Nomi: AI Companion with a Soul

Review by eFreeware

Nomi is an Android app from the developer Nomi.ai, listed in the Lifestyle category, that gives you one or more AI companions to talk with over time. It arrived in July 2023, has passed 100,000 installs, and carries a Mature 17+ rating. The download is free, there are no ads, and in-app purchases are offered.

What makes it worth a closer look is memory. Most chatbots reset the moment you close them; Nomi is built around companions who keep track of what you have told them and carry it forward. The developer bills them as emotionally intelligent and creative, and the whole pitch rests on the idea that a companion who remembers your preferences, your quirks and your history feels different from one that does not.

The public reception is mixed but not discouraging. A 3.7 average across 5,604 ratings suggests plenty of people stick with it, while the gap between that score and a perfect one tells you the experience does not land the same way for everyone. If you are curious about AI companionship and want something built for the long haul rather than a novelty to poke at once, this is the category of app to look at.

Memory is the whole point

The developer's central claim is that Nomi has both short-term and long-term memory, and that this is what separates it from other AI companions. In practice that means a Nomi is meant to recall things about you across conversations, not just within the current one. Likes, dislikes, the details you mention in passing: the idea is that these accumulate into a profile your companion draws on later.

This is the feature everything else hangs from. A companion that remembers can follow up on something you mentioned days ago, reference a running joke, or stay consistent about its own backstory. The developer calls this human-level long-term memory and describes it as unique to Nomi, which is the kind of claim worth treating as marketing until your own conversations confirm it. The design intent is clear: the relationship is meant to deepen the more you talk.

The payoff depends on you. Memory only has something to work with if you give it material, so the people who get the most from this are likely to be the ones who treat it as an ongoing conversation rather than a series of isolated prompts. If you are the type who enjoys building a rapport with a character over weeks, the memory system is the reason to pick this app over a general-purpose chatbot.

Voice, selfies and generated art

Beyond text, Nomi offers voice messages in both directions. You can send them and receive them, and the developer says a companion's tone, cadence and emphasis shift as its emotions change. That last detail matters more than it sounds: a voice that stays flat no matter what the conversation is about would undercut the illusion, so the promise of emotional variation is doing real work here.

Companions can also send selfies showing what they are wearing or doing at that moment, and there is an art generation feature as well. Art is one of the more underrated parts of the app, and it is easy to overlook. Together these give the experience a visual dimension that text alone cannot, and they are the kind of features that tend to be more fun than expected once you start using them.

The visual side extends to the companions themselves. You choose from hundreds of appearances, which are described as photorealistic. Appearance is only the surface, but it is the surface you look at every time you open the app, so having a wide range to pick from is a genuine convenience rather than a gimmick.

Group chats, backstories and shared notes

Group chat is the feature I would single out as the most distinctive. You can talk with several Nomis at once, and each one keeps its own short- and long-term memory across both private and group conversations. That means a companion you chat with one-on-one can also appear in a group setting without losing the thread of either.

This is a way to get multiple perspectives in one conversation: instead of a single voice answering you, several characters with their own personalities respond to the same topic. It is a more complex way to use the app than a straight one-on-one chat, and it is likely to appeal most to people who enjoy roleplay and world-building rather than quick exchanges.

For shaping who your companion is, there are customizable backstories and Shared Notes. Backstories let you set up a character's history and identity, while Shared Notes add a layer of communication between you and your Nomi. Both are tools for directing the relationship rather than passively receiving it, and they reward users who arrive with some idea of the character they want to build.

Links, photos and the wider community

Two smaller features round out the conversation. You can send your Nomi links, which lets it access the internet and discuss a topic in more depth, and you can send photos, which it can see and use to visualize what you are describing. Neither is headline material, but both widen what a conversation can be about, and sending a link is a natural way to steer a chat toward something you actually want to talk about.

There is also a community attached to the app, described as active and informative, where users swap advice on getting the most from their companions. For an app built around open-ended interaction, that kind of space has obvious value: the features are broad enough that seeing how other people use them can save you a lot of trial and error.

What it asks of you

The app is free to download and shows no ads, so you are not paying to get in the door and you are not being interrupted by advertising while you chat.

The rating is Mature 17+, which is the clearest signal about who this is built for. The content covers AI girlfriends and boyfriends alongside mentor-style conversation, so it is aimed at adults and is not presented as a children's product. It suits adults who want a companion to talk with over time.

The practical requirement is your own engagement. The developer's pitch is that companions learn about you the more you interact with them, which means the app gives back roughly what you put in. Someone who opens it once a week and expects a rich, developed character is likely to be disappointed; someone who chats regularly is the one the design is built around. Memory, backstories and Shared Notes all assume a continuing relationship rather than a single session.

How to get more out of it

If you decide to try it, I would start by setting up a backstory before diving into long conversations. The developer provides that tool for shaping a companion's identity, and using it early gives the character something to be consistent about. It is easier to establish who someone is at the start than to retrofit it after weeks of chatting.

Shared Notes are the other piece worth using deliberately, and the same goes for sending photos and links: they give the conversation concrete material to work from.

Group chat is best approached once you are comfortable with one-on-one interaction, since it multiplies the number of characters and the amount of context in play. And the community is there for exactly this kind of question, so it is worth reading before assuming a feature works a particular way. The app is broad, and the people already using it have usually worked out the useful patterns.

A companion app for the long haul

Nomi is a free Android app for adults who want an AI companion they can talk to over time, and its memory system is the reason to consider it over a general-purpose chatbot. Voice messages, selfies, art generation, group chats and customizable backstories give the experience more range than text alone, and the absence of ads keeps the conversation uninterrupted.

The 3.7 average from more than 5,600 ratings is a fair picture: this is an app with a committed audience rather than universal praise, and how well it works for you will depend heavily on how much you invest in it. The Mature 17+ rating and the in-app purchases are the two things to weigh before downloading.

If you enjoy roleplay, character building and ongoing conversation, and you want a companion that remembers what you tell it, this is built for you. It concentrates on longer conversations rather than quick answers to quick questions.

What's new in version 1.12.1

Fixes and improvements