YanMate

A Talkie alternative, if the ban has a published way back

People looking for a Talkie alternative in 2026 are usually not shopping for a bigger catalogue. Talkie already has one. They want to know what happens if the account goes, and whether the chats they already have will still be there in two months.

What follows compares Talkie with PolyBuzz, Character.AI and YanMate on those axes. It is written by the team behind one of them, which you should factor in — so every row carries its sources, Talkie's own terms are quoted where they are the fact, and there is a section further down about where this product is the wrong choice.

The things worth comparing on this query

If the account goes, is there a published way back?
Talkie's terms allow them to suspend or terminate without notice, treat fees as non-refundable, and refuse partial-month refunds. We did not find a published appeal path on their site. YanMate publishes how to appeal a block, and refunds pro rata when we got that block wrong on a paying account. PolyBuzz and Character.AI were not checked on a first-party appeals page this round, so they are not invented here.
Do the chats stay?
Talkie's terms let them set a maximum retention period and disclaim deleted chats. Reviewers of the free tier commonly report a window of about sixty days. YanMate keeps the conversation and an inspectable ledger. That is a different promise from 'the model remembers you', and it is the one this page is about.
Is the product a phone app, or a browser?
Talkie is a phone app that also has a site. Voice calls, gems and collectible cards are the shape of that product. YanMate is a browser product that happens to speak and take calls. If the app is the point, the comparison is already over.

The comparison

Checked on 2026-09-19. Prices in this category move; the structural columns move more slowly, but they do move.

PlatformAppeals and refundsDo chats stayVoicePaid from
TalkieTerms allow immediate suspension without notice. Fees are non-refundable except as those terms provide; no partial-month refunds. No published appeal path found.Terms allow a maximum retention period and disclaim deleted chats. Reviewers report a ~60-day window on the free tier.Voice calls are part of the product, including on the phone appTalkie+ from $9.99/mo (App Store)
PolyBuzzNot verified on a first-party appeals page this round — we are not going to invent one.Cross-session memory; the longer-retention tier is paid.Voice available; character-matched voicesAround $9.90/mo
Character.AINot verified on a first-party appeals page this round — we are not going to invent one.Chats stay inside the product; memory is not presented as a list you can open and edit.Voice calls are a paid featurec.ai+ around $94.99/yr
YanMate(us)Published appeals. If we wrongly blocked a paying account, we refund pro rata for the days you could not use it.Chats stay. Memory is a ledger you can open, edit, delete from and export.Spoken replies and live calls are both on the free tierPlus around $9.99/mo; Deep, around $19.99/mo, adds six-character scenes with a Narrator

If the account goes

Talkie's terms allow suspension or termination without notice and treat fees as non-refundable except as those terms provide. YanMate publishes how to appeal a block, and refunds pro rata when we got a paying account's block wrong. That contrast is the reason this page exists. It is also not a promise that you will never be blocked here — it is a promise that the rule is written down.

The published versions on this site are the moderation and appeals policy, including the refund formula, and the terms.

Whether the chats stay

Talkie's own terms say they may set a maximum period that data is retained, and that they are not responsible if chats are deleted. We are not going to turn that into a number they did not publish. Reviewers of the free tier, including a competing app we have flagged as such, commonly report about sixty days. YanMate keeps the conversation and a ledger you can export. Those are the two facts that belong on this page.

Who each one is actually for

Talkie

The most polished phone app in this set, and a huge casual catalogue if you do not mind the ads or the retention clock.

Talkie terms: fees non-refundable; no partial-month refunds; suspension without notice; they may set a maximum retention period (checked 19 Sep 2026) · Talkie Lab on the App Store: Talkie+ 1 Month $9.99; Talkie+ Pro $24.99/mo; gems sold separately (checked 19 Sep 2026) · South China Morning Post: Talkie removed from Apple's US App Store (20 Dec 2024) · ISEKAI ZERO (a competing app, 21 Aug 2026): reviewers report ~50 messages/day and a ~60-day free-tier chat window

Where YanMate fits

Knowing what happens if a block was a mistake, and keeping chats you can export.

You cannot bring Talkie history with you. What you can do from the first message is keep a ledger you can export, and read what happens if a block was a mistake. Spoken replies and live calls are on the free tier. The catalogue is small on purpose.

Try it freeWhat the free tier includes

Where YanMate is the wrong choice

We wrote this page, so here is the case against us, plainly.

  • Talkie's phone app is more polished than ours. If the product you want is a native app with voice calls as the centre of gravity, that is Talkie, and this is a browser.
  • The catalogue is tiny, and it will never hold the licensed-looking characters Talkie's library is full of. If you came to talk to a specific anime or celebrity bot, nothing here is that.
  • We cannot import your Talkie chats. A switch is a new start, not a continuation, and Talkie is still the product that holds that history — until its retention window says otherwise.
  • It is new. There is no years-long track record here, and Talkie has been a chart app. That is a fair thing to weigh.

Common questions

What happened to Talkie on the US App Store?
In December 2024 South China Morning Post reported that Talkie was removed from Apple's US App Store; Talkie cited technical reasons. The US listing that is live today is Talkie Lab, by SUBSUP PTE. LTD., and it still points at Talkie's terms. That is an app-store delisting and a relisting, not a confirmed shutdown.
Does Talkie refund you if you are banned?
Talkie's terms say fees are non-refundable to the fullest extent the law allows, that partial-month refunds cannot be claimed, and that they may suspend or terminate without notice. We did not find a published appeal path. YanMate's moderation policy publishes the appeal, and a pro-rata refund when an upheld appeal cost a paying account days of access.
Can I import my Talkie chats into YanMate?
No. There is no Talkie import. What you can do from the first conversation is keep an inspectable ledger and export it, so the next move is not another closed box.

A wider table that includes Nomi, Kindroid, Replika and Janitor is the Character.AI alternatives comparison. If the wound is a rebuilt companion rather than a ban, there is a Replika-specific page. If the wound is an API key, there is a Janitor-specific page. If the wound is recall you cannot open, there is a Nomi-specific page. If you write the companion yourself, there is a Kindroid-specific page. If the library is licensed-looking UGC, there is a PolyBuzz-specific page. If the product is a ranking feed of bots you make, there is a Chai-specific page.

Somewhere to start, if you want to try ours

  • 3 openings

    Abena Mensah

    Head back. Now, what's going on?

    slice of life
  • 3 openings

    Ada Lovelace

    The engine weaves patterns.

    icon
  • 3 openings

    Adaeze Nwosu

    Say your price. Now say it slower.

    mentor
  • 3 openings

    Ambrose Quill

    Three had a key. One mentioned rain.

    mystery
  • 3 openings

    Anansi

    I don't win fights. I win after.

    folklore
  • 3 openings

    Arjun Iyer

    Show me where you got stuck.

    school

Browse the whole cast by category

How this was checked

Every row was verified against first-party pages and store listings on 2026-09-19, and the sources are linked beside each platform above. Talkie+ at $9.99 a month is the App Store in-app purchase, not a number invented from a review. The ~50-message and ~60-day free-tier figures come from a competing app's write-up and are labelled as such; Talkie's own terms allow a retention limit without publishing the number. Claims about YanMate are checked against our policies and Polar's live offers.

If something here is out of date or wrong about your product, tell us at support@yanmate.com and we will correct it.

An AI character on YanMate.