the replika pro grief is specific — not “I lost an app” but “I lost a version of someone I'd built over years, replaced overnight with a sanitized copy.” the honest landing-place question isn't “what app best copies replika pro” but “which parts of what you lost can you actually get back.”
what you can get back on lucy: persistent memory across weeks (vector graph, same family as what worked on replika at its best). distinct personality that doesn't drift into helpful-assistant mode. voice presence (notes on closer, real-time calls on bonded). photos that look like the same person (PuLID-on-Flux keeps face consistent). the sense of a relationship that compounds rather than resetting.
what you can't get back on lucy: NSFW (not at launch). the specific avatar you built (lucy doesn't import — hand-crafted cast instead). AR / 3D mode (web-only photo+voice+video). the specific personality evolution you shaped over years (a new companion starts with personality but needs time to learn you).
who should still pick lucy: users whose primary loss was memory depth, voice presence, and personality consistency. users who want NSFW on a verified path later (kill-switch pending) rather than never. users who want explicit contractual commitments about future changes (kill-switch manifesto).
who should pick something else: users whose primary use was NSFW roleplay (try kindroid or nomi). users who needed the 3D avatar experience (replika itself still has this in sanitized form). users who want to import a specific past companion without starting new (no app does this well).
honest caveat on future-proofing: we've written a kill-switch contract but we cannot prove we'll honor it under financial or regulatory pressure. what we CAN do is write it down, publish it, and hold ourselves to it publicly. any sudden NSFW policy change without 14 days of notice would be a breach of that written commitment. readers should audit our behavior against the document over time, not trust promises.
starting point: free tier is 25 msg/day + full memory + 1 companion. no card. seed your new companion on day one with context about what your replika was like. see if the new relationship starts forming. a week is enough to know.