Chai was off the Apple App Store for three weeks in July 2026

Chai, the AI chat app, was pulled from the Apple App Store in several regions, the US among them, in July 2026. On July 8 its founder wrote on r/ChaiApp that 'CHAI has been temporarily removed from certain regions in Apple App Store'; on July 30 he posted 'CHAI is now available on both Apples App Store and Google Play Store.' Apple's reason was never made public. The Google Play app stayed up throughout.

Date: 2026-07-08 · the day Chai's founder confirmed it; it came back on July 30
App: Chai · prices, rules and full change history
Primary source: r/ChaiApp: the founder confirms the removal (2026-07-08)
Last checked: 2026-09-27

The App Store listing, before and after

	Before	After
Listing	257K Ratings 4.4 Age Rating 18+ Years	283K Ratings 4.3 Age Rating 18+ Years
Versions either side of the gap	2.181 Jul 6	2.182 Jul 30
Character creation	Character creation - Character creation now open to everyone!	(removed from the description)
Privacy policy link	Privacy policy - https://chai.ml/privacy/	Privacy policy - https://privacy.chai-research.com/

What happened

The first user report came on the morning of July 8 from a UK subscriber: 'I have paid 25 quid for ultra for a month and then it just leaves my region.' The founder confirmed the removal the same day and told subscribers they could 'reinstall the app even if it is not on the app store by going to the purchase history in the app store.' On July 11 he wrote 'Our latest version is being reviewed and we expect to be back next week!'; on July 21 it was 'We don't really know'. The Internet Archive recorded the US listing returning a 404 on July 30 at 20:17 UTC, and the founder announced the return 28 minutes later.

Neither Apple nor Chai gave a specific reason. The founder tied it to compliance: 'The app stores have strict policy - the app isn't compliant it won't exist.' Chai switched off its Persona feature 'until we have implemented app-store requirements on safety', and on August 5 said 'AI apps are currently facing extra scrutiny and so the review process is taking longer.' Version 2.183, the day after the return, lists 'bringing back bot builder and search'.

On July 12, in the middle of the gap, Chai put out a paid press release on PR Newswire, which Yahoo Finance republished under the label 'This is a paid press release.' It said 'CHAI is currently in the Apple App Store Review Process' and quoted founder and CEO William Beauchamp: 'We introduced an entirely new AI governance system, shipped in record time.' It did not mention that the app had been removed.

Chai came back under the same listing, seller and bundle, with its ratings intact and the same 18+ rating. The description lost its character-creation paragraph and the privacy link moved from chai.ml to privacy.chai-research.com. Chai's own homepage never mentioned the removal and kept offering the iPhone app throughout, in our captures of July 7 and July 23.

An earlier version of our changelog called the press release a Yahoo Finance interview and dated the return to September 22, when we first noticed the app was back. Both are corrected here.

Sources

To cite this page: The Eliza Report, "Chai was off the Apple App Store for three weeks in July 2026", filed 2026-09-27, last checked 2026-09-27, https://elizareport.com/changelog/2026-07-08-chai-app-store-removal/

Chai was off the Apple App Store for three weeks in July 2026

The App Store listing, before and after

What happened

Sources

Related records

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