Chatbound

The password for your Character.AI export ZIP

The password is the email address of your Character.AI account, written in lowercase. The export email says it in one line: “The password is your lowercase email address.”

Have the ZIP? Open it in Chatbound: it opens the locked file with your email address, lists every chat and lets you search and save them. Nothing is uploaded.

Open your export

Which email address

The one your Character.AI account uses, which is the address the export email was sent to. Look at the “To” line of the email from accounts@character.ai with the subject “Character AI User Data Export”.

  • You signed up with Google: it is the Gmail or Google Workspace address of that Google account.
  • You signed up with Apple and chose to hide your email: your account may use a relay address ending in @privaterelay.appleid.com, and Apple forwards mail from it to your inbox. Try the relay address shown in the “To” line.
  • You have several addresses: try the one you log in with first.

When the password is rejected

  1. Type it in lowercase, with no spaces before or after. (Chatbound does this for you: it tries what you typed, the trimmed version and the lowercase version.)
  2. Copy the address from the “To” line of the export email instead of typing it.
  3. Check that the ZIP downloaded completely. A cut-off download can look like a wrong password in some unzip tools. Chatbound says “the end of this ZIP is missing” in that case.
  4. If none of that works, the export may be locked with a different address than you expect. Ask Character.AI support which email your account uses.

Opening the ZIP on a computer or phone

ZIP files can be locked in two ways: the older ZipCrypto method and the stronger AES method. Built-in unzip tools handle some locked ZIPs and not others, depending on the method, so an export that “won’t open” in File Explorer or on a phone may be fine. Your options:

  • Chatbound reads both methods in your browser on a computer or phone, without unzipping anything to disk.
  • Windows: 7-Zip opens both methods. Right-click the ZIP, choose 7-Zip, then “Extract here”, and type the password.
  • Mac: Keka (free) opens both. Double-clicking in Finder may not work for AES-locked files.
  • Phones: most built-in file apps can’t unzip password-protected files. Open the ZIP in Chatbound from your Files or Downloads instead.

Is it safe to type my email into a website?

In Chatbound, the address is used inside your browser to open the locked file and is then forgotten. It isn’t sent anywhere or saved, and the page’s security policy blocks it from connecting to anything except a licence check and an anonymous visit counter, neither of which receives your email or your file. You can turn off your internet connection after the page loads and it still opens the ZIP. The checking steps show how to see this for yourself.

Sources: AIInsightsNews, “How to Export Character AI Chat in 2026”, a hands-on account with screenshots of the email and the ZIP (25 May 2026, checked 21 October 2026) (the email and its password line); Character.AI Help Center, “How do I download my data?” (checked 21 October 2026).