The next assistant may not need another app icon. It may need access to your calendar, inbox or payment details, which makes the jump from answering questions to taking action more consequential than the chat interface suggests.
A growing set of AI agents can be contacted through text messages and connected to the services people already use. Some focus on everyday personal tasks, while others are built for family logistics, travel, content creation or work. They differ just as much in what they can do, and what they cost, as in which messaging app they use.
Why the message thread matters
Texting gives an assistant a familiar place to receive requests. But the products in this group are not all chatbots with a new address. Some can remember context, monitor connected services, follow up without being prompted, or carry out several steps in sequence.
The interfaces vary. Caddy works in iMessage for iPhone users and RCS for Android users. Other agents support combinations of SMS, WhatsApp, Telegram, phone, email, Slack, web apps or their own mobile apps. A text-based assistant does not necessarily mean an app-free service.
The bigger distinction is how much authority an agent gets. A reminder is one thing. Sending email, placing calls, making purchases or creating accounts on a user’s behalf is another. The more an assistant can do, the more its integrations and identity matter.
General-purpose assistants
Caddy looks for actionable details across conversations and calendars. It can add events, set reminders, track follow-ups and research questions. It has been in public beta since April 2026.
Folk is available through iMessage, WhatsApp and Telegram. It can manage reminders, research topics, track flights, handle email and make restaurant reservations. It runs on its own private cloud computer and can execute code and multi-step tasks. Its beta began in May 2026. The service has a free option and a Pro plan for $8.33 per month, which includes unlimited tasks running in the background.
Instinct accepts text and voice requests and connects to services including email, calendars and Google Workspace. The company says early users have asked it to plan trips, buy groceries, book tickets and cancel subscriptions. In September 2026, it began giving users dedicated email addresses for their agents, so they can sign up for services and contact businesses without using a personal inbox. Support for making calls is also rolling out. That degree of independence has raised privacy and security concerns. Instinct was valued at $10 billion after raising $1 billion in September 2026, following an earlier $350 million round at a $2.5 billion valuation.
Iris, powered by the Hermes agent, works through iMessage. Users can connect apps and delegate tasks in a message. Iris is designed to retain useful context and follow up proactively.
Martin can be reached by SMS, phone, WhatsApp, email, Slack and its own iOS app. It handles calendars, email, reminders, tasks, notes and communications, and can send messages or make calls for users. Subscriptions start at $21 per month.
Pally connects information across services such as WhatsApp, Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Drive. It can help keep track of plans, receipts, dates and files. Its free plan includes 15 minutes of calls per month. Paid plans include $25 per month for 30 minutes of calls and $100 per month for 60 minutes.
Poke handles tasks involving calendars, planning, health and fitness, smart-home controls and photos. It launched in March 2026 and became the first AI agent approved for Apple Messages for Business in June. In July, its parent company, The Interaction Company of California, was acquired by AI coding startup Cognition in a deal valued in the low nine figures.
Rene is designed as a “best contact” rather than a conventional productivity assistant. It can turn conversations into tasks, reminders and summaries, and keep context between chats. It also has a browser, can write code, shop, and create slides and images. Rene is available on iMessage, Telegram and WhatsApp.
Tomo can join group conversations, rather than operating only in private chats. It also helps with scheduling, goals and everyday organization, and can send reminders, search the web, use calendars and email, watch videos and edit photos. Its basic plan starts at $19.99 per month.
Assistants for household life
Family-focused agents aim to pull school messages, calendars, chores and other recurring details into one place. The pitch is appealing because family information already tends to be scattered across many places. The less glamorous question is whether an assistant connects to the places a particular household actually uses.
Fambot brings together school communications, activities, meal planning and calendars. It works through an app, the web and SMS, and sends an evening summary of the next day’s events and tasks. Parents can reply to ask questions or change calendar details. At present, it connects to Gmail and Google Calendar, with Outlook and Apple Calendar support planned. The beta began in early September 2026 and is free for now. The company expects to eventually charge roughly the equivalent of a Netflix subscription.
Ohai turns messages, forwarded emails and voice requests into schedules, reminders and plans. It can coordinate calendars, chores and meals across family members. There is a free basic option, with paid plans starting at $9.99 per month and varying by family size.
Ollie gathers household details from school messages, calendars, task lists and group chats, then sends relevant information by text. It offers a free tier and paid plans starting at $25 per month for 150 messages. A $100 monthly plan includes up to 1,000 messages. The service is described as one of the first mainstream family-focused AI assistants to achieve SOC 2 compliance, a widely used security standard.
Orbits combines an app and text messaging to coordinate calendars, lists and conversations. It can also search the web, make purchases, book restaurants, change appointments and request quotes for household services. Its household role extends to reminding family members about chores and communicating with service providers. Investors include Andreessen Horowitz’s Speedrun fund, N49P and Garage Capital.
Specialists for travel, content and work
Some agents narrow the job rather than trying to become a universal assistant. That can make their purpose easier to understand, although it also means their appeal depends on whether the specialized task is one a user wants to hand off.
Miso focuses on travel. Through iMessage, it combines trip planning with help from a dedicated travel team. It can arrange flights while taking account of preferences and loyalty points, and provide trip details, flight updates and personalized recommendations.
Stanley is aimed at content creators. Available through iMessage, Telegram and the web, it can suggest ideas, turn voice notes into scripts and captions, and maintain a content calendar. By connecting to Instagram, it can draw on a user’s activity when proposing content. It can also schedule posts.
Town targets professional tasks through an assistant called a “Townie.” It is designed to learn how a user works and handle recurring tasks across email, calendars, documents, Slack and other platforms. The company raised a $55 million Series A in June 2026, led by Andreessen Horowitz and Forerunner.
Skye takes a different route. Rather than waiting for a message, its iPhone “agentic homescreen” analyzes connected services and surfaces contextual cards, suggestions and briefings. It can prepare information for meetings and generate audio briefings. Signull Labs raised about $3.6 million in seed funding in 2025. Skye entered private testing and beta in April 2026, and had not announced a public release date.
When an assistant acts as someone else
A few services are built around giving an agent its own identity. Instinct’s dedicated email addresses are intended to let it create accounts and contact businesses without filling a user’s personal inbox. Wajo’s first consumer agent, Fo, goes further by having its own email address, phone number and payment card.
Fo can call businesses, send emails, join group chats, make bookings and purchases, and coordinate with people. Wajo says it can bring in a human assistant when Fo cannot finish a task on its own. Fo launched publicly in September 2025 with a free tier, while heavier workloads and custom agents are available through a paid Pro offering.
These arrangements make delegation more practical, but they also make the agent’s boundaries worth examining. An assistant that only drafts a reminder has a different risk profile from one that can create accounts, spend money or speak to a business as your representative. The convenience is real, and so is the need to understand what information and authority the service receives.
What to compare
Check the connections. An assistant’s usefulness depends on the services it can reach. Fambot, for example, currently connects to Gmail and Google Calendar, while additional calendar and email integrations are planned.
Separate chat from action. Products may describe themselves as assistants, but their abilities range from summarizing information to making calls, purchases or bookings. A conversational interface does not tell you how much work happens behind the scenes.
Look at the limits and price. Some services are free during beta, others charge subscriptions, and Pally prices its plans around monthly call time. Ollie’s listed plans are based on message allowances. Comparing products means comparing what each plan actually includes, not just its headline price.
Treat identity as part of the product. Dedicated email addresses, phone numbers and payment cards can help agents complete tasks, but they also change how those agents interact with businesses. The most useful question is not only what the assistant can do, but what it can do without asking again.
Texting may make AI agents easier to approach. It does not make delegation automatically simple. The chat window is familiar. The permissions behind it deserve a closer look.