A growing set of AI agents is designed to be texted like an ordinary person instead of requiring a new app. Users send a message and the agent remembers context, connects to existing apps and services, and completes tasks such as scheduling appointments, organizing calendars, booking travel, sending email, making reservations, shopping, or following up days later. The article surveys the most notable options in the space, from general-purpose assistants to agents aimed at families, travel, and work.

Among general-purpose agents, Instinct is the highest-profile, having raised $1 billion at a $10 billion valuation in September 2026 after earlier raising $350 million at a $2.5 billion valuation. It works by text or voice, takes actions on behalf of users, has begun giving each assistant a dedicated email address for account creation and follow-ups, and is rolling out call support; it remains in private beta. The article notes that this level of autonomy has also raised privacy and security concerns. Ask Proxy differentiates itself by attempting to anticipate needs, works over SMS, and costs $1/day for personal use, with business pricing from $15 to $23 per employee per month. Caddy lives in iMessage and RCS, connects calendars and conversations, and has been in public beta since April 2026. Comma is an open-source agent that works across browser, computer, and files, and stays reachable through Signal, Telegram, and WeChat. Folk runs on a private cloud computer, can execute multi-step tasks, and launched its beta in May 2026 with a free tier and an $8.33/month Pro option.

Other personal assistants include Iris, which works through iMessage via Hermes Agent; Martin, reachable through SMS, phone, WhatsApp, email, Slack, and iOS, at $21/month; Maverick, which asks permission before taking action and is free in beta on iMessage with a €27/month Pro tier; Pally, which connects WhatsApp, Gmail, calendars, and Drive; Poke, which launched in March 2026 and became the first AI agent on Apple’s Messages for Business platform before its parent The Interaction Company of California was acquired by Cognition; Rene, positioned as a user’s “best contact” with a browser, code-writing, shopping, slides, and image creation; and Tab, which emerged from stealth in early October at a $300 million valuation. Tomo is notable for joining group conversations, with plans starting at $19.99 per month.

Several agents target families. Fambot acts as a chief of staff, sends nightly summaries of the next day, connects to Gmail, Google Calendar, Outlook, and WhatsApp, launched in beta in early September 2026, and has raised $3.5 million in pre-seed funding; it is free during beta. Ohai turns forwarded emails and voice requests into schedules, reminders, and plans, with subscriptions starting at $9.99 per month. Ollie aggregates school messages, calendars, tasks, and group chats, and is one of the first family-focused AI assistants to achieve SOC 2 compliance; it launched in June 2026 with free and paid tiers from $25 per month for 150 messages. Orbits brings together calendars, lists, and conversations, and can make purchases, book restaurants, and request quotes; it is backed by a16z Speedrun, N49P, and Garage Capital.

Specialized agents include Miso for travel planning through iMessage with a dedicated travel team, Skye as an iPhone “agentic homescreen” that surfaces contextual cards and daily briefings and remains in private testing, Stanley for content creators via Instagram and voice notes, Szn for coordinating tasks and follow-ups with a claimed 7,500+ businesses served across 16 countries, Wajo‘s Fo which has its own email address, phone number, and payment card plus a human fallback, and Town for professional work with an assistant called a Townie after raising a $55 million Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz and Forerunner. Underdog takes a privacy-focused approach by running the model entirely on the user’s device, entering invite-only beta in early October 2026 on Mac and Windows with free use and no advertising planned.