Janitor AI Now Requires a Face Photo to Use It — Here's Why Users Are Switching

On Friday, April 25, 2026, Janitor AI quietly switched on mandatory face-photo age verification for every user. Open the site, get the camera prompt — submit a face photo or you cannot continue. The rollout is breaking for a large share of users (the most common failure: the photo getting stuck on "Processing" indefinitely), and r/JanitorAI_Official has filled with switching threads.

If you opened Janitor AI this week and ran into the verification wall — or you just don't want to upload a photo of your face to a third-party AI roleplay platform — here's what happened, why it matters, and the alternatives users are already moving to.

What Changed

Janitor AI now requires you to scan your face through your webcam or upload a clear face photo before you can chat. The verification screen blocks the entire site — there is no "skip for now" option. The platform says it is for age compliance.

Reports started flooding the subreddit and Twitter on April 25. The two recurring complaints:

• "Stuck on Processing" — the verification check spins forever and never finalizes, locking users out completely.
• Privacy backlash — many users will not upload a face photo to an NSFW chatbot platform regardless of whether the verification works. Concerns range from data breach risk to "what happens to the photo after."
• No phased rollout — the change went live for everyone on the same day, with no opt-out, no preview window, no migration tool.

Why This Matters

Janitor AI built its reputation on being the easy, no-friction option for character roleplay. You could land on the site, pick a bot, and start chatting in seconds — no account, no card, no verification. That ease was the entire pitch against Character.AI.

Mandatory face-photo verification destroys that pitch. For anyone who was using Janitor AI for adult roleplay specifically, uploading a face photo to the same platform feels like the worst possible identity-tracking move. The privacy calculus changed overnight.

And the alternatives have not changed. SpicyChat still works without face verification. Chub.ai still works without face verification. Nastia still works without face verification. The face-photo wall just told a chunk of Janitor AI's user base to leave.

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What Users Are Saying

On r/JanitorAI_Official and adjacent NSFW AI subreddits this week, the most-upvoted threads share a few patterns:

• "Anyone else stuck on Processing?" threads with hundreds of replies. The verification is genuinely broken, not just slow.
• "Recommend an alternative without face scan" — the top recommendations are SpicyChat, Chub.ai, SillyTavern, and (increasingly) Nastia.
• "Why now?" — speculation about whether this is preempting state-level AI safety bills (California SB 243 already in effect, Washington HB 2225 passing) or whether it's for App Store / Stripe compliance. Janitor has not given a clear public reason.

What the Alternatives Look Like

If you're leaving Janitor AI this week, here's the honest comparison of where users are landing:

SpicyChat AI

No face verification. Massive community character library (200K+). Works fine for casual character chat. Major weaknesses vs Janitor: aggressive ads on the free tier, no persistent memory between sessions, text-only (no voice, no images), inconsistent bot quality. Best fit if you specifically want Janitor-style "browse a directory of community bots."

Chub.ai

No face verification. Strong technical user base — supports lorebooks, world-building, multiple AI backends (OpenAI, Claude, local models). Bring-your-own-API flexibility. Weakness: steeper learning curve, less polished UX than Janitor, free tier is limited.

SillyTavern + Free Deepseek key

No face verification — and no central platform at all. Maximum control, completely free if you bring your own model API key. Weakness: not a website. You install it locally, configure it, and self-host. Only worth it if you're technical.

Nastia AI

No face verification. No login required to start. Built specifically for adults who want uncensored AI conversations with persistent memory, custom voices, and AI-generated images and videos. Where Nastia differs from the others: you build your own companion instead of browsing a community directory. Custom personality, custom backstory, custom voice, custom appearance. The companion remembers you across weeks and months. Voice messages and AI selfies are part of the core experience, not an afterthought.

Trade-off vs Janitor: you don't get the same 200,000-character browse experience. You start with a blank slate and create what you want. For most users coming off Janitor for the verification reason, that's actually preferable — your companion is private to you, customized to your taste, and not a generic template shared by thousands of strangers.

How to Switch from Janitor AI to Nastia

1. Open Nastia AI — no face photo, no upload, no email gate to start chatting on the free tier.
2. Build a companion that matches the Janitor character you liked best — set the personality, backstory, name, appearance, and (on paid plans) voice.
3. Start chatting. The companion remembers everything from message one — no token limits cutting off mid-roleplay, no memory wipes between sessions.
4. Optional: ask for AI selfies, send voice messages, or generate short videos. None of this exists on Janitor.

Move your roleplay over without the face scan.

Free to start, fully uncensored, persistent memory, voice and images included.

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Will Janitor AI Walk This Back?

Maybe. Other platforms have rolled out heavy verification, faced backlash, and quietly softened it (some Character.AI moderation waves were partially reversed). But two things make a quick reversal less likely here:

• Age-verification rules are tightening at the state level. California SB 243, Washington HB 2225, Texas AG investigation — the trend is one-way for AI companion platforms. Janitor likely sees this as inevitable.
• Stripe and the App Stores are increasingly strict on adult-platform identity checks. If the face scan is for payment compliance, Janitor cannot just remove it.

Either way, today's verification mess is a real signal: the easy, no-friction Janitor experience is over. If that was your reason for using it, the alternatives are already there.