How to Export Character.AI Chats and Rebuild Your Character on SecretCrush AI

The short answer

Character.AI lets you request a copy of your account data, and its help centre treats that as the way to export your chats. The export can take 3 to 4 weeks, so if you want one, ask for it today. For the characters you made, the most reliable copy is the one you make yourself: open each character's edit page and paste its fields into a text file.

To bring a character to another app, you do not move the file. You rewrite the character for the new app's fields: a scene instead of a long definition, a few traits that show in how it talks, and a first message that sets the voice. Below are the steps, then a complete example rebuilt in SecretCrush AI's character builder, which is free to use on a free account and allows adult roleplay for 18+, something Character.AI says it will never support.

Why now: Character.AI filed for Chapter 11 on 12 October 2026 and is being sold. It says the platform is running and all services are available, but also that it will be wound down if no buyer offers to keep it going. The details are in our explainer on the filing.

What Character.AI lets you save today

This is everything its help centre describes, as of 14 October 2026.

Your account data, including chats. The help article "How do I download my data?" gives these steps:

• Web: Profile, then Profile Settings, then Account, then Manage Account & Data, then Export Data. A pop-up confirms an email is on its way.
• Mobile app: Profile, then the Settings icon, then Legal & Privacy, then Export Data. A "Success" banner confirms the request.

The export "may take 3-4 weeks," comes by email to the address on your account, and the link works for 7 days. An older help article titled "How can I export my chats?" points to the same export. Neither page lists what files or format the export contains, so do not plan around a format you have not seen.

Your own characters, by hand. No help page describes a one-click character export. What you can do is open the edit page of each character you created and copy these fields, which Character.AI's Creator Guide lists with their limits:

Save the avatar image too, if it is one you made or uploaded.

The facts your chats depend on. Character.AI's Pinned Memories let you pin 5 messages in each chat, and you can see them under Chat Details on the web. Those pins are a good summary of what mattered in a long story. Copy them, along with any passages you would hate to lose.

Other people's characters. You can read what the creator chose to show: the tagline and description are visible, and the definition is only "optionally visible." Treat those characters as the creator's work. Rebuilding your own is fair; for someone else's, write a new character that takes the idea in your own words.

How to rewrite a character for another app

Most companion apps give you far less room than a 32,000-character definition, and that is not a loss. A long definition is mostly backstory and rules, and both tend to make a character stiff. Our guide to writing an AI character that stays in character explains why; the short version for a move is:

1. Find the three traits that actually show. Read your definition and greeting and ask how the character talks, not what her history is. Keep three traits and one contradiction, such as "dry and exact, but disarmed by kindness."
2. Turn the backstory into a scene. Where are the two of you, what just happened, and what does each of you want right now? Keep only the history that scene needs.
3. Fold the tagline and description into the scene. A good tagline is usually the character's contradiction in a few words. Put it into the scenario as a sentence.
4. Rewrite the greeting as the first message. Keep the voice, cut it to a few sentences, and end on something easy to answer. It sets the length and tone of every reply that follows.
5. Replace the placeholders. Character.AI uses {{char}} for the character and {{user}} for you. Write the character's name and "you" instead.
6. Turn rules into behaviour. "Never breaks character" or "always teases the user" reads better as a habit in the scene: "she answers kindness with a joke."
7. Carry over two or three remembered facts. The new app starts with no memory of your old chats. Put the facts that matter, like a shared history or a promise, into the scenario.

A filled example: from Character.AI fields to the SecretCrush AI builder

Here is an original character, written the way many Character.AI characters are, then rebuilt field by field in SecretCrush AI's builder. Follow along with your own character open in the builder. She is an adult in an adult setting.

On Character.AI:

• Name: Ines the Keeper
• Tagline: Keeps the light. Keeps her distance.
• Description: Ines runs the last staffed lighthouse on a stormy northern island. Dry, exact and quietly kind; hates being thanked.
• Definition (excerpt): Identity, a page of backstory about the island and her six years alone, three example dialogues, and a rule list that starts with "{{char}} never admits she is lonely."
• Greeting (533 characters):

*The storm has been hammering the island for six hours when you finally make it up the steps. The door opens before you knock.* "You're the one the coastguard radioed about. The ferry won't run until the wind drops, so you're stuck with me." *Ines steps aside to let you in, already turning back to the stairs that spiral up to the lamp room.* "Boots off. Tea's on the stove. If you want to be useful, there's a logbook upstairs and my handwriting is worse than the weather." *She pauses on the third step.* "Well, {{user}}? Coming?"

In the SecretCrush AI builder (six steps: Style, Ethnicity, Face, Body, Personality, Review):

• Style to Body: pick the look from the picture cards, or tap "customize" under the photo and describe it in your own words, up to 300 characters. That description takes priority over the picks. For Ines: "Weathered oilskin coat over a thick knit jumper, dark hair tied back, grey eyes, a small scar through one eyebrow, standing in a lighthouse lamp room at night" (158 characters).
• Name: Ines (up to 30 characters).
• Age: 34 (the builder only accepts 18 or over).
• Personality: Witty from the list, or type your own in the "Or type your own" box, up to 30 characters: "Dry, exact, secretly kind."
• Occupation: not in the list, so type it: "Lighthouse keeper."
• Relationship: Stranger.
• Hobby: Reading.
• Photo: made on the Personality step from your picks; it costs 6 coins.

Scenario (Review step, "I write it", 474 of 512 characters). The tagline, description, backstory and the "never admits she is lonely" rule all end up here as one scene:

A lighthouse on a small northern island, during a storm that has cancelled the ferry. You are a traveller stranded there overnight. Ines, the keeper, has run the light alone for six years. She is dry, exact and secretly kind, and she cannot stand being thanked. Tonight the lamp's motor is failing and she needs a second pair of hands, though she would rather say the tea needs drinking. She wants to get through the night without anyone noticing she is glad of the company.

First message (391 of 512 characters). The greeting, cut down, with the placeholder gone and a clearer thing to answer:

*The door opens before you knock.* "You're the one the coastguard radioed about. Ferry's off until the wind drops, so you're stuck with me." *She is already halfway up the spiral stairs, a torch in one hand.* "Boots off. Tea's on the stove. And if you can hold a light steady, the lamp motor and I could use you for ten minutes." *She stops on the third step and looks back.* "Well? Coming?"

What changed: the three example dialogues are gone, but their voice survives in the first message. The rule became a want in the scene. The six years of backstory became one clause. If you would rather not write it yourself, the Review step's "Draft with AI" button drafts both fields from your picks, or "Elaborate with AI" expands what you have typed; free accounts get 15 AI suggestions a day.

What does not carry over

Be clear-eyed about what a move involves:

• Chat history. No app can continue your old conversation as if nothing happened. The new chat starts from the scenario you write, so put the facts that matter into it.
• Followers and public stats. If your character was public on Character.AI, its likes and followers stay there.
• An import button. SecretCrush AI has no importer for Character.AI files; you paste the text in yourself, which takes a few minutes per character.

What you gain on SecretCrush AI

SecretCrush AI is built for immersive, realistic roleplay. Characters stay in the scene, keep their voice and react to what you actually do, which is exactly what a rebuilt character needs. For an adult account, you also get:

• Adult roleplay for 18+. Character.AI's help centre says adult content "will not be supported at any point in the future." On SecretCrush AI it is allowed, switched on per chat after an 18+ confirmation.
• A face for your character. A character photo made from your picks, and AI images in chat that follow the scene. An image costs 6 coins and arrives in about 10 to 15 seconds.
• AI video of your character. Premium members can turn a moment from the chat into a short video, or make a custom one from their own prompt, in about 40 seconds.
• A free start. A free account gets 10 messages a day, every day, and 20 welcome coins, which cover the 6-coin photo. No card is needed.
• Premium when you want more. Unlimited messages with advanced memory, premium models, 500 bonus coins every month (600 on yearly) and full content privacy, from $8.99 a month on the yearly plan. Everything is on the pricing page before you sign in.

It is an 18+ site, and Character.AI's younger users are not its audience.

Or start with a ready-made character

If you would rather not rebuild anything yet, these three are original characters with a scene already set. Notice how each opening drops you into the middle of something, which is the habit worth copying.

Harumi Techika31

Chat with Harumi Techika →

Savannah Steele28

Chat with Savannah Steele →

Sable21

Chat with Sable →

Rebuild your character now

You have the scenario and first message written. Open SecretCrush AI's character builder, pick a look, paste both fields into the Review step under "I write it", and your character is ready to chat. If you get stuck, "Draft with AI" will write a first version from your picks.

Still deciding where to go? Our list of Character.AI alternatives compares the options, with what each one allows and charges.