TechCrunch: Poke becomes first AI agent approved for Apple Messages for Business

Poke, a startup built by The Interaction Company of California, became the first AI agent approved to operate on Apple’s Messages for Business platform. The announcement landed on June 4, 2026, just days before Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, where the company was expected to debut an AI-updated version of Siri.

The Poke agent lets users interact with AI through standard text messages — no separate app install required — for tasks like calendar management, smart home control, photo editing, and health tracking. The company previously supported SMS, Telegram, and WhatsApp. Adding Apple Messages for Business brings iMessage into that distribution stack, with the stricter approval process Apple requires for its branded platform.

To get through Apple’s review, Poke had to verify live support availability, label the agent as AI to users, and customize its UI to match Apple’s design guidelines. Co-founder Marvin von Hagen noted the process “took a couple of months.” Poke has relayed approximately 100 million messages across its platforms and raised a combined $25 million in funding, reaching a $300 million post-money valuation.

For product managers, the story has two implications. First, Apple is opening a channel that has historically been closed to third-party AI agents — slowly, with conditions, but it is opening. Teams building customer-facing AI features in messaging need to track this development, since iMessage reaches a large share of iOS users who do not install standalone AI apps. Second, the approval requirements Apple imposed — AI disclosure, live support, design compliance — are a preview of the governance patterns that platform-adjacent AI agents will need to meet as more companies open their messaging infrastructure to outside agents. Product managers designing agent integrations for any major platform should expect similar friction.