Character.AI legacy models: the PipSqueak 2 petition, what the company has said, and what you can do

Who this is for. Everything up to “Other places to chat” applies to any Character.AI user, including teens, and there is a short section for under-18s. The “other places” section names apps that are for adults only, and some of its links are affiliate links, marked as such.

How this guide was made. This is a documentation-based guide. We read Character.AI’s help centre and blog on 27 October 2026 and the petition post and related threads on Reddit on 26 October. We did not open the app or compare chat styles ourselves; what people say about the styles is theirs, and we link to it.

What the petition asks

On 25 October 2026 a user posted “Petition!!!” on r/CharacterAI, addressed to the app’s creators. The request is simple: do not remove the old models, and in particular keep PipSqueak 2. The writer says they have used the older models “for months or years”, started paying for a subscription, and would accept the old styles living “in a section for old models, so longtime users can have fun”. By the next morning it had 12 comments, mostly urging the company to keep the older models.

It is not a one-off. Since PipSqueak 3 arrived at the end of September, users have posted on both r/CharacterAI and r/CharacterAIrunaways that the new style “totally ignores all prompts” (6 October) or sits on three dots while other styles reply normally (22 October). Other users like the new style, and Character.AI says PipSqueak 3 went through “extensive testing” with community members before launch. The point of the petition is not that the new style is bad for everyone, but that people who built long stories on one style want to keep it.

What Character.AI has actually said

There is no announcement of a removal date. There is a clear statement of intent. Here is what the official pages say, in order.

Read together, that means three things:

1. PipSqueak 2 and Rawr still work today, from the Legacy menu, on every plan.
2. They will go eventually. The help centre answers “Will Legacy Chat Styles go away?” with “Yes, eventually.” It gives no date and no minimum period.
3. You should get notice first. The promise is to tell you before a style you use is removed. It does not say how, or how far ahead.

We found no reply from Character.AI to the petition itself. The company’s 28 September post asks for feedback in the official Discord.

Why the timing feels worse this month

Character.AI started a court-supervised sale on 12 October 2026, and its blog says the platform will be wound down if no bid allows it to continue. That is a separate question from chat styles, but it explains why a quiet help-centre line about retiring old models is being read closely. A buyer could keep, change or drop any of the styles; nothing in the sale process we have read mentions them. For the sale timetable, see what the 30 October hearing decides, and for every dated change to the app, our Character.AI changes log.

What you can do now

You cannot keep a model running on someone else’s servers. You can make sure losing it costs you as little as possible.

1. Keep using the style you like. Existing chats stay on the style you chose. If a new chat starts on PipSqueak 3, switch it to PipSqueak 2 or Rawr from the Legacy menu in the style picker.
2. Watch for the notice. The help centre promises one before a style you use is removed. Check the email on your account, the app’s announcements and the Character.AI blog.
3. Copy what matters by hand. Character definitions, greetings, personas and your favourite chats can be copied into a text file now. That is what lets you rebuild a story elsewhere, or on a newer style, if PipSqueak 2 goes.
4. Request the official export. It can take 3 to 4 weeks, and users report gaps in what arrives. Our step-by-step guide covers both: how to back up your Character.AI chats.
5. Give specific feedback. “Keep PipSqueak 2” is easy to ignore. “PipSqueak 3 breaks my character’s voice in long chats; here is an example” is the kind of report a company can act on. The 28 September post points to the official Discord for that.

What will not help: paying for a plan in the hope it protects a style. Nothing in the (c.ai) lite or (c.ai+) pages says a paid plan keeps a Legacy style longer.

If you are under 18

Steps 1 to 5 above are for you too. The apps in the next section are for adults, so they are not suggestions for you, and nothing in this section links to them. If a change to a character you spent months with feels upsetting, that is a normal reaction to losing something you put time into, and talking it over with someone you trust helps. Character.AI’s help centre has a page called “Resources You Can Turn To” with support options.

Other places to chat (adults only)

Be clear about what you are buying: no hosted app promises to keep a model forever. Every service here can change or retire models too. What differs is how much say you get.

• You choose the model: SpicyChat. Its AI Models page lists six models for everyone and more on paid tiers, and you pick one inside a chat (Generation Settings, then Change Model). The page warns its list may be out of date, so models come and go there as well. It is an adult, NSFW-first platform. Try SpicyChat (affiliate link), or read our SpicyChat Premium review first.
• You bring the model: Janitor AI or SillyTavern. Janitor AI is 18+ and lets you connect your own API key; SillyTavern is free, open-source software that keeps characters and chats on your computer. With a model you host yourself, nobody can retire it but you. Both take setup. See Janitor AI alternatives and switching from Character.AI.
• It was the character, not the model: Candy AI or Nectar AI. If what you would miss is one companion, you can rebuild it from your saved description. These apps do not let you choose the underlying model, so they are not an answer to model changes, but they are built around a character you design. Candy AI’s paid plans start at $3.99 a month on the 12-month plan (checked 26 October 2026). Create a companion on Candy AI (affiliate link). Nectar AI has a free plan and added voice and video calls on 15 October 2026. Try Nectar AI (affiliate link).

For a full comparison of options by need, see Character.AI alternatives. Whichever you try, start on the free tier or the shortest plan, and paste in one saved character to see whether the tone is close enough before paying.

What we could not confirm

• A retirement date for PipSqueak 2, Rawr or any other Legacy style. None has been published.
• How notice will be given (email, in-app message or blog) and how far ahead.
• Whether the petition has been seen by the company. We found no official reply.
• The exact menu path to the Legacy menu in the current app; we relied on the blog’s description.
• Whether a buyer in the sale would keep any chat style. Nothing we read addresses it.