How to delete your Character.AI account, and what happens to your data

The short answer

As of October 21, 2026, Character.AI's help center says you can delete your account on the web under Profile Settings, then Account, then Manage Account & Data, or in the mobile app from the settings icon on your profile. It says deletion is permanent and cannot be reversed.

If you want to keep your chats, request a data export first. The help center says exports can take 3 to 4 weeks. If you pay for c.ai+, cancel it through the place you subscribed, because the deletion article does not mention subscriptions.

Step 1: Export your data first (optional)

Character.AI's help center says an export is emailed to the address on your account as a download link once it is ready. The link expires 7 days after the email is sent. The article does not list what the export contains, and it does not say whether an export still arrives if you delete the account before it is ready, so it is safer to download it before deleting.

• Web: Profile, then Profile Settings, then Account, then Manage Account & Data, then Export Data.
• App: Profile, then the settings icon, then Legal & Privacy, then Export Data.
• Timing: the help center says exports can take 3 to 4 weeks to process.

Step 2: Cancel c.ai+ if you pay for it

Character.AI's help center says web subscriptions are managed at Settings, then Account, then Manage, which opens a Customer Portal reached through a login link sent to your email. If your plan shows that an app store manages it, you cancel through that store instead.

On an iPhone, Apple's support page says to open Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions. On Android, Google Play's help page says to open the Play subscriptions page, pick the subscription and tap Cancel subscription. Google says uninstalling the app does not cancel a subscription.

Step 3: Delete the account

These are the steps in Character.AI's help center as of October 21, 2026. The help center says deletion is permanent and cannot be reversed.

• Web: go to your Profile, click Profile Settings, go to Account, open Manage Account & Data, then select Delete Account.
• Mobile app: open your Profile, tap the settings icon, then select Remove Account.

Deleting single chats or characters

Character.AI's help center documents deleting the whole account, but the help articles reviewed for this guide do not give steps for deleting a single chat or a single character.

For characters you created, the help center's creator guide says a character can be set to Public, Unlisted (reachable only by direct link) or Private (only you can see and chat with it), and that visibility can be changed at any time from the character's settings page.

What happens to your data after you delete

The help center's deletion article says only that deletion is permanent. It does not say what happens to your chats, characters you published, or copies held in backups. Character.AI's help center summary of its privacy policy refers readers to the full policy for details.

On AI training, Character.AI's help center says it keeps certain data users share to train and improve its models. Its article on the Improve the Model for Everyone setting, which presents the steps for users in the European Economic Area or the UK, says turning it off stops new content from being used to train its generative models, though data may still be used for search, recommendations and safety classifiers. It does not say whether data already used is removed. A July 1, 2026 help center notice says its Regional Privacy Disclosures state users can opt out of training at any time.

Your right to delete, including in California

Character.AI's help center summary of its privacy policy lists a right to request deletion, among other rights that depend on where you live. It says the company complies with regional laws including the GDPR in the EU and EEA and the CCPA/CPRA in California, and gives privacy@character.ai for privacy questions.

California's attorney general said on October 15, 2026 that California law gives residents the right to ask AI chatbot companies to delete their personal information and close open accounts. Whether a particular state privacy law covers you or a given request is a legal question.

The bankruptcy and your data

Character Technologies, the company behind Character.AI, began a voluntary Chapter 11 case on October 12, 2026 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (case No. 26-11603-BLS) to run a court-supervised sale. It says the platform is still running and that it expects the sale process to finish by the end of November or perhaps early December 2026. It says the platform will be wound down if no bid emerges that allows continued operations.

The company says user information remains covered by its privacy policy, that its data privacy and security practices are unchanged, and that users can delete their account or export their data. Its press release names Disney Worldwide Services as the proposed lead bidder, for a non-exclusive license of certain intellectual property and certain claims. See the guide Is Character.AI shutting down? for the sale timeline.

What attorneys general are asking for

On October 14, 2026, a coalition of state attorneys general filed a notice in the case; New York's attorney general described it as 40 attorneys general. The notice says any buyer should keep users' access to their data and give consumers a chance to delete their data before any sale of that data. It also asks that chat content not be used to train models or for advertising beyond what users and parents validly agreed to. Each state reserves the right to seek a consumer privacy ombudsman or to object to a sale.