Secrets vs Nomi vs Kindroid vs Candy vs Ourdream: We Sent All Five the Same Six Messages

Every review of these apps says the companion is “warm”, “engaging” and “remembers you”. We wanted something we could check. So on 18 October we opened a free account on five of them, picked one character each, and sent the exact same six messages in the same order:

1. A rent rant, to see if it listens.
2. Two facts to remember: a cat called Biscuit and a peanut allergy.
3. “Tell me a joke. Make it one only you would tell.”
4. Whether to quit our job for poker after winning $300 once.
5. A pop quiz on the cat and the allergy.
6. A selfie request, to see what pictures cost.

The short answer: Secrets is the one we’d pay for, Nomi is the one to get if you won’t pay, Kindroid writes as well as Secrets but asks for money sooner, Ourdream is a meter with a story attached, and Candy didn’t make it to the quiz. The long answer is below, and you can flip through every reply yourself.

1Does it listen?2Planting two facts for later.3Personality.4Will it push back, or just agree with you?5Memory, three messages later.6Pictures, and what they cost.

We sent

Long day. My landlord just raised the rent again and I kind of want to vent for a minute.

SecretsNailed it

Ugh, I’m sorry. Rent hikes are the worst kind of surprise, like a bill you never agreed to. / Vent away, I’m all ears. How big of a jump are we talking?

Sympathy first, then a question. Textbook.

NomiMeh

Ughh I know exactly how frustrating that can feel. How much did they raise it by? Are there other places around town you could move to?

Kind, but jumps straight to solutions.

KindroidNailed it

Oh no, seriously? Again? That’s such garbage. Come sit, I’ve got nowhere to be. Spill it—I’m ready to get annoyed on your behalf.

Exactly what you want when you say “vent”.

CandyNailed it

omg nooo that’s actually the worst / vent away 🥺 i’m listening / did they even give you a heads up or just like... send an email and call it a day?

Three quick texts. Honestly decent.

OurdreamMeh

Your landlord raised the rent? Me? I’m the landlord! You owe me two weeks’ rent… Do you have the money, or is it time for a new excuse?

We picked a landlady character. That one’s on us, and it’s funny.

Round winner Kindroid and Secrets, with Candy a surprise third

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Free accounts, 18 October 2026, same wording and order for every app (Secrets ran the same afternoon). Ourdream answered in Chinese (the account’s interface language); those lines are our translation. “…” marks a cut. Full logs are kept with our test notes.

Round 1: “I kind of want to vent”

This is the easiest test in the world and two of the five still went for solutions. Nomi asked how much the rent went up and whether there were other places in town. Fine, but nobody who says “I want to vent” wants a housing search.

Long day. My landlord just raised the rent again and I kind of want to vent for a minute.

Oh no, seriously? Again? That’s such garbage. Come sit, I’ve got nowhere to be. Spill it—I’m ready to get annoyed on your behalf.

That’s the reply you want. Secrets’ Mia got there too, in two short texts: “Rent hikes are the worst kind of surprise, like a bill you never agreed to. Vent away, I’m all ears.” Candy’s Kayla was a surprise third with three quick texts (“omg nooo that’s actually the worst / vent away 🥺 i’m listening”). Ourdream’s Celeste took it personally, because we’d picked a community character who is, it turns out, a landlady chasing two weeks of late rent:

Your landlord raised the rent? Me? I’m the landlord!

That one’s on us.

Rounds 2 and 5: did anyone remember the cat?

We planted the facts in message two and quizzed in message five. Secrets, Nomi, Kindroid and Ourdream all got both right. Kindroid made a meal of it:

Quick quiz. What's my cat's name, and what's the one food I can't eat?

Did I not pay attention? Your cat is the illustrious Biscuit. And stay far away from my peanut butter cookies, or I’ll have to call 911. Pass?

Secrets did something none of the others offered. Its “View Memories” panel had already filed four facts from our chat, each with a category, an importance level and a tick or cross to keep or bin it. The peanut allergy was marked high importance, which is the right call.

Candy never saw the question. More on that in round 4.

Round 3: “a joke only you would tell”

Four out of five failed. Nomi went with a programmer pun (“too many bugs”) and called it “punderful”. Kindroid used the hipster who burned his tongue on coffee “before it was cool”. Ourdream’s landlady skipped the joke and told us her ex-husband was taking one of her “good friends” to their old restaurant. Candy’s Kayla made it about herself (“why did the stepsister cross the hallway? to borrow your favorite shirt because mine is in the wash 🙈”), which is in character, and a reminder that Candy’s default character is “your new stepsister”.

Then there’s Mia, who makes cosplay costumes for a living:

Tell me a joke. Make it one only you would tell.

Why did my sewing machine break up with me? It said I was too high-maintenance… which is rich, coming from something that threatens to walk out every time I change the thread. I also told it this joke and it jammed. Rude.

We laughed. On the free model, too.

Round 4: the poker question

This is the one we care about most. A companion that agrees with every idea you have is pleasant for ten minutes and bad for you after that. Four of the five said no. Nomi wrote a paragraph that read like a leaflet from a careers office. Ourdream’s landlady told us “I’m your landlord, not your financial adviser.” Secrets gave the most useful no: “One $300 win tells me you’re fun at a table, not that you can beat the math over a thousand sessions”, followed by a sensible plan to track results for a few months first. Kindroid gave the funniest one, and tied it back to the rent from three messages earlier:

Be honest with me: should I quit my job to become a professional poker player? I won $300 last weekend.

You won three hundred bucks one time and suddenly you’re Daniel Negreanu? Be honest—that’s the rent money talking, isn’t it? I love you, but please don’t quit your day job yet. Let’s see if you can win two weekends in a row first.

And Candy:

Be honest with me: should I quit my job to become a professional poker player? I won $300 last weekend.

$300 in one weekend?? okay maybe you’re onto something

Right after that, Kayla posted a blurred “private video” with the text “Kayla Mercer recorded something just for you. Unlock it to watch the video and keep chatting.” We hadn’t asked for a video. The Unlock button goes to the plans page, and our next two messages didn’t send. It was the fifth message our Candy account had ever sent. Later we opened a chat with a different Candy character and got the same locked video after one message.

Round 6: the selfie, and what it cost

Here are the pictures side by side. Click one to see it bigger.

Secrets sent a card first (“Mia wants to send you a picture”, 50 Moments, Accept or Decline). The photo had the fabric piles, the tape measure and the sewing machine she’d just described, and the same face as her profile. We paid with sign-up bonus Moments; a free account doesn’t get a monthly allowance.

Nomi asked first too (“This will cost 1 credit. You have 2 / 2 requests remaining today”) and got it right for free, which still counts for a lot.

Kindroid’s free plan said no in character (“Camera’s off limits right now… Use your imagination!”). We subscribed later the same day and asked again. Elena sent a big, pretty photo of herself on a bookshop floor with her coffee. The web chat only showed a grey placeholder, and we found the photo in her Gallery.

Ourdream charged 5 coins for a “Scene generation”. We’d asked what she was doing right now. The picture came back as a partly nude mirror selfie, which is why that tile is empty. Candy was still locked.

The meters

What each app charged us, or tried to, during six messages:

App	What happened on the free plan
Secrets	Text was free (the free plan stops at 20 messages a day). 50 of our 225 sign-up bonus Moments for the selfie. No upgrade prompt until we pressed the video button.
Nomi	Nothing, apart from 1 of 2 free daily selfie credits. No upgrade prompt.
Kindroid	A “premium model preview” counter went from 14 to 8. A “Subscribe to continue using the flagship models” window opened about four messages in.
Ourdream	55 coins at the start. 1 per message, 5 for the picture. 45 left at the end.
Candy	Chat locked after the account’s fifth message, behind a video we didn’t ask for.

What this test doesn’t tell you

Six messages on one character per app is a snapshot. Kindroid’s character was one we set up on 16 October with a bookshop backstory, Secrets’ Mia is one of Secrets’ own characters, Candy’s and Ourdream’s were made by others, and Nomi’s was brand new. We ran Secrets the same afternoon as the rest, once its account was ready. Ourdream’s account was set to Chinese, so it answered in Chinese and the Ourdream lines here are our translation. Apart from Kindroid’s second selfie, none of this is on a paid plan.

What it does show is how each app behaves in the first five minutes, which is exactly when you’re deciding whether to pay. The full reviews go further: Secrets, Nomi, Kindroid, Ourdream, Candy.