Instead of downloading a new application, a growing number of AI assistants are accessible simply by texting them like a regular contact.
You can message your needs, and the assistant will retain context, integrate with your existing applications and services, and perform tasks on your behalf. This could involve booking an appointment, managing your calendar, researching travel plans, drafting an email, making reservations, online shopping, or reminding you about something days later.
While Instinct is currently one of the most talked-about AI agents, due to its $10 billion valuation after its latest $1 billion funding round, numerous other platforms are also competing in this sector.
Below are the most prominent options available, ranging from all-purpose personal assistants to those tailored for families, travel, and professional use.
Ask Proxy
Ask Proxy‘s primary distinction is its design to “think like a woman,” aiming to anticipate your requirements before you articulate them, as stated by the company on its website.
It functions as a conversational chatbot you can text like a friend, whether you need suggestions for gifts, assistance with event planning, or recommendations for weekend activities. You can instruct it to add important dates to your calendar, set reminders, or aid in daily decision-making. You can also send it images, such as an empty table, to get ideas on how to decorate it for a dinner party.
Unlike typical chatbots, Ask Proxy also adopts a proactive approach. It can reach out if it detects something you might overlook or discovers a new activity, restaurant, or experience you might enjoy.
Additionally, a business-oriented version exists, which the company explains “helps employees return to work faster, while keeping personal data separate from company systems.”
The personal version is priced at $1 per day. For businesses, pricing begins at $15 per employee per month for larger organizations and $23 per employee per month for small teams with fewer than 49 employees.
Ask Proxy operates via SMS. You can initiate a conversation by texting “start” to 820-732-2625.
Caddy
Caddy is an AI assistant that transforms disparate information on your phone into actionable items. It resides within iMessage for iPhone users and RCS for Android users, eliminating the need for a separate app or inbox to constantly monitor.
For example, if an email contains an appointment for your calendar or a friend sends a shopping list, Caddy connects to your calendars and conversations, identifying items that might require action. It can add events to your calendar, set reminders, track follow-ups, and even conduct research for you.
Caddy has been available in public beta since April 2026.
Comma
Comma is designed to oversee tasks across both professional and personal spheres. Comma ensures tasks are completed, verifying its own work and determining when a task is finished.
Completed work is presented for review when a decision or approval is necessary. It also proactively notifies users and suggests subsequent actions.
It can operate across a user’s browser, computer, and files, while remaining remotely accessible via messaging applications such as Signal, Telegram, and WeChat. Comma maintains context and memory across devices and conversations, and can provide daily briefings, flag urgent matters, and summarize recorded calls.
Comma is free to begin and is open source.
Fambot
Fambot acts as an AI-powered “chief of staff” for families, aiming to consolidate the numerous elements of family life, including school communications, sports schedules, meal planning, calendars, and other daily responsibilities, into an organized scheme.
The service is engineered to function across both an app and text messages. Fambot is accessible on iOS and Android devices, as well as the web, and families can also interact with it directly through SMS. Each evening, Fambot automatically dispatches a summary of the upcoming day, including events, to-dos, and specific details like school uniform or packing requirements. Parents can respond to these messages to pose questions, verify information, or adjust their calendar.
Fambot currently integrates with Gmail, Google Calendar, Outlook, and WhatsApp, with future support for Apple Calendar planned.
The company launched in beta in early September 2026 and has secured $3.5 million in pre-seed funding. The service is presently free during the beta phase, but Fambot anticipates eventually charging a fee comparable to a Netflix subscription.
Folk
Folk is designed as an AI assistant reachable via iMessage, WhatsApp, and Telegram. It can recall personal context, manage reminders, conduct research, track flights, handle emails, and execute real-world tasks such as making restaurant reservations.
A key differentiator is that Folk operates on its own private cloud computer. It can also execute code and perform multi-step tasks, rather than just engaging in conversational responses.
Folk launched its beta in May 2026, and is available for free, with a Pro subscription offered for $8.33/month for unlimited background tasks.
Instinct
Instinct first gained attention after raising $350 million at a $2.5 billion valuation. In September 2026, it secured an additional $1 billion, bringing its valuation to $10 billion.
This perpetually available agent can perform actions on your behalf, moving beyond merely answering questions. Users can communicate with Instinct via text or voice and integrate it with their existing applications and services, such as email, calendar, Google Workspace, and more. The company notes that early adopters have utilized Instinct for tasks ranging from organizing trips and purchasing groceries to booking tickets and canceling subscriptions.
In September, Instinct began providing users with dedicated email addresses for their assistants. The intention is to enable Instinct to create and manage accounts on behalf of the user without cluttering the user’s personal inbox. The agent can use its address to sign up for services, contact businesses, follow up on requests, and handle tasks that require an email account. (However, this degree of autonomy has also sparked concerns regarding privacy and security.) It has also started implementing support for making calls.
The company remains in private beta.
Iris
Powered by Hermes Agent, Iris is designed to allow users to assign tasks to an AI assistant directly via iMessage. Users can connect their utilized applications and delegate a task with a simple message. The agent then proceeds through the necessary steps, while maintaining relevant context from prior interactions. It is also designed to proactively follow up with users rather than awaiting another request.
Martin
Martin is a general-purpose personal assistant reachable via SMS, phone, WhatsApp, email, Slack, and its dedicated iOS app.
It can assist with managing calendars, email, reminders, tasks, notes, and communications. It can also act on behalf of users by sending messages or making phone calls, while providing daily summaries of pending items.
It falls on the more expensive side, with subscriptions beginning at $21 per month.
Maverick
Maverick describes itself as an “AI companion who lives in your texts,” serving as a personal assistant that facilitates everyday tasks directly from your messages.
It can correct typos, cancel subscriptions, schedule meetings from voice notes, and assist group chats in deciding on event dates. A noteworthy feature is that Maverick seeks your approval before taking action.
The platform also boasts hundreds of integrations, including Discord, Gmail, and Slack, enabling it to connect with the applications you already use.
It is currently in beta and free to use on iMessage. A Pro version is also available for €27 per month (approximately $30.25 USD), which includes 500 tasks per month, 20 connected apps, scheduled tasks, and memory capabilities.
Miso
Miso adapts the personal assistant concept specifically for travel.
It operates through iMessage and combines AI-driven trip planning with support from a dedicated travel team. Users can arrange flights via messaging, with Miso considering their travel preferences, loyalty points, and other priorities. Miso also provides travelers with trip details and flight updates, along with personalized recommendations.
Ohai
Ohai is another family assistant focused on helping households manage the continuous flow of information and tasks inherent in daily family life.
Users can send messages, forward emails, or make voice requests, and the assistant can convert these into schedules, reminders, and plans. It can also synchronize calendars, household chores, and meals across multiple family members.
It offers a free basic option, alongside various subscriptions based on family size, starting at $9.99 per month.
Ollie
Similar to other family-oriented agents, the premise behind Ollie is that families already possess the necessary information, but it is dispersed across school messages, calendars, task lists, and group chats. Ollie aims to integrate these elements and keep them synchronized. It can track calendars, emails, reminders, tasks, and other household specifics, then deliver pertinent information to users via text.
Its most significant advantage over other agents is that Ollie is among the first mainstream, family-focused AI assistants to achieve SOC 2 compliance, a widely recognized security standard.
Launched in June 2026, Ollie provides a free tier, as well as paid plans beginning at $25 per month for 150 messages. A $100-per-month plan includes up to 1,000 messages.
Orbits
Orbits also offers an AI assistant primarily focused on household management.
It functions through both the Orbits app and text messaging, and can consolidate calendars, lists, and conversations while also performing tasks for you. This may include searching the web, making purchases, booking restaurants, changing appointments, and requesting quotes for household services.
Furthermore, Orbits can remind family members about chores, communicate with service providers, and assist in coordinating responsibilities beyond the immediate household.
Orbits is supported by investors such as Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Speedrun fund, N49P, and Garage Capital.
Pally
Users can interact with Pally as they would with a friend while granting it access to their relied-upon applications. The assistant can integrate information scattered across services like WhatsApp, Gmail, calendars, and Google Drive, helping users keep track of plans, receipts, dates, files, and other specifics.
A free plan is available. It operates over iMessage, RCS, and Telegram.
Poke
Poke debuted in March 2026 as a general-purpose assistant accessible via text messaging. It can manage tasks related to calendars, planning, health and fitness, smart-home controls, photos, and other daily activities.
Poke gained significant attention in June 2026 when Apple approved it as the inaugural AI agent on the Apple Messages for Business platform. A month later, 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
Rene is an AI personal assistant designed to be a user’s “best contact” rather than just another productivity tool. It is text-based and can convert natural-language conversations into tasks, reminders, summaries, and other follow-up actions. Rene also maintains context across conversations, allowing it to recall details and highlight items that may require attention later.
Additionally, it possesses a browser, can write code, shop for you, and create slides and images.
Rene is currently accessible on iMessage, Telegram, and WhatsApp.
Skye
Instead of awaiting users to open an app, Skye acts as an “agentic homescreen” for the iPhone that analyzes information from connected services and presents what it deems relevant through contextual cards, suggestions, and daily briefings. The assistant can generate audio briefings, prepare information in advance of meetings, surface reminders, and pinpoint potentially useful information.
The company, Signull Labs, secured approximately $3.6 million in seed funding in 2025. It commenced private testing and beta in April 2026, and a public release date has not yet been announced.
Stanley
Stanley is an AI content assistant aimed at content creators rather than general personal productivity. Available via iMessage, Telegram, and the web, it functions as a sort of AI head of content, assisting users in generating ideas, transforming them into posts, and maintaining a consistent publishing schedule.
For example, Stanley can link to a user’s Instagram account, utilizing that context to propose content based on the user’s recent activities. Users can also send voice notes, which Stanley converts into scripts, captions, and other social media assets. It includes a content calendar and can schedule posts, with the broader aim of making content creation a more continuous, automated process instead of requiring users to plan from scratch.
Szn
Szn is designed to coordinate tasks and follow-ups within a single conversation thread. Users can send text messages, voice notes, photos, or forwarded emails, and the assistant performs actions on their behalf, including making calls, sending emails, and managing follow-ups.
According to the company’s website, Szn has served over 7,500 businesses across 16 countries, completed more than 10,000 jobs, and handled 95 hours of calls.
Tab
Tab enables users to delegate daily tasks through familiar messaging platforms. Users can send requests to the assistant via iMessage or WhatsApp, ranging from ordering groceries to finding birthday gifts, and Tab manages the process for them.
The company emerged from stealth in early October with a valuation of $300 million. Its investors include SV Angel, Valar Ventures, and American Spirit.
Tomo
The main distinction of Tomo’s personal assistant for iMessage is that, instead of being a private assistant for individual interaction, Tomo can become involved in group conversations.
Similar to other agents, it is designed to aid with goals, accountability, scheduling, and everyday organization. It also has the capability to send reminders, search the web, integrate with calendars and email, watch videos, and edit photos.
The basic plan commences at $19.99 per month.
Town
Town is more geared towards professional life. It provides users with a “Townie,” an AI assistant designed to learn their work habits and handle recurring professional tasks. It can integrate with email, calendars, documents, Slack, and other platforms.
In June 2026, the company secured a $55 million Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz and Forerunner.
Underdog
Underdog is a privacy-focused AI assistant that initiated an invite-only beta in early October 2026. Unlike cloud-based AI services, its model operates entirely on the user’s device, keeping personal data on hardware they already own. The initial release supports Mac and Windows computers, with Linux, iPhone, and Android versions anticipated in the future.
The company plans to offer the app for free initially and has stated it will never include advertising.
Wajo
Wajo’s first consumer agent, Fo, is capable of calling businesses, sending emails, joining group chats, making bookings and purchases, and coordinating with individuals to complete everyday tasks.
A key aspect of Wajo’s methodology is providing Fo with its own identity. The agent possesses its own email address, phone number, and payment card, enabling it to interact with businesses without requiring users to share their personal credentials.
Notably, if Fo encounters a task it cannot manage independently, Wajo states it can bring in a human assistant to finalize the task.
Fo publicly launched in September 2026 with a free tier, while more demanding workloads and custom agents are accessible through a paid Pro offering.