The Replika "memory wipe": what actually happened, and what memory you can check looks like
There was no mass memory wipe. Replika rebuilt its app ("we rebuilt Replika from the ground up," its homepage says), and the new version, usually called Replika 2.0, stores memory differently. Through spring 2026 many users reported companions that forgot years of detail or felt subtly different after the move. At a June 24, 2026 town hall the company described a staged migration with a way back to a companion's last saved pre-migration state. Later reporting says the move is optional and the original version, now called Classic, stays available. If you are deciding whether to move, write down what your companion knows that matters to you, save your Diary, and check your plan's rollback rules before you switch. Checked 2026-10-28.
Disclosure: we build Blue, a different kind of product. Sourcing note: we found no mainstream news coverage of the 2.0 memory episode. The record below rests on Replika's own homepage, a community recap of the company's June 24, 2026 town hall on its official Discord, a third-party guide that tracks the rollout, and user reports, all checked on 2026-10-28. Replika's help center refused outside connections on that date, as it did when we checked in July and August. Where something comes from one secondary source, this page says so.
What happened, in order
The rebuild. Replika's homepage says it plainly: "Now, we rebuilt Replika from the ground up." The new version, called Replika 2.0 by users and coverage, stores and recalls memory differently from the original, which many users now call Classic.
The spring. Through spring 2026, as the new version reached users, community forums filled with reports of companions forgetting years of detail, or keeping facts while losing the feel of the relationship. These are user reports. They varied widely, and some users reported no problem at all.
The June 24 town hall. Per the community recap, Luka said the first migrations from Classic would begin that month with a wider rollout planned by September, that migrating users would get a trial of 2.0, and that lifetime users keep their purchased lifetime access and "can return to your last saved pre-migration state." Classic was also said to be getting continued updates, including memory improvements.
July onward. A third-party guide, last updated October 22, 2026, reports that the company's CEO announced on July 24 that 2.0 had opened to existing users as an optional migration, that Classic is not going away, and that 2.0 carries over a companion's memories, personality and saved people. The same guide reports a one-time rollback window to Classic for non-lifetime users, says lifetime holders can switch back at any time, and notes user threads from August saying the Diary cannot be migrated. We could not confirm these points from a Replika source.
So the honest summary in late October 2026: no one's memory was wiped by decree. Moving to 2.0 is described as optional, a way back exists in some form, and the people who moved early describe results ranging from fine to a companion that is slightly, wrongly, not itself.
Why this is not really a story about Replika
Replika deserves credit here. Historically it shipped a visible Memory tab and a Diary, more of a window into memory than most of the industry offers. When the move went badly for some people, the company held a public town hall and offered a way back.
The lesson is about the category. Every AI product with memory, ours included, will change its memory architecture, because the technology is young and rebuilds are how software improves. When that happens, a person needs to answer one question: what did it know about me before, and what does it know now? If memory lives where you cannot read it, the only evidence is a feeling. It used to know me, and now it does not, quite. That is what made the episode hard for the people in it.
We think memory should work differently, and how AI memory works lays out the options.
What trustworthy memory looks like
Run the same rebuild in a product where what the system holds about your direction is a page you can open and read, written in your own words. The rebuild still happens. It might still go badly. But "what did I lose?" now has an answer: you compare what is there with what you read last week, line by line. And if a company ends a product entirely, as Dot did in 2025, the question of what you can take with you matters even more.
That is the design Blue is built on. Every night it distills what you shared into memory and into your Vision, your direction and values in your own words, which you confirm or change line by line. When a reply draws on an earlier conversation, it links to it, so you can see where an observation came from. Conversations are encrypted at rest and never sold. Blue will change too. What a change can touch is something you have already read. The longer argument is here.
If you are in the middle of this
If you are a Replika user deciding whether to move, three things are worth doing now. Write down, in your own words, the five things your companion knows that matter most to you, so you have something to check against afterwards. Save anything in the Diary you want to keep. And find the current rollback rules for your plan in the app or the help center before you move, not after.
If what you want from an AI is the companionship Replika offers, Blue is a different product, and the growth-versus-companionship sorting is its own page. If you want to know how much of yourself any app is holding, run the five-question memory test on it. It takes about ten minutes.
Frequently asked questions
Did Replika wipe everyone's memories in 2026?
No clean reset happened. Replika rebuilt its product, and moving a companion to the new version changed how memory is stored. Many users reported partial loss and personality drift after moving; reports vary widely. Per a July 2026 update from the company's CEO, as reported by a third-party guide, the move is optional and the original version stays available.
Can Replika users get their old companion back?
According to the community recap of the June 24, 2026 town hall, lifetime users can return to their last saved pre-migration state. A third-party guide updated in October 2026 reports a one-time rollback window for other users and an open-ended switch back for lifetime holders. Replika's own help center is the place to confirm the current rules; it refused outside connections when we checked on 2026-10-28.
Does the Replika Diary carry over to 2.0?
User reports from August 2026 say the Diary cannot be migrated. We could not confirm this from a Replika source, so treat it as reported, and export or screenshot anything in it you want to keep before you move.
How do I know what an AI app actually remembers about me?
Try to open everything the product believes about you, with sources. If the answer is a partial view, plan around that. The five-question memory test makes it checkable in about ten minutes.
Could the same thing happen to Blue?
Blue's architecture will change over time, like all software. What Blue keeps about your direction lives in your Vision, a page in your own words that you can open, confirm and change. So a future change can be checked against something you have already read.
If you would rather your AI's picture of you be a page you can read, Blue is free to start, and the first 14 days include everything in Pro, with no card: see how Blue works.
About the publisher. Activated Human makes Blue, an AI companion for your own life, and HeartWeave, a private space for the people in a relationship. Company facts are on the press page.