Apple has approved Poke as the first third-party AI agent on Messages for Business, its commercial channel inside iMessage. The Palo Alto startup claims 100 million messages already relayed and a post-money valuation of 300 million dollars. iMessage now turns into a full platform for conversational agents.
Key Takeaways
- Poke is the first AI agent approved by Apple on Messages for Business.
- 100 million messages relayed, a recent 10 million dollar round, and a 300 million dollar post-money valuation.
- Apple opens iMessage to third-party agents while keeping a tight grip on the user experience.
A review process that took several months
On June 4, 2026, Poke (built by The Interaction Company of California, based in Palo Alto) got Apple’s green light. The startup becomes the first third-party AI agent admitted on Messages for Business, Apple’s official channel for brand-to-user conversations inside iMessage.
The audit took “a couple of months”, according to statements from Marvin von Hagen, Poke’s co-founder. Apple imposes strict rules: verified live human support availability, clear identification of the AI agent in the thread, a custom UI compliant with Apple’s style guidelines, and link preview formatting matching Apple specs.
Poke is not a newcomer. The agent already runs on SMS, on Telegram and on WhatsApp in select markets. Its core promise fits in one line: run everything through plain text messages, from daily planning to calendar management, plus health and fitness tracking, smart home control, and photo editing.
The team stays lean: only ten people. Landing on iMessage changes the scale entirely. In the U.S. market, where iMessage dominates traditional SMS, the channel gives Poke direct access to users without going through the App Store.
Apple has not publicly outlined a timeline for opening the platform to other agents. Poke’s approval does set a precedent. Other operators are likely to file applications in the coming weeks, lining up with the technical requirements that surfaced through this review.
A pricing model cheaper than Meta on WhatsApp
On the business side, Poke closed a 10 million dollar round, on top of an earlier 15 million dollar seed. The post-money valuation now sits at 300 million dollars. Backers include Spark Capital, General Catalyst, and a roster of angel investors.
The Apple deal relies on a per-user pricing structure. Poke describes its price point as “significantly lower” than what Meta charges for AI agents on WhatsApp. The gap matters. Apple seems intent on avoiding the WhatsApp pattern, where high fees slowed adoption on the publisher side.
The 100 million messages relayed figure works as a commercial proof point. It shows usage already exists on SMS and third-party apps, so iMessage will be more than a showcase. Poke now has to turn that volume into recurring revenue on a channel where users install nothing.
The conversational agent angle is not new. As we covered in our piece on Asana acquiring StackAI to push into the agent era, the agent layer is already eating into established SaaS products. Apple shows up late, but with a direct line into the iOS base.
The economic model still has to prove itself at scale. Per-user pricing works for publishers only if the value users perceive justifies the bill. On that front, Poke has a lot riding on this first quarter of iMessage exposure.
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What the call changes for consumer AI agents
Short term, the most visible effect will be a wave of new third-party AI agent applications for Messages for Business. Apple’s conditions are now de facto public knowledge: live support, clear identification, UI compliance, link previews matching specs. Publishers that tick those boxes have a serious file to submit.
Over three to six months, the battle shifts to Meta. WhatsApp Business still leads the conversational agent market in BtoC, but its pricing is widely seen as too high by publishers. If Apple keeps an aggressive per-user rate, iMessage can become the new standard in markets where iOS share runs ahead of Android.
The other consequence touches Apple Intelligence. Apple has never opened Siri to third-party agents this way. The entry point runs through Messages for Business, meaning through a commercial channel. That spares Apple from giving ground at the system layer while monetizing a channel that had been underused.
For agent developers, Poke sets a reference point. The agent validates the live support requirement (a reachable human) and the identification requirement (users know they are talking to an AI). Those two constraints will shape every agent layer that lands on iMessage in the next few quarters.
For end users, the shift will be gradual. No immediate upheaval: Poke first lands with its existing user base, before other brands come in. The direction is set: iMessage becomes an official channel for AI agents, with a pricing structure built to avoid the WhatsApp drift.
Follow the story on Horizon.
