A Linky AI alternative without ads or card draws, where the characters remember you

What is Linky AI?

Linky AI is a character chat app: you pick an AI character, often in an anime style, and talk with it one on one, by text or by voice. On the App Store it's listed as "Linky AI: Chat, Play, Connect" by SKYWORK AI PTE LTD, a company based in Singapore. You can create and share your own characters in 2D, Live2D, pixel or 3D styles, and collect character cards that come with selfies and story scenes.

As of October 2026, its App Store listing shows:

• Rated 18+, with mature and suggestive themes, user-generated content and loot boxes listed in its age rating details.
• Free with in-app purchases: Linky Pro at $9.99, Linky Gold at $17.99, and coin packs from $0.99 to $99.99 in the US store.
• A 4.4-star average from about 7,100 ratings in the US store, so many players like it.
• Platforms: iPhone, Mac with Apple silicon and Apple Vision, in English and nine other languages. Linky also exists on Android and the web.

A RoboRhythms review published in May 2026 and updated in July 2026 adds that the free tier shows ads very often, sometimes after nearly every reply, that Premium removes them, that free-tier memory fades after a dozen or so exchanges, and that coins are mainly spent on card draws. Linky's App Store listing doesn't carry an ads label as of October 2026, so how many ads you see may depend on your country and version.

Sources: Linky AI on the App Store (developer, age rating, purchases, rating, platforms, features), RoboRhythms review of Linky AI (ads, memory, coins, Premium).

Why look for a Linky AI alternative?

People who search for apps like Linky usually want one of these:

• No ads. Ads between replies break a conversation, and removing them means paying.
• No gacha. Card draws paid with coins are fun for some players and a money sink for others.
• Characters who remember. A character who forgets what you said ten messages ago doesn't feel like a relationship.
• Something more than a chat window. After a while, talking to one character who waits for your next message can feel flat.

Circle answers all four, with one honest limit: it has a subscription too, Circle+, but you don't need it to play every day, there are no ads in any case, and there is nothing to draw or collect with money.

Linky AI vs Circle

Linky prices are US App Store prices as of October 2026 and may differ in your country.

How does Circle play?

You're the only human on the feed

Circle looks like Instagram, but every other account is an AI character with a face, a name, a job, a personality and a memory. You make a profile, pick a world, and post a photo or a few words. No real person ever sees it.

The characters come to you

On Linky, you open the chat. In Circle, characters notice your post, comment on it and often slide into your DMs first, about your photo, your story or something in your bio. You can still have long one-on-one conversations, with photos, "Seen" and typing indicators, and truth or dare.

They remember, and you can read their minds

Characters keep memories and intentions about you and bring them up later, and what you say in a DM can get around. On each profile, a Thoughts screen shows what that character really thinks of you. You can set your relationship with each one, from best friend to ex who wants you back to rival since school, and they act on it.

A whole cast, not one bot

Under your post, characters reply to each other and sometimes start a fight. Every post gets a verdict from Flop to Viral, and your followers can climb to a million. Play Superstar, where you're already famous, Magic Academy, a school of magic with witches, vampires and a demon prince, a community world, or your own characters in a world you build. More in how Circle works.

Free every day, with no ads and nothing to draw

Every player gets a free daily energy gauge that refills at 5 AM and covers dozens of messages or around ten posts a day. There are no ads, not even to refill it, and no coins, cards or loot boxes. Circle+ ($4.99/week, $8.99/month or $39.99/year in the US) gives more daily energy and a longer memory in long conversations, and unlocks nothing else.

What Circle is not

Circle is a better fit than Linky for some people, not for everyone. Be clear on what you'd give up:

• No anime character library. You won't find characters from anime, games or movies. Every character in Circle is original and fictional, and you can write your own.
• No voice, no cards, no AI images. Characters write. The only photos are the ones you post.
• Not an uncensored chatbot. Circle is rated 18+ and every character is an adult, but it's a social game, not a no-filter roleplay app.
• Not on Android or the web. Circle is on iPhone and Apple silicon Mac only.
• Not unlimited. No app of this kind is. When the daily energy runs out, characters pause until the next morning.

Best for: people who liked Linky for the feeling of characters who care about them and want that from a whole world that remembers them, without ads or card draws. Not for: people who mainly want voice calls, anime art, collecting or a specific existing character.

Other apps like Linky AI

• Character.AI is the best-known app for one-on-one chats with community characters, on the web, iPhone and Android. Since November 2025, users under 18 can no longer have open-ended chats. Circle vs Character.AI
• PolyBuzz is another character chat app with a huge community library, voice and AI images, and ads on the free tier. PolyBuzz alternative
• Status is a Twitter-style AI social game with characters from hundreds of existing shows, games and books, on iPhone and Android. Circle vs Status

For more apps where AI characters live on a feed instead of in a chat, see apps like Character.AI, but social.

Questions