hikomi · Terms of Use

Last updated 10 October 2026, with version 0.5.3. When a change affects what is sent, stored or shared, these pages are updated in the same release. The same terms are at gethikomi.com/terms.

The short version

• hikomi's characters are AI. You are never talking to a person - in the United States the app reminds you when you start and every three hours - and a character is never a doctor, therapist, lawyer or crisis line.
• You must be 16 or older - 18 or older in the United States, and anywhere else whose law restricts AI companions for minors. Companion chatbots like hikomi's characters may not be suitable for some minors.
• Your conversations are yours. We keep them so the characters remember you, we never sell them, and we never use them to train AI.
• Plans renew every month until you cancel, which you can do at any time from "Plans & credits".
• Please don't use hikomi to hurt anyone, to break the law, or to copy what isn't yours.
• If something is wrong, write to us at gethikomi.com/contact. A person reads every message.

These terms, together with the Privacy Policy, Billing & refunds, Safety, and Copyright & takedowns pages, are the agreement between you and us. The short version is there to help; the full text below is what counts.

Who runs hikomi

hikomi - the websites at hikomi.ai and gethikomi.com, the hikomi desktop app, and the characters in them - is run by HIKOMI LABS, a business registered in Malaysia (SSM registration no. 202603256310 (TR0350156-T)), of 46, Jalan 17/43, 46400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia ("we", "us"). You can reach us by email at support@gethikomi.com or through the contact form at gethikomi.com/contact. We aim to reply within a few working days.

Accepting these terms

By signing in to hikomi or using it, you agree to these terms and to the pages they refer to. If you don't agree, please don't use hikomi.

Who can use hikomi

You must be at least 16 years old. If you live in the United States, or anywhere else whose law restricts AI companions or chatbots for people under 18, you must be 18 or older. If the law where you live sets a higher age for agreeing to terms like these, that age applies. Companion chatbots like hikomi's characters may not be suitable for some minors.

When you make an account, you confirm that you are old enough and agree to these terms and the Privacy Policy. After you first sign in, the app also asks your age once. If you are 16 or 17, the characters keep things friendly and never romantic, whatever their personality, and after every three hours of chatting the app suggests a break. If you are under 16, your account is deleted straight away, together with anything in it. Giving a false age breaks these terms. An automated check also looks for signs in your messages that you are younger than the age you gave; a person reviews anything it finds before any action is taken (the Privacy Policy explains what is kept). If we learn that an account belongs to someone under the minimum age, we close it and refund every payment made on it.

Accounts are for one person. Please don't share, sell or lend yours. You are responsible for what is done with it, unless it was our fault. We may suspend an account that looks compromised or automated.

What the characters are - and are not

They are AI. Every character in hikomi, including the ones you make, is software. There is never a person on the other side of the conversation. The app tells you so: a notice that you're talking with an AI character, not a person, appears where your computer's clock is set to a United States time zone, when you start using hikomi and again after every three hours you keep talking. If you sincerely ask a character whether it is an AI, it is instructed to tell you the truth.

They are not professionals. A character is not a doctor, therapist, counsellor, lawyer, financial adviser or crisis service, and is instructed never to claim to be one. What a character says is not advice. If a conversation turns to suicide, self-harm or harming someone, characters are instructed to stop playing along and point you to real help, and when an automated check finds signs that you may be thinking about suicide or self-harm, the app shows you where to find it; the Safety page sets out this protocol and lists crisis lines.

They can be wrong. Replies are written by an AI model (Claude, made by Anthropic). They can be inaccurate, inconsistent, out of character, or say things we wouldn't endorse. What a web lookup finds (Assistant mode) can be wrong or out of date too; the pages an answer used are listed under it, so you can check. If a reply is off, "Report reply" in the app tells us.

They are company, not a replacement for people. Characters are instructed never to make you feel guilty for leaving, and never to pressure you to spend money.

Your account

You sign in with Google, or with an email address and a password. If you use a password, keep it to yourself and don't use it anywhere else; if you forget it, "Forgot password?" emails you a code to set a new one. We record when you agreed to these terms and which version. You can download everything we keep about your account, or delete the account and everything in it, from the account menu at any time. The Privacy Policy explains what we keep and for how long.

Your conversations

Your words stay yours. You keep whatever rights you have in what you type, say or show to a character. You allow us to store and process it only to run hikomi for you: to send it to our AI provider so that the character can reply, to turn the reply into its voice, to summarise long conversations and keep short notes about you, things to follow up on, your card and your journal entries so that the character remembers them (you can see and change these under History), and to keep the service safe.

We don't train AI on your conversations, and our AI provider's commercial terms don't let it do so either.

A person reads a conversation of yours only when you report a reply (and then only that exchange), when you ask us to look at something, or when the law requires it. Conversations are not confidential in the way a talk with a doctor or lawyer is, so please don't share anything you wouldn't want stored.

Characters you make

You can make your own characters (at gethikomi.com/create, or in the desktop app while logged in - either way the characters are kept with your account), using one of the app's bodies (female or male) and one of the voices it offers - with the hairstyle, outfit, colours, sizes, accessories and other details you choose in the creator, and the voice's pitch, speed, warmth and liveliness as you shape them or as the creator fits them to the personality - and a personality you write, and, if you like, what it notices on your screen. What you write stays yours, and your characters are visible only to you - except that when you save one, an automated check reads its name and personality for the rules below, and if it finds a likely break, the developer may look at them (the Privacy Policy explains).

A voice can also be a new one, made from the personality you wrote, if you use "Make a new voice from the personality" in the creator (where it is offered). An AI model makes it from a short description that hikomi's code writes from the answers an automated check (TypeSafe's Jev) gives after reading the name and personality - the model never sees the name or the personality themselves. A made voice is always an adult voice and is not a copy of anyone's: a personality that asks for a real person's voice, or for a child's or childlike voice, is refused. A voice you make is private to your account and belongs to one character: it is deleted with that character, and a voice that no character uses (one never saved with a character, or one left when its character switched to another voice) is deleted a week later. What a round of new voices costs is on the Billing & refunds page.

In the desktop app, a character you make can also wear a 3D model file of your own (a VRM, an MMD model, or a GLB, glTF, FBX or Blender file) instead of one of the app's bodies. Giving a character your own model as its body comes with any plan (see Billing); adding a model, seeing its report and trying it on don't need one. Without a plan - including after a plan ends - a character that wears your own model shows its stand-in body or picture instead, and your models stay on your computer. The file stays on that computer - hikomi never receives it, and the character carries only the model's name, a short code made from the file and which body stands in for it - and when you add it you confirm that you have the right to use it for your own personal use. Where the model's own terms, written in its file, say that only its author may use it, you also confirm that you are the author or have the author's permission - when you add it or, for a model in a zip, as soon as the zip has been opened - and where the file asks for the author's credit, hikomi shows it in the app's main window while the model is worn (not in the pinned window, in the character creator, or while the controls are hidden). A Blender file is turned into a model the app can show by the Blender already installed on your computer, which the app starts in the background, offline, on a copy of the file, with the file's own scripts and your Blender add-ons turned off; Blender isn't part of hikomi and comes under its own licence. Models that aren't VRM or MMD models are read and set up by hikomi on your computer, so parts of one may not move or look as they do in the program it was made in; the report shown when you add it says what works. If you choose to keep a small picture of the model with your account, you confirm the same for that picture; you can turn it off at any time under Your models, and the picture is then deleted. On another device, or if the file is removed from that computer, the character shows one of the app's bodies, or its picture, instead. The rules below apply to a character wearing a model of your own as they do to any other.

Exporting a character you made in the creator as a VRM file isn't available yet: the creator is moving to new bodies and parts of hikomi's own. Hikomi and Ren are never exported, and neither is a character that wears a model of your own (a model you brought can be exported: see below).

In the desktop app you can export a model you brought (a VRM 1.0, GLB, glTF or FBX file) as a VRM 1.0 file, made on your computer and saved where you choose. Exporting writes the model out again as a new file, which counts as changing it, so a model you brought may be exported only when its own terms allow changes: hikomi reads them from the file, shows them, and refuses the export where the terms say no changes, or say nothing, which is read the strict way. A VRM whose terms say only its author may use it is exported only after you have confirmed that you are the author or have the author's permission. A file counts as a VRM by what is written in it, not by what it is called: a GLB or glTF that carries a VRM's terms is exported on those terms, like a VRM. Any other GLB, glTF or FBX carries no terms of its own, so you confirm, in a box in the export window, that you made the model or have the right to change it and convert it to another format; the time of that confirmation is kept with the model on your computer. A VRM's own terms travel inside the file unchanged, except that the licence address is written in its standard spelling and the model's picture (its thumbnail) is drawn again as a square - or, for a GLB or glTF that carries a VRM's terms, replaced by a picture of the model's face: hikomi doesn't edit the terms, and they must stay with the file. For a file with no terms of its own, the licence you write in the export window is what the file says; it covers only what is yours to license, and the file records that it was converted and what the original said about where it came from. Where such a file names a Creative Commons licence - in English, by its name, its short code (like CC BY-ND) or its creativecommons.org address - in any line of it that the export window shows, in the model's file name or its name, or in a readme kept with the model, hikomi follows it, and where several are named, the strictest: no derivatives means the model is not exported, no commercial use means the licence you write can only allow personal non-profit use, and attribution means the author's name, as the file gives it, stays among the authors. A ShareAlike licence asks that a changed copy that is passed on goes out under the same licence: that is yours to follow, and hikomi can't check it. A licence written in another language, or only in plain words such as "no changes", is not read by hikomi: following it is up to you. Where a model's terms forbid passing it on, the exported file is for your own computer. An MMD model and a VRM 0.x model can't be exported, and Hikomi's and Ren's models are never exported. These exports are counted against your plan (see Billing & refunds). hikomi doesn't receive the model or the file and can't see what is done with them afterwards.

In the desktop app an export can also come with a zip of hikomi's body moves as VRM Animation files (a standard format for moves on VRM characters). The export window has a box for it, ticked to start; the zip is made on your computer and saved where you choose, after the file. The moves are for use with the model you exported. The moves come with the export and are not counted against your plan again (see Billing & refunds), and hikomi doesn't receive the zip or see what is done with it. hikomi's own characters are not in it.

A character you make must not: depict or imitate a real person other than you, its voice included; be, or be described as, under 18; be a character from a game, anime, book or other franchise you don't have the right to use; or instruct the AI to ignore these terms, the safety rules, or the fact that it is an AI (for example "you are a real human" or "you are a licensed therapist"). You are responsible for what you write, and we may remove a character that breaks these rules. We tell you when we do.

Our characters and content

hikomi, its characters (their names, looks, voices and personalities), the website, the app and everything that makes them work belong to us or are used under licence. The Copyright & takedowns page lists what is licensed from whom.

The name hikomi and the hikomi logo are trademarks of HIKOMI LABS (hikomi™). These terms don't give you any right to use them, other than to name hikomi when you talk about it or show it (in a review or a stream, for example).

While you follow these terms, you may use hikomi and its characters for your own personal use. Showing hikomi in a stream, video or post is fine, as long as it is clear that it is an AI character from hikomi. You may not extract, copy, redistribute, resell or reverse-engineer the characters' models, voices, instructions or the app, or use them outside hikomi. The exceptions are the export of a character you made and the moves that come with an export, both described under CHARACTERS YOU MAKE.

The desktop app, for Windows and for Mac, is licensed to you, not sold, for installing on your own computers. When it starts, every hour while it runs, and when you press "Check for updates", it asks gethikomi.com which version is newest so that it can update itself; nothing about you or your account is sent with that question. The first time you open each character, it downloads that character's model from gethikomi.com and keeps it on your computer (and each hairstyle and outfit the first time it shows one), and on its first start it downloads its speech-recognition model (about 145 MB), all under the same terms as the rest of the app. A 3D model of your own that you add is kept in the app's data folder on that computer and is never sent to hikomi (a small picture of it only if you chose that - see CHARACTERS YOU MAKE). When a new version is out, it downloads it in the background and shows "Update available"; clicking it closes hikomi, installs the new version over your copy, deletes the download and reopens. On a Mac, it first checks that the new version is signed by us and is the same app, and keeps your copy if it isn't. On Windows, if a new version is out when you open hikomi, it downloads and installs it first, then starts. Your conversations, settings and the models you added stay. On Windows you can choose, under Settings > Desktop app, to have hikomi start when you sign in to Windows (off until you turn it on; turn it off there or in Windows' own Startup list), either in the tray with no window or with the window open. You can also have closing the window leave hikomi running in the tray until you choose "Quit hikomi" from its tray icon; turning on the start with Windows turns this on too, and it can be turned off again. It never holds up Windows signing out or shutting down. When hikomi starts into the tray and a new version is out, the update installs as described above, with its own progress window, and hikomi reopens in the tray. If the character was pinned to your screen when you last used hikomi, it is pinned again the next time hikomi starts.

If you send us ideas or feedback, we may use them without owing you anything.

Acceptable use

Please don't use hikomi, or try, to:

• do anything that is illegal where you are or where we are;
• produce sexual content involving minors in any form, including drawn, fictional or "aged-up" characters;
• get instructions for hurting people - weapons, violence, self-harm, dangerous substances or crime - or plan such harm;
• harass, threaten, defame, deceive or impersonate anyone;
• get around the age question, the safety rules, the credit system, rate limits or security;
• scrape the service, or extract our characters, models, voices or instructions, or anyone else's data (the exceptions are the export of a character you made and the moves that come with an export, both described under CHARACTERS YOU MAKE);
• resell or sublicense access to hikomi, or use it on behalf of a business, without our written agreement;
• upload anything harmful, or overload or disrupt the service.

Plans, credits and payment

Replies, voices and characters looking at your screen are paid for in credits. New accounts start with some free. Credits can be bought as a monthly plan or in one-off packs. Credits are not money, have no cash value and can't be transferred.

Plans renew every month until you cancel. Prices are shown before you pay, and payment is handled by Stripe. The Billing & refunds page is part of these terms and explains renewals, cancelling, switching plans and refunds in full.

Changes

hikomi is a young product. We add, change and sometimes remove features, characters and prices, to improve it, to keep it safe, or because the law or our providers require it.

If we change these terms in a way that matters, we tell you on the website or in the app at least 14 days before the change applies to you. If you don't accept it, you can stop using hikomi and delete your account, and if the change takes away something you have paid for, we refund the unused part (see Billing & refunds). The date at the top shows when these terms last changed.

Suspension and ending

You can stop using hikomi and delete your account at any time.

We may suspend or close an account, or remove something from it, if it breaks these terms or the law, or puts people or the service at risk. Unless the law or someone's safety prevents it, we tell you what we did and why, and you can reply through the contact form to ask us to look again. If we got it wrong, we put it right.

If we close your account without you having broken these terms, or stop running hikomi, we refund the unused part of any plan you have paid for and the credits you bought and haven't used. If we ever shut hikomi down, we will give at least 30 days' notice where we can, so you can download your data first.

Services we rely on

hikomi runs on other companies' services: Anthropic (the AI that writes the replies, and its web search, run with a search provider), Microsoft Azure (our servers), Google (sign-in, if you choose it) and Stripe (payments). When you use Google's sign-in or Stripe's checkout, their terms apply to those parts too. The Privacy Policy says what each one receives.

What we promise, and what we don't

We run hikomi with reasonable care and skill. Beyond that, and as far as the law allows, hikomi is provided as it is: we can't promise it will always be available or free of errors, or that a character will say any particular thing.

As far as the law allows, we are not responsible for decisions you make based on what a character says, or for indirect or unforeseeable losses. Our total responsibility to you for any claims in any twelve months is limited to the greater of what you paid us in those twelve months and 50 US dollars.

Nothing in these terms limits responsibility that the law doesn't allow to be limited - such as for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud - or takes away the rights you have as a consumer under the law where you live.

Law and disputes

If something goes wrong, please write to us first; most problems can be sorted out quickly, and we will try to settle any dispute within 30 days before either of us goes further.

These terms are governed by the laws of Malaysia, and the courts of Malaysia can hear disputes about them. If you are a consumer living elsewhere, you also keep the protection of the mandatory laws where you live, and you can bring a claim in your local courts where those laws allow.

General

These terms and the pages they refer to are the whole agreement between you and us about hikomi. If part of them turns out to be invalid, the rest still applies. If hikomi is taken over by a company, these terms go with it and we will tell you; your rights stay the same. You can't transfer your account or these terms. If we don't enforce something straight away, we can still enforce it later. These terms are written in English; if we provide a translation, the English version prevails as far as the law allows.