Few details in a comparison chart get less attention or matter more than this one. The table shows where each app we review can be used:
| App | Where you can use it |
|---|---|
| Candy AI | Web, iOS, Android |
| Nomi | Web, iOS, Android |
| Kupid AI | Web, iOS, Android |
| Sweetdream | Web, iOS, Android |
| Replika | Web, iOS, Android |
| Camsoda AI | Web |
| Secret Desires | Web, mobile browser |
| Joi | Web |
Why the split exists
Store guidelines limit adult and near-adult material strictly, and how they are enforced is hard to predict. When an app's main draw is a relaxed content policy, putting that policy in a store listing invites a takedown, and a takedown removes the whole product, not just one feature.
The market therefore divides in two. Apps aimed at a general audience build a native version and live with the limits. Apps aimed at the permissive end remain on the web, answerable only to their own rules and their payment processor's. The pattern in the table reflects that split and not a gap in engineering budgets. The same force is described in how content filters work.
The trap: a single brand selling two different products
Many people are caught off guard to find that a company's native app and its website are frequently different products, even under one login.
Differences you will commonly meet:
- Content limits are tighter in the store build.
- Plans and prices differ, because the store keeps a share of in-app purchases and the company sets prices to match.
- New features appear later on mobile, since every release waits for review.
- In-app subscriptions are handled by Apple or Google and not by the app, which affects how you cancel and who can refund you.
If you subscribe through a store, you cancel in your store account and not in the app's settings. That is the most common reason people think they cancelled and then see another charge, and it bears on how to leave properly.
What you give up with a browser-only app
Three things show up in daily use.
Notifications. A web page cannot reliably prompt you. Whether that hurts depends on your view of nudges: an app that keeps pinging you about a streak is working for its engagement numbers, not for your evening.
Staying signed in. Browsers purge cookies, private tabs retain nothing, and iOS readily evicts stored site data. Logging in again every week erodes the habit.
Launch effort. Opening a browser and hunting for the right tab takes more effort than tapping an icon. A home-screen shortcut removes most of that in ten seconds: Share, then Add to Home Screen on iOS, or the browser's menu on Android.
What you gain from browser-only
It is not just a downgrade.
Nothing visible on your home screen unless you put it there. On a shared or work-adjacent device, that matters more than alerts. The related practical points are in using a companion on a shared device.
No entry in your Apple or Google purchase history.
A direct billing relationship, which puts cancellations and refunds in the hands of the people who make what you use.
New features land on the company's own timetable, without a review queue.
Deciding
Consider where you will really use it. If the truthful answer is "on my phone, in bed, most nights," a native app earns its price, and a web-only choice will probably lose the habit within a fortnight or so.
If it is "at my desk, deliberately, a few evenings weekly," going browser-only costs almost nothing and keeps your phone uncluttered.
Should the relaxed content policy be why you came in the first place, there is nothing to decide: that product lives in the browser. Camsoda AI, which has a six-step builder and scores 4.5 in our ranking, shows well that web-only need not mean settling for less.
A note on where to pay
Where both routes exist, buy on the website, not in the app. The price is normally lower because no store commission is built in, and cancellations and refunds remain with the company instead of a platform. One exception: if you want the store's refund process as a backstop, which is a sensible thing to want, see refunds and chargebacks.
