Since Chat came out, the AI wrapper companion niche has been on the rise. Jailbreak wrappers have built a real place for themselves and are pulling in millions in revenue.

We’ve heard out of this world ARR stories from simple wrappers.

Eight app store apps just made over 5.5 million downloads & $2.89 million in the last 30 days.

Their main growth engine is TikTok (at least for those mobile apps).

Oh and they’ve also pulled half a billion views already.

Growing but Saturated?

AI chatbots have quietly become one of the most downloaded and lucrative app categories.

We started writing about this niche back in 2024, and it seems that not only new apps are coming up every week, they’re managing to make money.

Turns out it isn’t as saturated as people might think.

AI chatbots are dominating because they sell something you can’t buy: companionship.

Gen Z is lonelier than ever. AI has never been more accepted. Fantasies have turned into everyday content. And NSFW rules keep getting bypassed with clever hacks.

If you think these apps are targeting socially awkward teenage boys, you’re wrong.

How it all started

Two apps paved the way for this category:  Character.AI (c.ai)  became the safe zone. Chai was the underground NSFW hub. Both apps are now mainstream.

• C.AI did 2M downloads & 1.1M $MRR last month
• CHAI did 1.3M downloads & 1.2M $MRR last month

The question is : who started ? Who copied who?

CHAI is the  “OG” of AI fantasy chat. It was founded in early 2021 by two Cambridge University students at the time, William Beauchamp (CEO) and Thomas Rianlan (who stepped back in 2023).

From the start, they focused heavily on flirty, erotic, and NSFW roleplay. Built by a small team and with almost no marketing, it had the feel of an indie app filling a niche that hadn’t yet been discovered.

C.AI started a couple months later,  after seeing CHAI’s success. They took the concept (emotional AI chat) and elevated it with Silicon Valley funding and branding.

Creators were researchers, part of a Google Team, and invested heavily into it.

C.AI positioned itself as a safer, more creative, and emotionally intelligent platform, differentiating from CHAI with a highly filtered, SFW environment.

They are now considered the default AI companion app in the mainstream, “the Uber Eats of AI chatbots.”

A winning growth strategy

Unlike CHAI, C.AI focused on building a growth marketing strategy. Over time, they grew official pages with huge followings:

ig@characterai  → 246K followers / 85 videos/ 23.6M views / started on Sep ‘22

tt@characterai → 1.2M followers /110 videos/ 72.9M views / started on Jun ‘23

They post the exact same videos on both platforms and went viral by mixing faceless videos with strong hooks: AI-generated people, celebrity memes, Ghibli effects, and app screen recordings (phone & laptop).

It’s a “Duolingo-style” TikTok PR play, with funny, authentic-feeling videos. They even built a “close” relationship with their audience by replying to comments in a humorous way.

They don’t need to run accounts.

With their first-mover advantage, tons of unsponsored accounts are already posting videos about them. Basically, they unlocked an organic UGC flywheel.

That’s how they pulled in 218M views on short-form content.

The aftermath

Once C.AI and CHAI blew up, new players began popping up.

From Kindroid in 2023 to Dokichat in 2025, the message was clear:

You can still launch an AI chatbot in 2025 and turn it into real revenue.

Here’s a look at the key players in the space right now:

1. C.AI : 2M downloads / 1.1M $MRR / Collection /  May 2023 / 32 acc / 218M views
2. CHAI : 1.3M downloads / 1.2M $MRR  /  Collection / March 2021 / 6 acc / 55.3M views
3. EMOCHI: 1.2M downloads / 270K  $MRR  /  Collection / April 2024 / 25 acc / 44.8M
4. Kindroid: 80K downloads / 190K $MRR  / Collection / July 2023 / 28 acc / 41.6M
5. BALA AI: 100K downloads / 100K $MRR / Collection / November 2023/ 42 acc / 12.8M 
6. Dippy AI: 120K downloads / 26K $MRR  / Collection / March 2024 / 57 acc / 69.6M
7. Alice AI: 700K downloads / <5K $MRR / Collection / August 2024 / 9 acc / 8.4M
8. DokiChat AI: 60K downloads / 8K $MRR  / Collection /  March 2025 / 23 acc / 33.7M

Total =  5.56 million downloads , 2.89$ million revenue…

8 apps, one single playbook

Multiple apps in the space use the same old mass faceless account strategy. But how does it actually work?

Step 1

Make a bold app logo that pops next to the others.

For example: Emochi went with a bright yellow background, while BALA AI used an anime girl.

This part really matters. These apps are blowing up with faceless app-comparison videos. If your logo doesn’t stand out from the rest, it won’t take off.

Step 2

Be ready to run 30 or more faceless accounts for the app, automated or not.

This only works at MEGA scale, so in the beginning you need to cover as much of the TikTok audience as possible.

Usernames and profile pics don’t matter – anime, AI, or even a fake ambassador photo all work.

And don’t forget: always put the app link in the bio.

Those accounts don’t have to be U.S. located; Dippy was running Phillipines and Georgia based accounts. With sufficient volume they’ll end up hitting western audience.

Step 3

Use the 8 Shortimize collections referenced at the top to spot the top accounts and videos (you can sort them by views and engagement).

Copy the formats that perform best, and once you see clear winners, turn them into templates.

Since these are all faceless app comparisons, just swapping in your app logo can be enough to make them work.

After you’ve picked the strongest formats and added your logo, set up your accounts to upload at scale. Aim for at least one video a day, keep rotating formats, and ignore anyone who says to slow down — the more you post, the better.

Notes

From what we’ve seen over the past few months, there aren’t many scalable formats left for AI companions, especially the generic ones (NSFW or not).

But for more niche, specialized ones, there could still be options.

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That’s all for today; catch you tomorrow.

— The Social Growth Engineers Team