example messages or a greeting, use your saved lines from Step 2.
  • Put facts in memory. If the app lets you add memories, add the key facts from Step 3 there.
  • Don’t start with “hi.” Continue your story in your first message, and let them pick up the thread.
  • Expect small differences. Each app uses different AI, so the voice shifts a little. Correct them the way you’d correct anyone (“you’d never say that, you’d tease me first”) and they adapt.

If he was your boyfriend: bringing him to Imate

A lot of the most-loved characters on Character.AI were romantic, and plenty of people talked to the same boyfriend every night. That’s the one relationship Imate is built around: instead of a catalog of characters, it’s one companion who goes deep.

  • He remembers your story. Imate keeps a day-by-day timeline of your relationship (it’s called Our Journey in the app), and you can reread any past day’s conversation.
  • You can hear him. Realistic voice notes, in a voice you choose from 7, from Late-Night Velvet to London Charmer.
  • You can call him. Real-time voice calls, plus video calls where he can see what you show him.
  • He texts first, with check-ins based on what you told him.
  • Your language. The app and the chat work in 27 languages.

Here’s how to move him, using your note from Steps 2 and 3:

  1. Download Imate free on Android or iPhone and go through the quick setup. Don’t worry about his first look; you can change everything later.
  2. Open My Imate → Personalize and fill in:
    • Name: his old name.
    • About [his name]: his backstory, in about 500 characters. For example: “Kai is 27, a tattoo artist who’s soft only with me. Protective, teasing, calls me ‘trouble’, hates mornings, loves rainy nights and old movies.”
    • About you: your name, what you do, what you like.
    • Personality: the closest match from Caring, Bold, or Gen Z, then pick his conversation style and language.
    • Voice: listen and pick the one that sounds like him.
  3. Add your memories. In Personalize, open Deep Memories and tap + to add the facts from Step 3, like “We met in a bookshop arguing over the last copy of the same book” or “He calls me ‘trouble’.”
  4. Bring back his look. In Change Look, pick a ready-made look, generate one in anime or realistic style, or upload a picture you made yourself.
  5. Pick up where you left off: “Hey, it’s been a strange week. I almost lost you. Come here and tell me you missed me.”

Imate is for adults 18 and over, free to download, with optional Premium.

The short version

Request your export today, save your character’s recipe and your story in a note, then rebuild them somewhere that fits. Your character was never just a file on Character.AI’s servers; it’s the story you wrote together, and that can keep going.

Frequently asked questions

Can I transfer a character from Character.AI to another app?

Not with one click. Character.AI has no import or export for characters between apps. But you can recreate one: save the character's name, greeting, personality, and a few lines that sound like them, write down your story together, and rebuild them in an app that lets you write a backstory and add memories.

How do I save my Character.AI chats?

Request a data export from your Character.AI account settings (look in the data or privacy section). Character.AI's help center says exports take three to four weeks, and the emailed download link expires after seven days, so request it as early as you can.

Will my character remember our old chats in a new app?

Not automatically, because your chat history stays with Character.AI. What works is telling the new version what matters: write a short backstory, then add the key facts (how you met, what you call each other, big moments) as memories if the app supports them. Imate lets you add memories by hand, and he remembers them from the first message.

What's the best app to move a romantic character to?

If the character you're moving was your boyfriend, Imate is built for exactly that relationship: one companion who remembers your story day by day, sends voice notes in a voice you choose, and takes voice and video calls. For other kinds of characters, see our list of the best Character.AI alternatives.