Linky AI Review: Gorgeous Art and a Bot That Kept Calling Me Alex

The crowd has clearly found it. Google Play shows 10M+ downloads and 3.8 stars from about 137K reviews. I read that rating as a decent app with a lot of irritated users, which is roughly where I'd land myself.

My verdict: Linky is worth a free look if you are on Android, like anime-style characters and can sit through a mobile game's worth of ads. The art is the product, and the character cards scratch a collecting itch I'd rather not admit to having. Memory, moderation and the data terms are where it loses me, and paying mostly buys quiet rather than a better companion.

Put plainly, it is a gacha game that learned to talk. Treat it like one: set a budget, watch the renewal date, and don't expect it to remember your name.

Key takeaways:

• Linky is an Android app first; the website is a shop window you cannot chat in.
• The anime art and the character feed are the best parts, and the cards are built to be collected.
• The free tier runs on ads, and paying is mostly a way to make them stop.
• Memory is short, and names are a known weak spot.
• The public front page carries themes that clash with the platform's own age rules, so I'd not call it well moderated.

That last part turned out to matter more than the plan itself, and the pricing and cancel sections explain why.

The ending was quiet. The app simply ran out of reasons to stay on my home screen once the paid month was up.

A note on what is current. The site's check on 23 September 2026 covers the public web pages plus labelled third-party sources, not the logged-in app. Web sign-in only works through Google or Apple, so nothing inside the app was opened during that check.

So the split is simple. How the chats felt, what the ads were like and what the bot called me comes from July 2025. What the plans cost, what the terms say and how the front door works today comes from that September 2026 check, and where the two disagree I say so.

The modal opens with a big promise: "Welcome to Linky! A place where all your fantasies come to life!" Behind it sits tame anime-style character art as a background image. I'd call that honest marketing, since it tells you in one line what the app thinks it is for.

I don't love the Google-or-Apple rule. An e-mail address is the one login most people can keep separate from the rest of their life, and social sign-in ties a companion app to the account that holds your photos and your work calendar. It is a bit like a diner that only seats you if you leave your house keys with the host.

The box says chat, the site means sign in. I'd rather see a plain line under the box that says the chat lives in the app.

What the first minutes mean for you

Pick the login you mind least before you install, because there is no guest mode to test the waters first. If you use Apple, the Apple option is the one I'd pick, since it keeps the fewest strings attached.

If neither of the two accounts works for you, Linky does not work for you either.

That last one still makes me smile. Somewhere a person sat down and decided a café should have feelings, and the art team gave it better lighting than most of the weddings I grade. The feed rewarded that kind of odd idea, and the browsing was half the fun, which says more about me than about the app.

What the web shop window shows today

The landing page has two tabs, Recommend and LGBTQ. LGBTQ is a dedicated featured tab rather than a filter buried in settings. I like that choice; it treats a big part of the audience as a front-page audience.

About 14 character cards sit on the landing page, each with a chat count. The counts are large: Elijah shows 12.6M chats, Max 9.28M and Lana 8.19M.

Character pages and the ID trick

Each character lives at its own /chat_Name_ID address. A character page shows a description and the character's greeting. The site works as an SEO shop window, with those pages built to be found by search engines rather than browsed by people.

The IDs carry a small secret. Official characters have 5-digit IDs, while user-made characters have long ones. If you care whether a character came from the studio or from a stranger, the address tells you before the greeting does.

Cards: the collecting layer

Linky adds a collecting game on top of the library. Collectible character cards are drawn daily, and there are three card types, each with a hidden story. The cost section covers what the draws cost and how they felt.

The library is the best reason to install Linky. Browse it like a flea market, with a budget of time rather than money.

Then I sent Marcus-bot to chat with the elf prince, mostly to see two bots be polite to each other. The twin introduced itself as Alex. My own copy had inherited the app's favourite wrong name, which felt like a continuity error that had jumped from one reel to the next.

What the creator offers

The feature itself is real and official. A "digital clone" or AI persona feature exists. For ordinary characters, the Google Play description says "Customize their voice, personality, and background story, and bring them to life in 2D, Live2D, pixel, or 3D styles", and then share them with the community.

Limits and the Pro gate

Creation has a quota. Pro users can create many more characters than free users. Per the official Medium post, Pro can create 10 characters in the first week, then 3 a week, up to 100.

That is generous for a hobbyist and a speed bump for a power creator. I'd sketch a character on paper before spending a slot, the way I'd storyboard before a shoot.

Then a vampire CEO posted about his morning coffee. I was in the middle of a July wedding rush, and I briefly envied his work-life balance. A fictional immortal with a company to run had a calmer morning than I did, and I took that personally.

The feed is clever design. It makes the characters feel like they have lives when you are not talking to them, which keeps you coming back to check on them. That is also what a slot machine's lights are for.

Real friends in the same app

Buzz is not only for bots. Social features let users chat with real friends, and the Terms say Linky includes "in-app messaging" with friends. Linky Real adds friend-matching with optional face verification.

I'm of two minds about that mix. A companion app and a social app ask for very different kinds of trust, and putting them in one place blurs the line between talking to a character and talking to a stranger. If you only want the characters, I'd leave the social side switched off until you have read the terms section.

Chat quality itself could not be checked on the web in September 2026, because sending a message opens the Google or Apple login modal. So the judgement here rests on the story.

My overall take on the conversations: they are good at mood and bad at continuity. A reply can look like a lovely illustrated panel and still get the plot wrong, which is a fine trade for a quick scene and a poor one for a long campaign. If you want an evening of anime flirting and banter, Linky delivers; if you want a partner who tracks a story over weeks, it does not.

I laughed out loud at that one. It had the timing of a sitcom and the logic of a client who nods at your revision notes and sends back the same cut. He was a prince with a fixed idea about my name, and it did not feel like an argument I could win.

The bug is not a private joke. aicompanionguides.com reports a recurring bug that made characters call users "Alex". When a stranger's review describes your exact punchline, it stops being bad luck and starts being a feature nobody asked for.

Forty minutes of quest

His memory was short in general, not only for names. Forty minutes into a quest, the elf prince forgot we had already defeated the bandit lord and suggested we go defeat him. The bandit lord was beaten, and the prince wanted a rematch with a man who was already gone.

In editing terms that is a continuity error in the middle of a scene, the kind a viewer spots before the editor does.

Reviews tell a different story. Google Play reviews mention imperfect memory. aicompanionguides.com reports weak short-term memory, with characters forgetting details within the same conversation. roborhythms.com reports that free-tier memory fades after about 12 exchanges.

My verdict on memory is simple. Treat Linky as a scene partner, not a long-term partner, and keep your own notes if a story matters to you.

The call was pretty good. As an editor who has sat through a lot of bad ADR, I don't hand out "pretty good" lightly. It lasted five minutes, which after all that grinding felt like queuing an hour for a very nice sandwich.

What exists today

Voice calls are available. The Google Play description says "With advanced AI voice and text features, you can call, message". A fast.io review says voice unlocks at "bonding level 4".

The paywall on voice is reported, not official. aicompanionguides.com says "at bonding level 4, for instance, you can make short voice calls (on premium)". So the gate is double: a relationship meter and, by that account, a paid plan.

Images

On images there is less to say. No general image generator is described; the images are character avatars and collectible cards.

My view: voice is a nice reward and a poor feature. I'd not pay for Linky for the calls, and I'd not grind a meter for them twice.

The free tier gave me about 20 to 30 messages a day. That is a little stingy once the ad breaks are counted in, because half the evening goes to watching things I did not choose. In editing terms, the ads were longer than some of my B-roll.

What free looks like on paper

Officially, very little is published. Free-tier limits are not published officially. The free tier gives basic chat with ads, and the Google Play listing says "Contains ads".

There is no guest chat either.

The reported cap, and a disagreement

The secondary sources do not agree on the cap. A fast.io review lists 20-30 messages a day, and aicompanionguides.com says "You get somewhere around 20 to 30 messages a day". roborhythms.com says "Unlimited text chat but heavily restricted", with 10-20 regenerations a day.

A Google Play review from February 2026 says "unlimited free chat... pops up with adverts... Pictures etc cost a lot of gems". So my 20 to 30 messages from July 2025 may have loosened since, or the limit may depend on things no page explains.

The ads, at least, are still there: aicompanionguides.com reports a full-screen ad after nearly every reply on the free tier.

Where free stops

Free is good for one thing: deciding whether you like the art. It is not good for a story.

My advice is to give free a week and count how often you close the app during an ad. If the answer is often, the choice is between paying for silence and leaving, and I'd make it quickly rather than let the ads decide for you.

Then I learned that if you cancel, Premium ends the same day and not at the end of the billing period. So I set a calendar reminder to cancel on day 29, the way I'd set a reminder for a client's final invoice. The cancel section checks that claim against the Terms.

What the plans cost on 23 September 2026

There is no pricing page on the web, and purchases are in-app only, through Apple or Google. Google Play lists in-app purchases from $0.49 to $269.99 per item.

The third-party Adapty paywall library shows Linky prices from iOS data, in USD, with a snapshot dated 3 March 2024. It lists Linky Pro at $9.99 a month, $24.99 a quarter and $89.99 a year. It lists Linky Gold at $17.99 a month and $39.99 a quarter.

The official Medium post from July 2024 prices Pro in Philippine pesos. It gives PHP 499 for 1 month, PHP 1,290 for 3 months and PHP 4,990 for 12 months. Gold tier benefits are not documented publicly.

The Premium puzzle

Here is the awkward part. The plan I paid for was called Premium and cost $17 a month in July 2025, while the Adapty snapshot from March 2024 lists Pro at $9.99 and Gold at $17.99 a month. No official source uses the name Premium, so my receipt and the price lists describe the same app in different words.

So I paid $17 in July 2025, and third-party pages still quote about $17 a month in 2026. I'd check the plan name on the store screen before paying.

What Pro adds

The Terms (section 2b) and the Medium post agree on two perks: 30 free coins daily and more daily card draws. Pro also brings priority in the AI-avatar creation queue, more avatar pictures, faster AI replies and a Pro badge. The two perks I'd actually pay for are no ads and unlimited chats.

aicompanionguides.com lists a slightly longer menu for Premium. It says Premium adds ad-free use, unlimited chat, voice calls, a mature-content toggle, expanded memory, 30 coins daily and faster avatars.

Is the step up worth it?

For me it was worth one month and not two. The ads were the whole point of paying, and a quiet month was what the money bought.

My rule for Linky: pay monthly, never yearly, and only once the ads are the thing you hate most. A year up front for an app whose plan names change between sources is a gift card to a store that keeps moving.

The coin ladder

The Adapty snapshot from 3 March 2024 lists the coin packs in USD. 180 coins cost $1.99, 490 coins cost $4.99 and 1,080 coins cost $9.99. 2,360 coins cost $19.99, and 14,200 coins cost $99.99.

The list continues behind a "show more" link, so the ladder may be longer. The bigger packs give more coins per dollar, which is the standard trick; it rewards the people who least need rewarding.

Two colours of coin

The Terms mention "purple coins" and "gold coins". Two currencies in one app are one currency too many for anyone doing the math at the kitchen table.

Coins also buy virtual gifts. Pro includes 48 card draws per subscription period, according to the Medium post from July 2024.

What coins are worth outside the app

Nothing. The Terms say "Coins have no monetary or real world value and can only be used with the Service". They also say coins "may not be redeemed or exchanged for real currency".

My advice: buy the smallest pack once, see what it buys, and stop there. The cards are fun, and fun with a price ladder behind it is exactly where I'd keep a budget.

So the first-purchase packs and countdown timers I'd expect from an app built like a game cannot be confirmed here.

The bonuses that are written down

The documented perks all sit behind Pro. Under the Terms, Pro subscribers can "collect 30 free coins daily". An official Medium post from July 2024 says the same, 30 coins a day.

The Terms also promise Pro subscribers "more daily card draws", which implies non-Pro users get some daily draws too. That is the closest thing to a free bonus on record: a daily draw you do not pay for.

It also means the only discounts on record are the ones built into the paid plan.

My view: the daily coins and draws are the real discount, and any "free coins" offer outside the app is one I'd not touch.

The reports match. aicompanionguides.com reports that filtering is inconsistent between updates. It also reports that Premium sometimes filters more than Free, which is a strange thing to pay for.

What is on the front page

Content settings could not be seen without an account. What can be seen is the public front page, and the visible characters are strongly romance- and suggestive-themed. One visible greeting reads "A soft moan escapes him", and one visible character is named "Sophie (GF) ❤️💦".

An official Medium post mentions support for "more mature or spicy content". Google Play now rates the app for adults only, and the reason it gives is "Sex".

Where it clashes with its own rules

Some of the front page sits badly next to the platform's own age rules. One public featured card casts its character as the reader's bully from a school setting. A user-made character on the LGBTQ tab is set in a high-school world.

Its description then frames him as the user's step-parent and soulmate.

Some featured bots state ages outright, such as a character listed as 19 and a setup that casts the user as an 18-year-old partner. These chats were not opened.

The age rules on paper

The Terms updated in July 2025 say the app is "not for persons under the age of 16 on Android devices and not for those under the age of 18 on IOS devices". The Privacy Policy says "Linky is not directed to minors under the age of 18". The desk-checked Terms said the service was "not for persons under the age of 17 ... not for those under the age of 18".

No age check method is described. The Terms do list graphic sexual material among objectionable content, and breaches can lead to suspension or termination.

How it made me feel

The anime look plus a 17+ rating plus weak age checks gave me a slightly uncomfortable "who else is here" feeling. It was stronger because I have a 14-year-old nephew who lives on apps like this. The store rating has since moved to adults only, which I'd call the right direction and not enough on its own.

Ltd. is also the Google Play developer name, while the desk check found the Terms and Privacy Policy naming only "Linky".

How fresh the documents are

The Terms of Service were last updated on July 14, 2025, and the Privacy Policy on December 29, 2025. The desk check had found Terms effective March 2024 and a Privacy Policy dated January 2024. Both documents have moved since, so any older summary of them is out of date.

Sign-up goes through third-party accounts. The Privacy Policy confirms registration through accounts such as Facebook or Google.

In plain terms, coins die with the account, so I'd spend them before closing anything.

What you give Linky

You keep ownership of your content. You also grant Linky a "worldwide, royalty-free, ... transferable, sublicensable, perpetual, irrevocable license" to it. The Terms grant Linky rights to "use your User Content for any Linky-related purpose".

The licence reaches your person, too. Users grant a licence to use their username, image, voice and likeness, and user-generated content may be used in ads and marketing. As someone who edits other people's faces for a living, I'd not hand over my own voice on these terms.

Chats, ads and data

The Privacy Policy says chats are "processed only for security purposes, such as automatic screening". The fuller wording reads "only for security purpose, such as automatic screening illegal information". The policy does not say plainly whether chats are used for model training.

The ad side is clearer. Linky shares behavioural and profiling data with ad providers, including Firebase and AppsFlyer, and passes data to partners for interest-based ads. The Privacy Policy says Linky does not sell data "in the conventional sense".

Retention is vague. Data is stored "to the extent as necessary for the proper business needs" and deleted "when there is no such need". That is a sentence a lawyer would enjoy and a user can't plan around.

Linky Real and discovery

Linky and "Linky Real" form one platform that syncs account data and chat messages between the two apps. An optional one-time face verification runs through a third party. The Privacy Policy covers social matching by location, IP and gender, and mentions a "can be discovered" setting.

I'd check that setting on the first day.

Disputes

Governing law is Singapore. Disputes go to SIAC arbitration with 3 arbitrators, and claims must be brought within 1 year. Liability is capped at the greater of fees paid and US$100.

For a monthly subscriber, the store's refund process is the only remedy that matters.

Other pages have not caught up. roborhythms.com still lists the platforms as "Web, iOS, and Android". Adapty lists the iOS release as July 18, 2023.

The Android side is alive and busy. The Google Play title is "Linky AI: Chat, Play, Connect", at play.google.com under the package com.aigc.ushow.ichat. The app was updated on Sep 8, 2026 and released on Jul 3, 2023.

A web site with loose ends

The web site has the feel of a rough cut. Both tabs are shown twice, a duplicated-tab bug. The site has no footer and no social icons.

The Resources menu only links to the Medium blog and the Fandom FAQ. There is no pricing on the web and no guest chat. Google/Apple-only login blocks account creation for anyone without those accounts.

The help pages are behind a wall

The official help is hard to reach from a browser. The FAQ wiki at linkyofficial.fandom.com shows a Cloudflare challenge and could not be read. The official Medium blog, medium.com/@linkyofficial, also shows a Cloudflare challenge in the browser.

The support site lives at support.linke.ai. The Discord at discord.gg/tPv4qzWqdg is linked from the Google Play listing, and its invite page rendered blank in the browser. The TikTok account, @linkyappofficial, has 49.8K followers and 80K likes.

Three help channels and two of them behind a wall is a strange way to support 10M+ installs. I'd start with the support e-mail and keep screenshots of anything that involves money.

Ads, crashes and odd bugs

Google Play reviews mention frequent ads. aicompanionguides.com says some users report ads freezing the app. roborhythms.com reports text corruption and misgendering bugs.

Languages and ratings

Languages are a real strength. The app supports 10+ languages, and the Google Play description says you can "chat with AI in multiple languages, including English, German, Indonesian, and more than ten other languages".

The store rating has moved. The desk check of Google Play showed 3.9 stars from 137K reviews and a Mature 17+ rating. On 23 September 2026 Google Play rates the app for adults only, citing Sex, Users Interact and In-App Purchases.

The numbers behind it

Adapty estimates about US$60K a month in revenue and 200K+ downloads a month, both from March 2024. I read that as a large audience paying small amounts.

The skip list is longer. Linky is not for web or desktop users, because there is no web chat. It is not for people without a Google or Apple account. It is not for iPhone users while the App Store listing is unavailable.

It is also not for anyone sensitive to ads. The free tier is built around them, and paying is the only way to make them stop.

Two more groups should think twice. Linky is not for anyone sensitive to aggressive data sharing with ad partners. It is not for users who want strict content moderation.

My short version: Linky suits a patient Android user who likes anime art, collecting and short scenes. It does not suit anyone who wants privacy, a long story or a clean front page, and I'd keep it off any phone a younger family member borrows.

That line is the best ending an app has ever written for me. It got my name wrong one last time, with total confidence, and walked off like the closing shot of a film.

How renewal works

Monthly, quarterly and annual subscriptions renew automatically. The Terms say "your subscription will automatically renew for successive monthly, quarterly or annually periods". To stop that, cancel in the App Store or Google Play at least 24h before the period ends.

The Terms also say "You may cancel your subscription to the Service at any time by selecting the applicable option within the App Store or Google Play". There is no hidden web page to hunt for, which is the one thing billing through a store does well.

The same-day cut-off

aicompanionguides.com and roborhythms.com say Premium access ends immediately on cancelling, not at the end of the billing period. Their wording is "premium access ends immediately when you cancel, not at the end of your billing period", and the official Terms do not confirm this.

That is why the day 29 plan makes sense. If the reports are right, cancelling early throws away paid days; if they are wrong, cancelling late costs another month.

Deleting the account

Account deletion is available from the in-app Settings. The Privacy Policy also describes deletion by e-mail to [email protected] and warns that "after you submit a request to delete your account, you will no longer be able to use Linky". Both routes may exist, and unused coins do not come back either way.

My advice before paying: put the cancel date in your calendar the day you subscribe. It costs one minute and it is the cheapest insurance in this app.

If the ads win, pay monthly and set a reminder a day or two before renewal. Given the reports that paid access ends the moment you cancel, cancel near the end of the period, not the day after you subscribe.

Keep your own notes for any story that matters. Short memory is part of the product here, so put the key facts back into the conversation every few turns and don't take a forgotten name personally.

Buy coins in the smallest pack first. The card draws are designed to feel good, and the bigger packs are designed to feel like a bargain, which is not the same thing as being one.

Check the social settings before you chat. If you only want the characters, look for the discovery setting and the Linky Real link on day one rather than day twenty.

Stay away from "free coins" pages. Search results are full of "free unlimited coins / lifetime premium" mod and scam pages, for example a pyra-handheld wiki and reach.link. Those "free coins" pages are not official.

I'd no more install a modded companion app than accept a used car with the odometer taped over.

Use the right address, too. The official web domain is linke.ai; linky.ai returned a Cloudflare block page with the title "Attention Required! | Cloudflare". One letter separates the real site from a dead end, so type it carefully or start from the store listing.

Memory is weak. The name bug and the forgotten bandit lord are funny once and tiring by the third time, and the reviews say the same.

Value for money is weak. Paying mostly buys silence, the plan names differ between sources, and the card and coin system is built to keep you spending.

Images and voice are mixed. The voice call is good but short and gated behind a relationship meter, and there is no image generator beyond avatars and cards.

Privacy and terms score poorly. A broad licence to your content and likeness, heavy ad sharing and one account across a companion app and a social app add up to terms I'd read twice.

Cancelling and billing are mixed: the stores handle it, but the reported same-day cut-off needs planning. Content settings are weak, with a jumpy filter and a front page that clashes with the app's own age rules.

The time column says more than any score. Linky lasted one busy month, while Nomi AI stayed on my phone for most of this year. I'd read that as the difference between an app that entertains and an app that keeps you.

Where Linky wins is style. Its anime art, its feed of odd characters and its card draws give it a look and a loop of its own. If knights, vampire CEOs and sentient cafés are your idea of a good evening, Linky is built for you in a way a general companion app is not.

Privacy is where I'd look hardest. Linky puts a real-people social app on the same account as the characters, and that alone is reason enough to read its terms before anyone else's.

The table lists the periods and the cheapest plans, so you can set them side by side yourself.

More on this site: the best AI girlfriend apps, free AI chat apps, the best AI companion apps, AI roleplay chat apps, all AI companion app reviews.

I'd recommend it the way I'd recommend an arcade on a pier. Go for the lights, bring a fixed amount of change, and don't expect anyone inside to remember you tomorrow.

The leftover is small and a little silly: a rare card of a sleepy dragon-tamer and a prince who never learned my name. For a month of my life, that is a fair souvenir. For an app that promises to learn with every conversation, it is also the whole review in one line.