there's a category of “free trial” in ai companion apps that isn't actually free. the pattern: sign up, enter card, 3-day trial, silent auto-charge on day 4 at $19.99/mo. users frequently don't realize until the charge lands.
we wanted the LUCY100 trial to be the opposite of that. the design decisions:
no card at signup. the redemption flow is: visit /giveaway, click claim, sign up, code auto-applies. no payment info anywhere. when 14 days end, your account drops to free. the only way to continue paid is to actively subscribe — which we won't prompt until the trial ends.
14 days instead of 3 or 7. an ai companion relationship doesn't reveal itself in a weekend. the “does she really remember me” test needs at least a week. 14 gives you margin.
keep the memory. when the trial ends, the free tier keeps the companion and everything she learned about you. the only thing you lose is the paid features (photos stop, voice stops, 25 msg/day cap returns).
one per user, no chaining. the redemption flow checks user identity before applying the code — no creating 5 accounts to chain 70 free days. we'd rather 100 real users get a real trial than 500 people gaming the system.
live slot counter. /giveaway shows the actual remaining count. no fake scarcity. when it hits 0, the code is deactivated and the page displays “all slots claimed” — we don't top it up or quietly add more.
honest caveat: this is a 100-slot giveaway. when it's gone, it's gone. if you're reading this after launch, check /giveaway for the current state. the standard free tier (25 msg/day + full memory) stays available forever regardless.