Top AI agents that live inside your text messages

Don't download anything — just text

Rather than adding another app to your phone, a growing number of AI agents can simply be texted like a regular person. You send a message with what you need, and the agent can remember context, connect to the services you already use, and complete tasks for you. That can mean scheduling appointments, organizing your calendar, researching a trip, sending emails, making reservations, shopping online, or setting reminders days later.

The buzziest name in the space right now is Instinct, which just raised $1 billion at a $10 billion valuation. But it is far from alone.

Work, families, and general use

Caddy lives inside iMessage for iPhone users and RCS for Android users, so there is no separate inbox to check. It connects to your calendars and conversations, spots things that need action, and can add events, set reminders, track follow-ups, and even do research. It has been in public beta since April 2026.

Comma is designed to carry tasks through to completion across a browser, computer, and files, while still being reachable through messaging apps such as Signal, Telegram, and WeChat. It runs daily briefings, flags urgent matters, and summarizes recorded calls. It is free to start and open source.

For families, Fambot acts as a chief of staff. It organizes school communications, sports schedules, meal planning, and packing lists, then sends every night a summary of the next day. Parents reply to messages to ask questions or make changes. The service launched in beta in September 2026 and has raised $3.5 million in pre-seed funding.

Martin is a general-purpose assistant reachable by SMS, phone, WhatsApp, email, Slack, and its own iOS app. It manages calendars, email, reminders, tasks, and notes, and can send messages or make calls on your behalf. Subscriptions start at $21 per month, making it one of the pricier options.

Private clouds and dedicated inboxes

Folk runs on its own private cloud computer, which means it can execute code and handle multi-step tasks rather than just chatting back. It connects to iMessage, WhatsApp, and Telegram, remembers personal context, and can track flights, research topics, and make restaurant reservations. A Pro subscription costs about $8.33 per month for unlimited background tasks.

Instinct is the most heavily funded newcomer. It began giving users dedicated email addresses so the assistant can create accounts and handle business emails without clogging the user's personal inbox. It also supports text and voice input, connects to email and Google Workspace, and is rolling out the ability to place calls. The company remains in private beta, and its high level of autonomy has raised privacy concerns.

Iris is powered by Hermes Agent and works inside iMessage. You connect your apps, send a simple task, and the agent follows up proactively instead of waiting for your next message.

Why this matters

The common thread is convenience. Instead of juggling apps, these agents let you text like you are messaging a friend, while they handle the messy work behind the scenes.

Key facts

Instinct raised $1 billion at a $10 billion valuation in its latest round
Caddy has been in public beta since April 2026 and lives inside iMessage and RCS
Fambot sends families a nightly text summary of the next day
Folk runs on its own private cloud computer and charges $8.33 per month for unlimited background tasks
Instinct now gives users dedicated email addresses so the assistant can handle business correspondence

Seen on social

Introducing Microsoft-Decision-1, our new model for fast decision-making. It delivers top performance on structured decision tasks, outperforming both LLMs and other decision models in latency and quality. We’re already testing it across Microsoft for everything from incident… pic.twitter.com/M3fAOD90r6

— Satya Nadella on X, see the post

Sources

This story was written before each paragraph carried a source number: every fact in it comes from one of the sources above.