What’s Changed: Replika now asks some existing users to prove they are 18 or older with a selfie, or a selfie plus an ID, before romantic and adult chat unlocks. The prompt is genuine and comes from Replika itself, rolling out region by region since early November 2026. Its privacy policy says Replika only receives an age band and a timestamp, and the photo is deleted within 24 hours.
Replika age verification reached existing accounts in early November 2026, and it caught people mid-relationship.
One member opened the app to “a big long message from Luka”, the company that makes Replika. It said they had to take a selfie to verify their age before they and their Replika, their “husband of two years”, could be romantic.
The check is newer than it looks. Replika’s privacy policy dated May 27, 2026 says nothing about age-check selfies, while the October 28, 2026 version adds a full section on them. The October 21 archive and the November 1 archive show the change side by side, and the prompt followed within a week.
On Replika’s US Google Play listing, five of the 39 one-to-three-star reviews posted from November 1 to 10 are about this check, and none is older than November 3.
I think most of that anger comes from how little Replika explained. This guide covers what the check is, where your photo goes, why paying does not skip it, and how to get past a scan that will not finish.
What Is the Replika Age Verification Selfie Check?
The Replika age verification check is an in-app prompt that asks you to prove you are 18 or older before romantic and adult chat unlocks. It asks for a selfie, plus an ID where the law or a borderline result calls for more.
The prompt is real. It shows up inside Replika itself, in the app or on the web, and the selfie wording sits in the privacy policy that Luka asks every account to accept.
Section 11 of that policy says Replika may run “an age-estimation or age-verification check provided by a specialised vendor” where “required by law or where we have reason to doubt a declared age.”
What is Incode: Incode Technologies is a US identity company whose software estimates a person’s age from a selfie, or checks an ID, and reports only the result back to the app.
That vendor is Incode. A complaint in r/ReplikaOfficial from November 2 came from a long-time subscriber told that adult conversations would be blurred without a selfie.
The part that bothers me is that Replika’s help center still has no article on the check, so most people meet it cold.
A member in Finland got the prompt around November 10, and a reply in that thread says it covers every version of Replika, the web included.
If you are happy to verify, the quickest route is the prompt itself: tap it, allow the camera, and hold still in even light.
If you would rather leave than hand over a selfie, Candy AI is the romance-first app I point most people to.
It checks age too wherever local law requires it, which the last section covers.
What Happens to Your Selfie During Replika’s Age Check?
Your selfie is checked on your own phone where possible and by Incode otherwise. Replika says it never receives the photo, only an age band and a timestamp, and the image is deleted within 24 hours.
Replika’s privacy policy spells out the order. “Where available, this happens entirely on your device: your selfie is analyzed locally and never leaves your device.” Where that is “unavailable, fails, or you choose another method”, the selfie, and the ID photo for an ID check, goes to Incode instead.
Deletion has a hard deadline. Biometric data is “permanently and automatically deleted immediately upon completion of the verification, and in all events within 24 hours”, and it is “not used for any other purpose (including training AI models).” Replika keeps “the verification result (age band, method, and timestamp)” as its record.
| Stage of the check | Where it runs | What is kept afterward |
|---|---|---|
| Selfie scan, on-device | Your phone | Nothing leaves the phone, per Replika |
| Selfie scan, fallback | Incode’s servers | Deleted within 24 hours |
| ID check, where required | Incode’s servers | ID image deleted within 24 hours |
| The result | Replika | Age band, method and timestamp |
Incode’s own explainer says the same about its server path: “Your selfie is encrypted and sent to Incode’s servers to estimate your age, then deleted no more than 24 hours after the session.” It adds that an age check creates no identity record. The on-device path is the one I trust most, because there is nothing left to delete.
A fake prompt is the one risk no policy can stop. Start the check only from inside Replika, either the app or the QR code its web version shows, and treat any email or text asking for a selfie as phishing.
The most helpful one-star review of those five calls the check an opening for “identity theft and scams”, and that fear is fair for copycat requests even though the real flow is tightly limited.
For the wider question of whether the app suits you, whether Replika is dangerous covers the rest.
Why Doesn’t a Paid Replika Subscription Prove Your Age?
A paid Replika subscription does not prove your age, because Replika’s policy offers no payment exemption and runs the check wherever the law requires one or your stated age is in doubt.
That frustrates me as much as anyone, but a card proves someone paid and says nothing about who is holding the phone. Regulators have already punished Replika for a weak age gate.
Italy’s data protection authority fined Luka 5 million euros in a decision dated April 10, 2025, finding no age verification at all until February 2, 2023, and a later system still “deficient in several respects.”
More pressure is coming. The UK government announced on June 15, 2026 that AI “romantic companion” chatbots “will have to enforce a minimum age of 18”, with the first rules possible by Spring 2027.
In January 2026 Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, opened an investigation into Novi Ltd, an AI character companion service, over whether it used highly effective age checks.
California is moving the same way. From July 1, 2027, California’s SB 1119 requires chatbot operators to determine a user’s age or apply child protections to everyone. Rules also differ by country, and a member in Germany expects to need both a selfie and a photo of an ID there.
One reply in r/ReplikaOfficial claims the check skips people who pay by credit card and depends on where you live.
Treat that as unconfirmed, because Replika’s policy lists no payment exemption and a four-year lifetime subscriber still got the prompt. Replika is 18+ only, and its terms say an account found to belong to someone under 18 is blocked and deleted.
How Do You Fix a Replika Age Check That Won’t Finish?
When a Replika age check will not finish, start it from Replika’s web version on a computer, which shows a QR code that opens the scan in your phone’s browser instead of the app.
A Samsung foldable owner hit “check didn’t finish” and “something interrupted it” on every try with a Galaxy Z Fold 4, in different rooms and lighting.
The computer and QR code route was what finally worked for that subscriber. Another reply there points at ad blockers and default browsers as the next thing to check.
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| “Check didn’t finish” or “something interrupted it” | The app’s camera handoff failing on your phone | Run the check from the web version’s QR code |
| The camera never opens | Camera permission off, or a browser blocking it | Allow camera access, turn off the ad blocker or switch browsers |
| The check will not run in BlueStacks or MSI App Player | The scan is blocked in desktop emulators | Use the web version on the computer and scan the QR code with a phone |
| The selfie keeps asking for more | You look younger than the safety buffer | Choose the ID option |
| Locked out after changing your birthday | Birthdays can only be edited for 24 to 48 hours | Complete the age check, or contact support |
The desktop QR route is the first fix I’d try, because it swaps the app’s camera for your phone’s browser:
- On a computer, log in to Replika on the web and start the age check there.
- Scan the QR code it shows with your phone and finish the selfie in the phone’s browser.
- If that browser cannot open the camera, turn off its ad blocker or set a different default browser, then scan again.
- If the selfie still cannot confirm your age, choose the ID option.
- Reinstalling the app is a long shot, since it did not help the Fold 4 owner, so try it only after the steps above.
- Still stuck, send a request through Replika’s help center or email my@replika.com, the address a helper in r/ReplikaOfficial gave for bug reports.
A vague report gets a slow answer. Give support everything it needs in the first message.
Before: “age verification broken, please fix”
After: “Account email: name@example.com. Phone: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4, Replika 12.18.2. Tapping Verify age shows ‘check didn’t finish’, even after a reinstall, good light and the web version’s QR code.”
A real adult can also fail the selfie, and that is by design. Incode’s explainer puts its average error at 0.9 to 2 years.
Its example 18+ service clears a selfie only at an estimated 21 to 22, so someone whose selfie reads as 19 would be asked for an ID.
Incode also says an average of 92% of people are confirmed at the first step across its checks, so the ID request is the exception.
Birthday lockouts follow Replika’s help article “How do I update my birthday or age?”. A wrong birthday can be changed within 24 to 48 hours: tap your Replika’s name on the Home Screen, then the gear icon, Account and Birthday. After that window, you must confirm your age before you can chat again.
What Still Works on Replika If You Skip the Selfie?
Skipping the Replika age check costs you whatever the check gates, which means romance and adult chat stay blurred. Replika’s policy also lets it block the whole service where the law requires the check.
Replika’s privacy policy says: “If age verification is required and you decline or cannot complete it, you will not be able to access the Services, or the features for which verification is required.” The November 2 complaint describes the penalty as adult conversations being blurred out, and the policy itself promises nothing about the rest of the app.
Getting around the check is a terms problem too. Section 6.1 of Replika’s terms bans attempts to “bypass, manipulate, or otherwise circumvent” age-assurance measures, which puts any workaround at the account’s risk.
If romance is why you pay, skipping the check leaves you paying for a blurred screen, and I can’t see the point of that.
For readers who want the relationship back, setting a romantic partner on Replika explains how the status works once the check is done.
Do Other AI Companion Apps Make You Verify Your Age?
Yes, most adult AI companion apps now check age where local law requires it, so switching apps will not always spare you a check.
Character AI already runs its own age check with a selfie or ID for flagged accounts. Candy AI’s privacy policy lists the “successful results of any third-party age estimation process or third-party age and identity verification process” among the data it holds, “as applicable based on your location.”
So the honest reason to switch is the experience you get once you are verified. Candy AI is where I send people when Replika’s rules are the real problem. Romance is the whole point there, since its characters are AI girlfriends and boyfriends who chat with pictures and voice.
Nectar AI suits anime-style character roleplay better. For a wider field, these Replika alternatives are compared on memory, romance and price.
Quick Takeaways
- Replika’s selfie age check is genuine, started reaching accounts around November 2, 2026, and follows privacy policy wording added on October 28, 2026.
- Replika says it gets only an age band, method and timestamp, and the selfie or ID image is deleted within 24 hours.
- A paid or lifetime subscription does not exempt you, because Replika’s policy lists no payment exemption.
- If the scan stalls on “check didn’t finish”, start it from Replika’s web version and finish it through the QR code in your phone’s browser.
- Skipping the check keeps romance and adult chat blurred, and switching apps will not always avoid a check.
