Swerve is an AI character chat app for iPhone. Every one of the 20 Swerve TikToks we track with 50,000+ views names Character AI (c.ai), its filter, or its users, and together they have 4,959,870 views. The angle: talk to people who already use a rival app, joke about what annoys them, then show Swerve as the way out.
4.96M
Views on 20 Swerve TikToks that name Character AI
ugcMaxx library, Oct 31, 2026
137K
Median views per video
ugcMaxx library, Oct 31, 2026
20 of 20
Swerve videos we track that mention c.ai, its filter, or its users
ugcMaxx library, Oct 31, 2026
Which Swerve videos did best?
| Views | Account | Opening text | Posted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 937,782 | @shane.swerve | "people who use emoji, cai, janitorai, swerve, etc what made you restart/delete a chat?" | Jun 16, 2026 |
| 712,524 | @shane.swerve | "WAR IS OVER (people stopped using cai and chai)" | Jul 7, 2026 |
| 665,926 | @shane.swerve | "Me realizing that our cai chats are being read by real people and FBI" | May 17, 2026 |
| 650,721 | @chatmochii (carousel) | "Rating chat ai apps by memory" | Jun 20, 2026 |
| 248,661 | @shane.swerve | "2020 me: 'Stop clicking "I confirm I’m over 18" when you’re not!'" | Apr 9, 2026 |
| 218,782 | @fav.swerve | "when you finally find the perfect c.ai alternative and it’s a cute app built by 2 people with unlimited chats no filters and the bots actually remember…" | Mar 29, 2026 |
View counts are from when we saved each video. We only track app videos with 50,000+ views. Opening text is the on-screen text or first slide, as posted.
The top video asks Character AI and Janitor AI users why they restarted or deleted a chat. Swerve only shows up fourth in the list, after cai and janitorai. It reads like one user asking the others.
Why does this angle work?
Swerve did not have to find an audience. Character AI users already know what bugs them, and naming "cai" and "janitorai" in the first second tells them the video is for them.
Each complaint gets played as a joke. The filter, bots that forget, the age check and fears that chats are not private all show up as punchlines. "Me realizing that our cai chats are being read by real people and FBI" turns a privacy worry into a laugh, and it has 665,926 views.
The words are the community’s own. "cai", "c.ai" and "WAR IS OVER" are in-group language. "WAR IS OVER (people stopped using cai and chai)" got 712,524 views, and its opening text never names Swerve.
When a video does make the case for switching, it uses one rule. The carousel "Rating chat ai apps by memory" sets the ranking rule on slide 1 and turns the rest into a scorecard. It has 650,721 views.
One account carries most of it. 15 of the 20 videos come from @shane.swerve, and the rest from @fav.swerve and @chatmochii. We have seen at least 9 accounts with ".swerve" in the handle. Across the 102 @shane.swerve posts we have seen, views add up to about 10.4M.
How do you copy it for your app?
- List the top 3 complaints about the market leader. Read its App Store reviews, its subreddit, and the comments under its TikToks. For AI chat apps, Swerve’s videos point to filters, memory and privacy.
- Name the rival’s users in the first line, in their words. "People who use ___, what made you ___?" is the top video’s opening with the blanks left open.
- Make one complaint the joke, and joke about how it feels to hit it. If you turn a video into a paid ad, keep every claim about the other app true and checkable.
- Show the switch on one screen: a ranking like the @chatmochii carousel, a side-by-side, or one chat that remembers what the old app forgot.
- Post the same angle on 2 to 3 accounts and test different opening lines on each.
- Choose what fronts each account: a creator on camera, an AI character, or faceless text over a screen recording. Most of Swerve’s top videos are on-screen text, so spend your time on the opening line.
We write and test competitor-angle hooks for apps every week, and make the videos with AI. Book a call and bring the app your users left.
Sources
- Videos: the TikTok posts linked in the table above (views when saved, through October 31, 2026)
- Swerve: Swerve - AI Chat on the App Store and Swerve on Y Combinator
- Library data: ugcMaxx UGC library, October 31, 2026
