Mozilla Privacy Not Included: Do AI Romance Bots Sell Data?

Millions of Americans talk to an AI companion before bed, and most of them never read the privacy policy first. That's normal, and there's nothing to be embarrassed about. What matters is where those late-night confessions go after you hit send. A widely shared Mozilla Privacy Not Included review found that romance chatbots can collect, share, and sometimes sell far more than people expect. Interest in AI intimacy keeps growing, too: according to LoveForever's internal data, 4,246 people created a LoveForever account in September 2026. Below is what Mozilla found, and what it means for you.

What did Mozilla's Privacy Not Included report find about AI romance chatbots?

Maybe you saw a TikTok or a headline with the word Mozilla in it, something about AI girlfriends and your data, and now you're wondering how worried you should be. Fair enough. You may have told a companion app things you haven't told anyone else, so you want actual details, not a vague sense of dread.

First, who's doing the talking. Privacy Not Included is a consumer guide run by the Mozilla Foundation, the nonprofit connected to the Firefox browser. Its researchers read privacy policies, test sign-up flows, and check basic security on apps and gadgets, then publish plain-language reviews so regular people can decide what to trust. A product that does badly enough gets the *Privacy Not Included warning label.

For its Valentine's Day review, the team looked at 11 romantic AI chatbot apps. Every one of them got the label. All eleven.

Here are the headline numbers Mozilla published:

• All but one of the apps, about 90%, said they may share or sell your personal data.
• Roughly half, 54%, wouldn't let you delete your personal data.
• About 45% allowed weak passwords, and some accepted a password as short as "1".

Those figures come straight from Mozilla's write-up. Let them sink in for a second. If an app may sell what you tell it, and you can't delete it later, then a late-night conversation about your loneliness or your health isn't private. It only feels that way.

The line everyone quoted came from Mozilla researcher Misha Rykov: "To be perfectly blunt, AI girlfriends are not your friends." He was talking about the business model. Plenty of these apps are marketed as support for your well-being, yet they're built to collect as much from you as they possibly can.

So is every companion app unsafe? No. Mozilla reviewed a specific set of apps, and its findings describe those apps. What you do get from the report is a solid checklist: can your data be sold, can you delete it, and is the login actually protected?

Those are fair questions to ask of any companion app, ours included. You can see how we answer them on our privacy and security page.

What kind of personal data do AI girlfriend and boyfriend apps actually collect?

Ever stopped mid-conversation with an AI companion and wondered where all those messages end up? You're not being paranoid. Romance chatbots often collect far more than the chat window lets on, and most of it happens quietly while you're focused on the character in front of you.

Here's roughly what these apps can gather:

• The chats themselves. Your messages, plus any photos or voice notes you upload. Depending on the privacy policy, the company may store them on its servers, let staff review them, or use them to train future models.
• Account details. Your email address, age or birthdate, and sometimes a phone number or payment information.
• Device identifiers. Advertising IDs and IP addresses let a company recognize your phone across sessions and, in some cases, across other apps.
• Location. Precise GPS if you grant permission, though more often it's a rough area pulled from your IP.
• Usage patterns. When you log in, how long you stay, which features you keep coming back to at 2 a.m.

That last one sounds harmless. It isn't always. Patterns give away moods and routines, and they can show exactly when someone is lonely.

Chat content is where it gets personal, though. People tell a companion they trust things they'd never type into a search bar: a health scare they haven't mentioned to anyone, what turns them on, how isolated the last year felt, why their marriage ended. A good companion invites that kind of openness, so the logs end up holding some of the most sensitive material a person has.

Mozilla looked at this directly in its 2024 *Privacy Not Included review of romantic AI chatbots. Researchers found that some apps' privacy policies let them collect sensitive categories like sexual health information and prescribed medication. They also found that one app, Romantic AI, sent out 24,354 ad trackers within a single minute of use. In one minute.

None of this means you should feel weird about wanting an AI girlfriend or boyfriend to explore fantasies with. That's a normal thing to want, and plenty of people find real comfort in it. The data question matters precisely because those conversations are so intimate. A fantasy space only feels safe when you know what's kept and what isn't, so read how any platform handles private and secure chat before you open up.

Do AI romance chatbots really sell your data, and who buys it?

Short answer: some of them say they can, in writing. If you scrolled past the privacy policy while setting up an AI partner, you probably skipped the paragraph that matters most, the one about who else gets your information. Plenty of romance chatbot policies give the company permission to share or sell personal data, and some tuck that permission behind vague words like "partners" or "affiliates." When Mozilla's Privacy Not Included team reviewed romantic AI chatbots in February 2024, every app it looked at earned the privacy warning label. So my rule is simple. Assume your data can leave the app unless the policy clearly says it won't.

On paper, "selling" and "sharing" are different. Selling means handing data over for money. Sharing usually means passing it to advertisers and analytics companies as part of a business deal. Data brokers can be involved too, and they combine what they get with information from other sources to build a profile of you. Companies like the distinction because "we don't sell your data" sounds reassuring. For you? The result can look almost identical: your details sitting on a server you never agreed to trust.

So how does this happen without anyone emailing a spreadsheet around? Trackers and SDKs. An SDK is a prepackaged chunk of code from another company that a developer drops into an app, maybe for crash reports or ad delivery. That code runs inside the app and often reports back to its maker with things like your device ID and which screens you open. You never see it. Nobody asks your permission for each piece of code, either.

The law does protect some people. California's Consumer Privacy Act, expanded by the California Privacy Rights Act that voters approved in 2020, gives California residents the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of their personal information. Look for a link labeled "Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information" on the app's site. If you live outside California, your rights depend heavily on your state.

Whether you use LoveForever or any other companion app, you deserve a plain answer to one question: does this app sell or share my chats, and with whom? Check the app's privacy and security details before you type anything intimate. If the answer is fuzzy, treat it as a yes.

How can you tell if an AI companion app respects your privacy?

So you know the risks. Now you want to size up an app yourself, and no, you don't need a law degree for that. Most warning signs are sitting in plain view once you know where to look, and the whole check takes maybe fifteen minutes and a cup of coffee.

Why bother? Think about how many words pile up. LoveForever users sent 20,918 chat messages to their companions in September 2026, according to LoveForever's internal data. That's one platform, one month. Each message is a small piece of somebody's day, and a lot of them are things you'd never say out loud to a coworker. Fifteen minutes is a small price.

Here's what to look for:

• Search the privacy policy. Open it, use Find in page, and type 'sell', then 'share', then 'third parties'. Read the sentences around each hit. Fuzzy phrases like 'trusted partners' deserve a raised eyebrow.
• Find the delete option. Can you erase your account and your chat history, or only deactivate it? If deleting means emailing support and hoping, that tells you plenty.
• Look for encryption details. A trustworthy app says plainly how it protects your messages in transit and in storage. If it says nothing, don't read that as good news.
• Test the password rules. Try signing up with '123456'. If the app happily takes it, security probably isn't high on anyone's to-do list.
• Check the store listing. On the App Store, scroll down to the App Privacy label. On Google Play, open the Data safety section. Compare what those say with what the policy says.
• See whether Mozilla reviewed it. Mozilla's *Privacy Not Included guide has looked at a number of romantic AI chatbots. If your app is on the list, read the verdict before you share anything personal.

Want to see what clear answers look like? Our page on how LoveForever handles private and secure chat lays out our approach, so you can hold any app to the same standard, ours included.

One habit takes a lot of the stress out of this: use a separate email address just for companion apps. It keeps your conversations away from your work inbox and your main accounts. And if one service ever leaks, the damage stays in that one small corner of your digital life.

Is it still safe to enjoy an AI romance chatbot after reading Mozilla's warnings?

Mozilla's February 2024 *Privacy Not Included review gave a warning label to every one of the 11 romantic AI chatbots it tested. If you read it, you might be stuck on an uncomfortable thought: should I just delete the app? Maybe you felt a bit embarrassed too, as if enjoying a companion was the mistake. It wasn't.

Mozilla's findings are a reason to pay attention, not a verdict on you. Spending time with an AI companion is a perfectly legitimate choice, and the whole point of that research is to put you in control. Being scared doesn't help anyone.

And the comfort is real. For a lot of people, a companion is the voice that keeps them company after a breakup, during a 3 a.m. lull on a night shift, or in an apartment that got too quiet when a roommate moved out. That counts for something. You shouldn't have to give it up because some companies are careless with personal data.

So how do you keep the good parts? A few habits go a long way:

• Decide your limits before you chat. Pick what's off the table, like your employer, your health history, or your ex's real name, and stick to it.
• Use a nickname. Your companion doesn't need your legal name to call you something sweet.
• Keep roleplay fictional. Set stories in invented towns and give side characters made-up names. Leave out your street, your gym, and your coworkers.
• Check settings every few months. Policies change. See how long chats are stored and whether you can opt out of model training.

Where we stand: you shouldn't have to pick between privacy and pleasure. You deserve both. That's why we built LoveForever as a private fantasy space where your stories belong to you, and our privacy and security page explains exactly how we approach it. Still, don't just take our word for it. Hold every app to the standards in the previous section, LoveForever included. Ask the same questions, and expect answers in plain language rather than a wall of legal text.

One thing you can do tonight: open the companion app you use most, go to the privacy or account settings, and look for a way to delete your conversation history. If you can't find it within five minutes, write that down. Then decide whether that app has earned the next story you tell it.

Related reading: AI Voice Call Privacy: What Happens to Your Words? · Best NSFW AI Chat Apps in 2026: Ranked and Compared

Data: LoveForever internal, September 2026. Aggregated and anonymized product statistics.