Poke Becomes First AI Agent Approved for Apple Messages for Business, Will Pay Apple Per-User Fees
Poke, launched in March 2026, will add iMessage to its SMS, Telegram and WhatsApp channels after securing Apple approval. The Palo Alto startup has relayed 100 million messages and recently raised its valuation to $300 million.
Poke, an AI agent that lets users manage tasks through text messages, became the first such service approved for Apple’s Messages for Business platform, TechCrunch reported. The approval was announced on June 4, 2026, four days before Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference opens on Monday, June 8.
Until now the platform had been limited to airlines, retailers and other businesses communicating directly with their customers.
Poke was launched in March 2026 by The Interaction Company of California, a 10-person startup based in Palo Alto. It currently operates over SMS, Telegram and, in some markets, WhatsApp, and has relayed some 100 million messages to date. Users can ask Poke to handle daily planning, calendar management, health and fitness tracking, smart-home control and photo editing.
The service will now add iMessage to its supported platforms and is rolling out invites that let existing users switch to the new channel. Marvin von Hagen, co-founder of The Interaction Company of California, said the startup will pay Apple on a per-user basis. He described the fee as lower than Meta AI’s charges after the company raised prices in response to European Union rules.
“Apple is just noticing this is the best way to offer AI, and…actually, good for them, because they charge us,” von Hagen said. ” Approval required verification that Poke could provide live support when needed and that the AI agent would be clearly identified as such.
The company submitted testimonies from its messaging providers and adjusted its interface to meet Apple’s guidelines, including showing link previews instead of inline links and following Apple’s style guide for buttons and other elements.
“This took a couple of months to adhere to all of these standards, and it will take anyone else who wants to build on this — it will also take them a couple of months to get through this approval process,” von Hagen said. The startup recently raised an additional $10 million on top of last year’s $15 million seed round.
It is now valued at $300 million post-money and is backed by Spark Capital, General Catalyst and other angel investors.
Apple was not immediately available for comment.
