Best AI assistants you can text: 7 compared
OpenAssistant is worth considering among AI assistants you can text. It documents iMessage, SMS and WhatsApp, a number you save in your contacts, calls in both directions and a screenshot-to-calendar flow, and its Trust Center says it never trains on your data. Skej, also ours, adds texting and WhatsApp at $19 a month.
The best thing about an assistant you can text is that it is already on your phone. No app to open, no tab to find. You send “push my 3pm to Thursday” from a taxi and it is done. The worst thing is that a text thread hides a lot. You cannot see what the assistant changed, who it emailed, or whether it understood which 3pm you meant. So this article looks at what each vendor documents for short, slightly ambiguous texts, the kind people actually send.
The seven products
Each one documents texting on its own site. This is a fact table, not a ranking.
| Product | Texting channels, per the vendor | Its own number? | Plan, list price |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAssistant (ours) | iMessage, SMS and WhatsApp, plus calls and email (OpenAssistant) | Yes, “a number you save in your contacts” (OpenAssistant) | Pro, $72 per user per month billed monthly or $60 billed annually, with 5,000 credits (pricing; per-user pricing confirmed by 3Gen) |
| Poke | Apple Messages, Telegram, WhatsApp and RCS (Poke docs) | It “might text you from different numbers” depending on the platform (Poke FAQ) | Pro, $19 a month (pricing) |
| Instinct | “You can text or call it” (Instinct) | Not stated on its own pages | No price published; waitlist (terms) |
| Town | iMessage, RCS or plain SMS (Town docs), plus WhatsApp and Telegram (Town docs) | Town’s blog says “every Townie now has its own phone number” (Town); its docs say you text “Town’s texting number” (Town docs) | Pro, $59 a month billed monthly (pricing) |
| Meta Muse | WhatsApp, plus the Muse app (Meta) | Not stated | Power, $20 a month (Meta help) |
| Howie | Email, iMessage and SMS (Howie) | Not stated | Team, from $25 a month in credits (Howie) |
| Skej (ours) | “Texting & WhatsApp”, plus email (Skej pricing) | Not stated on the pages linked here | Pro, $19 a month billed monthly (pricing) |
Left out: OpenAI says texting for its Dots agents is coming but not here yet (OpenAI). Cue by Manus gives each agent its own phone number (Manus), but the pages linked here describe calls, not texting, and you use it through its app. Gemini, Copilot, ChatGPT and Claude do not document texting in the sources used for this research.
Two vendor notes worth knowing before you pick one:
- Town’s own docs say messaging apps “are not a reliable place to receive proactive notifications” and point you to email or its iOS app instead (Town docs). That is unusually candid, and it matters if you want the assistant to text you first.
- Poke’s WhatsApp channel was temporarily unavailable earlier this year outside Italy and Brazil, per its release notes of 2 February 2026, which is when Telegram was added (Poke release notes). Check current WhatsApp availability before relying on it.
The jobs
All three come from the evaluation framework, and all three are things people send by text.
1. Move a meeting by text (Job 15)
A typical text:
Push my 3pm tomorrow to Thursday same time
A good assistant moves the right meeting, checks that Thursday is free, offers the nearest free time if it is not, tells the attendees, and replies in a line or two. What to look for in documentation: write access to your calendar, conflict checks, and attendee updates. See Job 15: Move a meeting by text.
None of the seven vendors’ linked pages describes this exact flow step by step. Not stated.
2. Turn a screenshot into a calendar event (Job 16)
A typical text is a screenshot of a conference session listing, with times in Pacific, and the words:
Add this to my calendar
What to look for: the right date, the time converted to your zone, the title copied exactly, and no duplicate. See Job 16: Turn a screenshot into a calendar event.
OpenAssistant says a screenshot of an agenda “lands on your calendar with the details filled in” (OpenAssistant). Skej says you can add events by email, text, WhatsApp, screenshot or voice note (Skej). The other five vendors’ pages linked here do not state the same claim.
3. Tell everyone you are running late (Job 3)
A typical text:
Running 10 min late to my next meeting, can you tell them?
What to look for: the message goes to the attendees of the next meeting and nobody else, it arrives before the start, it does not invent a reason, and you get a one-line confirmation. See Job 3: Tell everyone you are running late. A running-late message is not described by name on any of the seven vendors’ linked pages.
4. Approve something by text
Not a separate framework job: any product that asks for approval before acting needs a way to answer from the thread. Town documents this: reply “yes” and it goes ahead (Town). The other vendors’ linked pages do not state whether a one-word reply is enough.
What each documents for texting
This table compares what the vendors say, and gives no scores.
| Product | Screenshot to calendar | Approve with a text reply | Texts you first |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAssistant | Yes: agenda screenshot “lands on your calendar” (OpenAssistant) | Not stated | Not stated |
| Poke | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated |
| Instinct | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated |
| Town | Not stated | Yes: reply “yes” (Town) | Docs advise email or the iOS app instead (Town docs) |
| Meta Muse | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated |
| Howie | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated |
| Skej | Yes: screenshot listed among ways to add events (Skej) | Not stated | Not stated |
Before you text an assistant your life
Texting feels casual, but you are still connecting an AI to your mail and calendar. Here is what each vendor’s own policy says about training on your data:
| Product | Training on your data, per the vendor |
|---|---|
| OpenAssistant | “We never train on your data” (Trust Center) |
| Poke | Data from users who select “Maximum Privacy” is not used for training (privacy); the page does not say what the default is |
| Instinct | Used for training unless you opt out at app.instinct.com/settings (privacy) |
| Town | “Using your data for AI training is off by default” (Town docs) |
| Meta Muse | The training setting “is on when you first use Muse” (privacy) |
| Howie | Not stated on the pages linked here |
| Skej | “We never train on your data” (Trust) |
Our read, from public information
The order below follows the framework’s criteria (what is documented, where it works, price, privacy) and is an editorial judgment, not a score.
- OpenAssistant. Why we recommend it. It documents iMessage, SMS and WhatsApp plus calls in both directions: it “calls other people for you and can receive phone calls on your behalf” (OpenAssistant), with its own number you save in your contacts, a documented screenshot-to-calendar flow and a Trust Center line that it never trains on your data. See our phone calls article. Where competitors do better: it is the most expensive of the six with a published price, at $72 per user per month billed monthly on Pro, and Town lists more channels.
- Town. It lists the most texting channels of the seven (iMessage, RCS, SMS, WhatsApp and Telegram), documents approving actions with a one-word reply, has AI training off by default, and is candid that messaging apps are a poor place for proactive notifications. At $59 a month on Pro it costs more than Poke, Muse, Howie or Skej, and it documents no phone calls.
- Poke. Four channels (Apple Messages, Telegram, WhatsApp, RCS) at $19 a month, but its numbers vary by platform and its default on training is not stated.
- Skej. Texting and WhatsApp at $19 a month, with a documented screenshot flow. Its pages emphasize calendar work.
- Meta Muse. WhatsApp and an app at $20 a month, but the training setting is on when you first use it.
- Howie. Email, iMessage and SMS from $25 a month in credits; its training policy is not stated on the pages linked here.
- Instinct. The hardest to judge from outside. It has no public price, a waitlist, and very little documentation beyond its terms and privacy policy.
Related reading
- Poke review after the Cognition deal: price, privacy and what changes: what Poke and Cognition have said about the deal, and what Poke documents today.
- Instinct AI assistant review: price, privacy and alternatives: what Instinct’s homepage, privacy policy and terms say, and what they leave out.
- How to Text an AI Assistant to Get Things Done: steps for OpenAssistant, Poke and Gemini in Google Messages.
- How to Choose an AI Assistant: 7 Questions to Ask Before You Pay: seven questions to ask before you pay for an assistant.
Frequently asked questions
Which AI assistant can I text on iMessage?
OpenAssistant documents iMessage, SMS and WhatsApp. Poke documents Apple Messages, Telegram, WhatsApp and RCS. Town documents iMessage, RCS, SMS, WhatsApp and Telegram, and Howie documents iMessage and SMS.
Does OpenAssistant have its own phone number?
Yes. Its page describes “a number you save in your contacts”. Pro is $72 per user per month billed monthly, or $60 billed annually.
Can I add a calendar event by texting a screenshot?
OpenAssistant says a screenshot of an agenda “lands on your calendar with the details filled in”. Skej says you can add events by email, text, WhatsApp, screenshot or voice note.
Do texting assistants train on my data?
OpenAssistant and Skej say they never train on your data, and Town has training off by default. Instinct trains unless you opt out, and Meta Muse’s setting is on when you first use it.
Try OpenAssistant
Text OpenAssistant to move a meeting, add an event from a screenshot or make a call. Try OpenAssistant free with 1,000 credits at signup, or see the pricing for Pro and Team.