Character.ai has filed for bankruptcy. Export your data while the app is still running

Character.ai, the app for chatting with AI characters, has filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States and put itself up for sale. The app is still working. Whether it keeps working after the sale depends on who buys it.

The company announced the move in an update on its blog on 12 October. For Australians who use the app, the practical point is simple: if what you have in the app matters to you, export a copy while you still can.

What Character.ai has said

The company says it has “initiated a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy process to facilitate a court-supervised sale of the company”. Character.ai says the past year brought significant legal, regulatory and operational pressures, and that its board chose this path after reviewing the alternatives. It hopes the sale produces a proposal that keeps the platform running. If no such bid arrives, it says, “the platform will be wound down”.

The company’s update names Stretto as its claims and noticing agent. Stretto’s case information site lists the debtor as Character Technologies, Inc., which trades as Character.AI. The petition was filed on 12 October 2026 in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, as case 26-11603.

What changes for users today

Nothing yet, on the company’s account:

• The app. “The Character.ai platform remains up and running, and you can continue to access all services at this time.”
• Subscriptions. Paid subscriptions remain active and billing is unchanged for now. The company says it intends to tell subscribers in advance if changes affect paid features.
• Your data. Character.ai says information remains protected under its privacy policy and that its privacy and security practices haven’t changed. Users can export their data or delete their account through the app or website.

The qualifiers matter. “At this time” and “for now” describe the position while the sale runs, not after it.

The timeline

Character.ai expects the sale process to be complete “by the end of November or perhaps early December 2026”. It hasn’t named a shutdown date, and there may not be one if a buyer takes the platform on.

When we checked the Stretto case page on 13 October, it listed no hearing dates, bid deadline or auction date.

What has been reported about the bids

The company’s update doesn’t name any bidder. PPC Land, a marketing industry publication that describes the court filings, reports that a Disney company has made the opening offer: $20 million for a non-exclusive, perpetual licence to some of Character.ai’s intellectual property and claims, plus help running the platform for a limited time during the sale. On PPC Land’s account, that offer doesn’t provide for the platform to continue, so the app’s survival would depend on a different bidder.

We couldn’t open the filings ourselves, so treat that as PPC Land’s reporting, not a confirmed fact. It is consistent with the company’s own warning that a wind-down is possible.

What to do if you use it

Export first. The company’s update links to its help page, How do I download my data?, and says the export can be started in the app or on the website. Do this before deciding anything else. The update doesn’t say how long exporting will remain available if the platform is wound down.

The update answers a question about “user data and chats” by pointing to the export, but the help page blocked our automated check, so we couldn’t confirm exactly what the export contains. Open it and make sure the chats you care about are there.

Then decide about your account. Deleting your account is a separate step with its own help page. If you want a copy, export before you delete.

Check where you subscribed. If you pay for a subscription, billing continues unless you cancel. Subscriptions billed through Apple are cancelled in the iPhone’s Settings: tap your name, then Subscriptions, as Apple describes. Subscriptions bought through Google Play are cancelled on Google Play’s subscriptions page. Google notes that uninstalling an app doesn’t cancel its subscription, and that you keep access for the period you’ve already paid for.

Parents. If a child in your household uses the app, the same steps apply to their account. This is a reasonable moment to ask what they’d want to keep.

The wider lesson applies to any AI tool that holds your conversations: the copy on someone else’s server lasts only as long as the service does. Our guide to backing up Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace data makes the same case for work files.

Checklist

• Export your Character.ai data now. Start the export from the app or the website, using the steps on Character.ai’s “How do I download my data?” help page.
• Open the export and check it. Confirm the chats you care about are in it before you rely on it or delete anything.
• Find out where your subscription is billed. Look in your iPhone’s Settings under Subscriptions, or on Google Play’s subscriptions page.
• Cancel the subscription if you don’t want to keep paying during the sale. Character.ai says billing is unchanged for now. Uninstalling the app does not cancel a Google Play subscription.
• Delete your account only after exporting. Deletion is a separate step from export, and Character.ai has its own help page for it.
• Read Character.ai’s blog again in late November. The company currently expects the sale to finish by the end of November or perhaps early December 2026, and says the platform will be wound down if no bidder keeps it running.