What is PolyBuzz? Safety, cost, and what the memory tier buys

PolyBuzz is a free-to-start AI character chat app from CLOUD WHALE INTERACTIVE TECHNOLOGY LLC. You talk to user-made characters that answer in persona, and the parts that make a character remember you are sold separately as subscriptions and coins. It's the same app that launched under the name Poly.AI. Its own terms say nobody under 18 may use it. Its FAQ says chats are private. Its privacy policy says it may share your data with third parties, including "the Chat-GPT platform." Those three sentences are the whole article in miniature, and the rest of this page is the evidence for each one, opened and read on 17 September 2026.

My opinion, which you can argue with by the end: "unrestricted" is marketing, and memory length is the only spec worth paying for.

What is the PolyBuzz app, and what happened to Poly.AI?

Poly.AI and PolyBuzz are the same app. The App Store lists it as "PolyBuzz: Chat with Characters" and Google Play as "PolyBuzz: Chat with AI Friends," both published by CLOUD WHALE INTERACTIVE TECHNOLOGY LLC, an LLC whose terms of use give a Wilmington, Delaware mailing address. The old name never got scrubbed. The PolyBuzz FAQ still calls the product "Poly" in three answers, the Android package is "ai.socialapps.speakmaster," and the subreddit is r/polyai. That is the entire corporate history I am willing to type. Nothing under the hood changed with the name.

One disambiguation, then we move on. PolyAI, one word, is an unrelated enterprise company that builds voice agents for call centres. It has nothing to do with character chat.

So what is PolyBuzz, in one sentence that survives being lifted out? It's a mobile and web application in which a language model plays a user-written character, holds a rolling conversation with you, and recalls earlier turns for as long as the model's context and your plan tier allow. The App Store listing shows 4.4 stars across 475K ratings and an 18+ age rating. The Google Play listing shows 50M+ downloads with 4.1 stars across 1.17M reviews on the US storefront, all read on 17 September 2026. One oddity worth knowing when you see a star rating quoted anywhere: the same Play listing viewed from India shows 2.1 stars across the same 1.17M reviews, because Play averages by storefront.

Is PolyBuzz safe?

For an adult who keeps identifying details out of the chat, PolyBuzz is about as safe as any ad-funded character app. For anyone under 18, it is prohibited by the developer's own terms rather than merely discouraged. The question has three parts, age, privacy and money, and the developer's own documents answer each one more plainly than its homepage does.

The terms, the privacy policy and the store label answer the safety question more plainly than the homepage.

Age first. The PolyBuzz terms of use, last updated 18 May 2026, say "You must have reached 18-year-old to use PolyBuzz" and that the service "strictly prohibit for minors (less than 18-year-old) worldwide." You enter a date of birth on first use, and the terms say the company will suspend an account it believes belongs to a minor. Only UK users go through an actual identity check, through the third-party verifiers Ondato or Yoti, because the UK Online Safety Act requires it. Everywhere else the gate is self-declared. Now the contradiction: the same company's FAQ says the app has "graded modes for different age groups" and "a dedicated Teen Mode specifically for children," while its privacy policy, last updated 23 December 2025, says "The Services are not designed for minors" and users under 18 "will be denied access to our services." Both cannot be true, and the terms are the document that binds. A parent asking whether it is safe for kids has the developer's own answer: kids are not allowed in, and the store listings agree at 18+ on Apple and Mature 17+ on Google Play US.

The independent research points the same way. Common Sense Media, working with Stanford School of Medicine's Brainstorm Lab, rated social AI companions "unacceptable" for minors on 30 April 2025, after testers "were able to easily elicit sexual exchanges from companions," and recommended age assurance "beyond self-attestation." A self-declared birthdate is exactly the self-attestation that finding is about. On 11 September 2025 the US Federal Trade Commission opened a 6(b) inquiry into companion chatbots at seven companies including Character Technologies, Meta and OpenAI, asking how they "monetize user engagement" and "use or share personal information obtained through users' conversations." CLOUD WHALE is not one of the seven, so the inquiry says nothing about PolyBuzz. It does say which two questions a regulator asks, and they are the next two here.

Privacy second. The FAQ's answer to "Are PolyBuzz chats private?" is that "neither the creators nor Poly have access to the chat content." The privacy policy is the document to read instead, and it says the app may collect "precise geolocation" and uploaded photos "to train our AI algorithm," may share information "with third parties (including the Chat-GPT platform) that help us deliver effective functionality," and integrates advertising SDKs that collect device identifiers. The App Store privacy label lists Identifiers under "Data Used to Track You," and the Google Play data safety section says the app may share Location with third parties and collect "Personal info, Financial info and 5 others," with deletion available on request. So "private" means private from other users and creators, not from the company or from whichever model generates the replies. Account deletion is in Settings and is irreversible, and the policy says backups may hold data until the backup system is next updated.

Money third. Purchases are not refundable: the terms say a payment "will not be refunded, even if the subscription is subsequently cancelled," including "a child user's purchase or payment by mistake or accident." Disputes go to individual arbitration in New York with a class-action waiver unless you opt out. None of that is unusual for the category, and all of it is why a subscription monthly decision, never an annual one.

Does PolyBuzz have a filter?

Yes. The word "unrestricted" on the homepage describes what you can type, not what the platform lets stand. The FAQ states that PolyBuzz "strictly prohibit public display of NSFW content" and that "all recommended content undergoes multi-layered AI screening and human moderation." Characters get flagged "Violation" for "content related to pornography, minors, inappropriate language, or sensitive topics." Once flagged, the character becomes visible only to its creator, and its avatar may revert to a default image.

So there are really two filters running at once. Public characters and the discovery feed are moderated. Private chats between an adult and a character are where the "unrestricted" claim lives, though the terms still reserve the right to record violations "at back-end office" and hand them to authorities. Reports involving minors or violence get "a trained human reviewer" and a response within 24 hours, per the terms' own wording. Treat "unrestricted" as a description of tone in private roleplay, not as a promise that nobody can look.

What does PolyBuzz cost, and what does the memory tier actually buy?

PolyBuzz is free to chat, and the parts that make a character remember you cost between $4.99 a week and $29.90 a month. The App Store in-app purchase list, read on 17 September 2026, shows a Poly Standard Weekly Plan at $4.99, Poly Standard Monthly at $9.90, Poly Premium Monthly at $19.90, and a Poly Ultimate Monthly Plan at $29.90, plus coin packs from 1,000 coins for $2.49 up to 20,000 coins for $19.90 and 1,000 Opals for $5.90. The FAQ splits the tiers into Basic and Premium, both including "stronger memory chat models, unlimited character voice listening, ad-free experiences," with Premium adding "more exciting chat models."

Memory sold as an adjective against memory stated as a count of pins.

Coins are the second meter. The FAQ says coins "extend voice chat duration, regenerate character responses, access inspiration replies, or generate exclusive memory scenes." A subscription buys a better-memory model and removes ads. Coins buy the individual actions a long roleplay leans on most: regenerating a weak reply and voice time. The free tier "Contains ads," per Google Play's own label, and the FAQ's answer to "Does PolyBuzz have better memory?" is the most honest line on the site. Memory "is technically limited, which means it may 'forget' previous conversations over time."

This is where my opinion comes from. Nothing on the pricing surface states memory in a number. Not a context length, not a count of pinned facts, not a retention window. You are buying "stronger" versus "strongest," and the only way to know what that means is to run the same scene on both tiers and count what the character still knows on day three. Plant three specific facts in session one (a name, a date, a grudge), open a new chat two days later, and ask about each without a hint. Whatever survives that is the memory you bought, and it is why the number matters more than the adjective.

How do PolyBuzz characters work?

A PolyBuzz character is a public or private card with a voice, tags, a story and an appearance. Any user can create one for free, and the platform's FAQ claims "over 20 million" of them. Creation happens through the "+" button in the app or "Create Character" on the web. You can upload character cards or JSON files, and the FAQ lists imports "from platforms like Character.AI, Pygmalion, Zoltanai, Text Generation, TavernAI." That import path is the practical reason a lot of roleplayers keep a PolyBuzz account even when they chat elsewhere.

Two clauses in the terms decide whether you should publish your best character there. Uploading grants the company "a permanent, irrevocable, free of charge, perpetual, non-exclusive, sublicensable (multi-tiered) license" to your content. The Community Contributor program pays creators in "Poins" at a rate of one Poin for every two coins other users spend on their characters, with a 100,000 Poin threshold to qualify. Whether that is a fair trade depends on how much you value your card. I keep originals off the platform and publish copies.

PolyBuzz vs Character.AI: which has better memory, and which is stricter?

Character.AI puts its memory in numbers. PolyBuzz doesn't. On age rules, Character.AI is the stricter platform. On paper, PolyBuzz is. The c.ai+ page, read on 17 September 2026, lists memory as Basic, Better and Best across its Free, lite and c.ai+ tiers, with 15 pinned memories on Free and 30 on both paid tiers, an advanced Lorebook only on c.ai+, and a list price of $119.88 a year (discounted to $94.99, with a monthly option). PolyBuzz's equivalent page says "stronger memory chat models" and leaves the count to you. If you buy on memory, Character.AI at least tells you what you bought.

Age policy is where the two split hardest. Character.AI announced on 29 October 2025 that it would be removing open-ended chat for users under 18 by 25 November 2025, using an in-house age assurance model combined with the third-party verifier Persona. PolyBuzz's terms ban under-18s outright but verify age only in the UK. So Character.AI lets teens in with a restricted product and checks who they are. PolyBuzz says teens are not allowed and, outside the UK, takes your word for it.

On content, PolyBuzz's private chats are the more permissive of the two by its own positioning, and its public feed is moderated the same way Character.AI's is. On price, PolyBuzz's monthly tiers at $9.90 and $19.90 bracket Character.AI's roughly $10 a month, with PolyBuzz's coins as an extra meter Character.AI does not have.

What apps are like PolyBuzz, and how should you compare them?

Apps like PolyBuzz, meaning Character.AI, Talkie, Chai, Replika, SpicyChat and YourCrush.AI, all run the same loop of card, model and rolling context. So the comparison that matters comes down to four questions you can answer from each app's own pages in ten minutes. First, is memory stated as a number (context length, pinned facts, story branches) or as an adjective? Second, what is the age policy, and is it verified or self-declared? Third, what does the store's data label say is collected and shared, and does it match the marketing? Fourth, what does one month of the memory tier cost, and is there a second meter like coins?

Run those four on PolyBuzz and you get: adjective, self-declared outside the UK, identifiers used to track and location shared, $9.90 to $29.90 plus coins. That line is my whole PolyBuzz review, and every other app on the list gets the same four questions before it gets a month of my money.

Why YourCrush.AI is the better fit for a long roleplay

YourCrush.AI states every memory limit as a number on its pricing page, which is the thing this whole article has been asking PolyBuzz for. Below are the plans as listed on 17 September 2026, followed by what each number means at the table.

• YourCrush.AI pins memories as a counted list you can read and edit, so a fact the character must keep is something you choose rather than something the model may or may not retain.

• YourCrush.AI branches a story into separate timelines, one on Free and five on Pro, so a "what if" scene does not overwrite the main thread.

• YourCrush.AI includes voice messages and image generation on every plan, with 5 image credits a month on Free, 50 on Pro and 200 on Premium.

• YourCrush.AI lets you build a character with a personality and backstory from the character creator and browse others from the explore page, with 3 active personas on Free and 5 on Pro.

The honest limitations: 400K chat tokens a month on Free runs out in a couple of heavy roleplay weeks, the Premium plan caps image credits at 200 a month even though everything else on it is unlimited, and the character library is a fraction of the 20 million PolyBuzz claims. What you get in exchange is a memory spec you can hold the product to, and a Pro price of $9.99 that sits at PolyBuzz's Standard Monthly with no coin meter on top.

Related reading

I ran a ten-minute memory test across the category and broke the results down by platform in how to pick an AI companion app on memory, voice and content policy. If you want the fields that keep a character consistent across sessions, that's covered in what an AI character creator actually needs from you.

Frequently asked questions

Is PolyBuzz safe for kids?

No, and the developer's own rules say so. The terms of use, last updated 18 May 2026, bar anyone under 18 worldwide, and the store listings rate it 18+ on Apple and Mature 17+ on Google Play US. The FAQ's "Teen Mode" contradicts both the terms and the privacy policy.

Does PolyBuzz have a filter?

Yes. Public characters and recommended content go through AI screening and human moderation, and a flagged character is hidden from everyone but its creator. Private adult chats are where the "unrestricted" marketing applies.

What happened to Poly.AI?

Poly.AI became PolyBuzz. Same app, same developer (CLOUD WHALE INTERACTIVE TECHNOLOGY LLC), same Android package name, and the FAQ still calls the product "Poly." PolyAI, one word, is an unrelated enterprise voice-agent company.

Is PolyBuzz free?

Free to chat with ads, paid for memory and extras. App Store subscriptions run from $4.99 a week to $29.90 a month, coins start at $2.49 for 1,000, and payments are non-refundable under the terms.

Which is better, PolyBuzz or Character.AI?

Character.AI, if you want memory stated in numbers (15 pinned memories free, 30 paid) and verified age assurance. PolyBuzz, if you want more permissive private roleplay and character imports from Character.AI, TavernAI and Pygmalion cards. Both cost roughly $10 a month for the base paid tier.

Can PolyBuzz read your chats?

Other users and character creators cannot, per the FAQ. The privacy policy says the company may process your inputs, share data with third parties including "the Chat-GPT platform," and keep backups after deletion.

The one number PolyBuzz never prints is the one that would settle every comparison on this page. Until a memory tier comes with a count of what it holds, "stronger memory" is a mood, and you are paying $9.90 a month to find out what it means.