Replika's erasure process is a request, not a settings toggle

The design

Replika's help center publishes a dedicated article, GDPR Compliance & Right to Erasure, describing how a user gets their personal data deleted. As retrieved on 16 September 2026, the article states Replika “fully complies” with the EU's General Data Protection Regulation and directs a user to submit an erasure request through a support form, using a supplied template addressed to the “Replika Privacy Team,” rather than through a self-service account-settings control.

What the evidence says

The article specifies what identity verification looks like: the request should come from the email registered to the account, include a username or user ID, and can be supported by a screenshot of the app or a purchase receipt. Replika commits to responding “within one month.” Separately, the company's Privacy Policy states, in its own deletion section, that “You can delete your account in your account settings,” and that a deletion request also reaches Replika's third-party service providers, including its AI language model providers, “in accordance with our contractual agreements with them.”

What it asks of people

The two documents together describe what looks like two routes: an in-app account deletion, and a formal GDPR erasure request for a fuller guarantee. Neither document explains precisely how the two differ in scope. The erasure article tells users that completing the process “resets everything your Replika has learned about you,” framing deletion as an action with a direct effect on the companion's personalisation, not only on account records.

Privacy and safeguards

The Privacy Policy lists exceptions consistent with the erasure article: data needed for legal, accounting, or reporting obligations can be retained regardless of a deletion request, for up to ten years for some categories. The erasure article does not state what happens if identity verification fails, nor does it describe a way to track a request's status other than waiting for the promised confirmation email.

• Does in-app account deletion produce the same result as the formal GDPR erasure request, or a narrower one?
• What happens to a submitted erasure request if Replika cannot verify the requester's identity?
• Does “resets everything your Replika has learned about you” mean the companion's personalisation data is deleted, or only made inaccessible?

Replika documents a specific, human-in-the-loop erasure procedure rather than a single settings toggle, which gives a user a concrete process to follow but also means full erasure depends on a support interaction succeeding, not on pressing one button.