Source: techcrunch.com/2026/10/24/all-the-ai-agents-that-can-live-in-your-text-messages
AI agents that take requests over iMessage, SMS, RCS, WhatsApp or Telegram are multiplying. According to TechCrunch, these agents can keep context, connect to calendars, email and other existing services, and carry out tasks such as booking reservations, scheduling events and sending emails. Instinct is one of the best-known examples, after raising $1 billion in September 2026 at a $10 billion valuation.
Several products target households. Ollie says it is one of the first mainstream family assistants to achieve SOC 2 compliance, and it has a free tier with paid plans starting at $25 per month. Fambot sends nightly summaries by text and connects to Gmail, Google Calendar, Outlook and WhatsApp, with Apple Calendar support planned.
Other products focus on specific work. Tomo can join group chats, Miso handles flight booking through iMessage with a dedicated travel team, and Town offers an assistant for professional tasks. Underdog, in invite-only beta, runs its model on the user's own Mac or Windows computer.
Why it matters if you build agents
Messaging is becoming a real distribution channel for agents: Apple approved Poke as the first AI agent on Apple Messages for Business in June 2026, so developers can plan for business messaging platforms to host agents. Agents that act on your behalf, such as Instinct with its own email address for signing up to services, raise privacy and security questions that the article itself flags. If you build a text-based interface, check how each platform handles group chats, permissions and data storage before you launch.
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