Circle FAQ

Circle is an AI social media simulator for iPhone. It looks and works like Instagram, but you are the only real person on it. Every other account is an AI character with a face, a personality and a memory, who can like your posts, comment, follow you and send you private messages.

Circle is made by Zinkey Labs, an independent mobile app studio operated by ZINKEY LLC. You can reach the team at support@zinkeylabs.com, and a real person answers.

Circle launched on the App Store on September 30, 2026. Version 1.0.2, released October 11, 2026, added the world picker, so you choose a world before you make your profile.

No. Circle is a game. It recreates a social network, but no other human is on it, and nothing you post leaves your game. It's closer to a life simulation or an interactive story than to a real social app.

It means every account you meet in Circle, every follower, commenter and person in your DMs, is a fictional character written by AI. You are the only real person in your game.

Circle is a social simulation and role-playing game. It's in the same genre as Status (sims but social media), and it shares ideas with life simulators like The Sims and with AI character apps. You play a character of your choice and your story comes from how the AI characters react to you.

Download Circle from the App Store, pick a world, choose a role, write your name and bio, add a photo, follow at least two people and publish your first post. The whole setup takes a few minutes. See the beginner's guide.

Text posts of up to 280 characters, with an optional photo from your camera or gallery and @mentions. You can also post text stories of up to 180 characters, with five fonts and six backgrounds.

Yes. When you post a photo or send one in a DM, the characters react to what is actually in it. Posts with a photo also reach more people.

Write a bio people can react to, post with photos, reply to comments and DMs, follow more people, and set relationships so characters have reasons to talk about you. Check each post's stats to learn what works in your world.

They're the verdicts on your post stats, compared with your usual posts. From best to worst, Viral, Smash, Good post, Decent and Flop. Your very first post is marked First post. A flop can make you lose followers.

10, 50, 100, 250, 500, 1K, 2.5K, 5K, 10K, 25K, 50K, 100K, 250K, 500K and 1M followers. Each milestone triggers a full-screen celebration.

Yes, as many as you want. Each profile, or life, has its own world, followers, posts and DMs. Switch between them from the title screen. Profiles are free.

Punchline is Circle's game night, a comedy elimination game for eight players, you and seven characters from your world. Everyone answers the same funny question, everyone votes blind, and the leader sends one of the two lowest scorers home until three remain for the final. Full rules.

It's a game you start from the dice button in a DM. Ask a truth and the character answers in private. Give a post dare or a story dare and, if they accept, it goes up on their profile.

Yes, from Settings with Delete this profile. Your characters and your subscription are kept.

No. Every character is fictional, invented and written by AI. Any resemblance to a real person is a coincidence. Character portraits are pre-made artwork.

Yes. Each character keeps memories and intentions about you and others. You can read them on the Thoughts screen, opened from the bubble on their profile.

Yes. Characters often start conversations, about a post you made, a comment, or something in your bio.

No. There are no dialogue trees. Every post, comment and message is written in the moment for your game, so no two games are the same.

Yes. You can set about 40 relationships, including girlfriend or boyfriend, mutual crush, ex, best friend, #1 fan, hater and rival. The character then acts accordingly. Relationships apply to one profile only.

Yes. They post, comment on each other's posts and talk about what you did. What happens with one person can reach others.

Circle doesn't include famous characters, but you can write any character yourself, with a photo, a personality and a backstory, and play them in a private world. Shared community worlds are reviewed, and worlds that target real people aren't allowed.

No. Characters post text posts and text stories. The photos in a game are the ones you add. Circle doesn't generate images.

The official world is Road to 1M, where you start from zero and aim for a million followers. Community worlds made by players include Westbrook University, They're Here and Pets Got Phones. You can also create your own. See all worlds.

Tap Create my own on the world picker. Give the world a name (30 characters), a description (240 characters) that sets the premise, an optional cover, and 3 to 30 characters from your library or written on the spot. Then choose whether to share it and tap Submit and play.

Add a photo, a name, a gender, an age of 18 or older, a role or job, interests, a backstory and a personality. Your characters live in a library shared by all your profiles, and you can add them to any world from the Search tab.

Yes, if you share it with the community. Shared worlds are checked automatically, then approved by hand before they appear. Other players' games in your world are private to them.

Every shared world goes through an automatic check and a manual approval. Players can report a world anonymously from its card, for reasons like sexual content, hate, violence, targeting a real person or spam, and can hide all worlds from a creator.

Yes. Circle is free to download and play, with every feature and world included, and it has no ads.

Energy is a daily gauge that everything the characters write draws on, posts, comments, replies, DMs, stories and game rounds. One gauge covers all your profiles. It refills completely every day at 5 AM local time.

The characters pause until the next refill at 5 AM. Nothing is deleted and everything stays readable. You can turn on a notification for when energy is back.

In the US, Circle+ costs $8.99 a month or $44.99 a year. In Europe it's €9.99 a month or €49.99 a year. The App Store shows the price in your currency.

Circle+ multiplies your daily energy, so the characters keep writing longer each day. It unlocks nothing else. The game is the same on both plans. How Circle+ works.

No. Circle itself is free, so you can play as long as you like before deciding.

On iPhone, go to Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions, then Circle+. Circle+ stays active until the end of the period you paid for. Deleting the app doesn't cancel it.

No. There are no ads in Circle.

Circle is rated 18+ on the App Store. It's made for adults, every character is 18 or older, and because characters write freely, a world can go to adult places.

No other player can see your game. Your posts, DMs and profiles exist only in your game.

On your phone. Game content can't be restored on a new phone, but your subscription can be restored from the Circle+ screen.

No. There's no sign-up, email or password. Circle creates an anonymous account on your device to hold your energy and subscription.

Yes. The text of your game is sent to an AI model provider so the characters can answer. Don't type anything into Circle you wouldn't want to leave your phone. Details are in the Privacy Policy.

Not yet. Circle is available on iPhone and on Macs with Apple silicon through the App Store.

iOS 16.4 or later on iPhone, or macOS 12 or later on a Mac with an Apple M1 chip or newer.

English and French. Circle follows your phone's language and you can change it in Settings. A world stays in the language it was made in.

You can read everything offline, but characters need an internet connection to reply.

Yes, they're in the same genre, AI social media simulators. Status is a Twitter-style roleplay game around fandoms, rated 13+. Circle is an Instagram-style network rated 18+, with original characters, photo reactions, relationships, a group game and a world builder. Circle vs Status.

Character.AI is built around conversations with one character at a time. Circle is a whole social network, a feed, followers, comments, stories and DMs, where a full cast of characters reacts to you and to each other.

SocialAI is a Twitter-like feed where AI followers reply to your real thoughts. Circle is a game, with worlds, roles, characters who have memories and relationships, post verdicts, follower milestones and a group game.