Apple approves Poke as the first AI agent on its Messages for Business platform

The news of Poke’s launch on Apple’s Messages for Business comes just days ahead of Apple’s anticipated Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday, where it’s expected to introduce an AI-optimized version of Siri along with other AI tools and services for app developers. It is also rumored that Apple would open its App Store to AI agents.

That’s not quite the case here with Poke. Apple’s Messages for Business platform isn’t about offering a consumer-facing mobile app, but rather a way for consumers to interact with a business through the Message’s app interface directly. This allows consumers to reach out to businesses for information, support, appointment scheduling, and more, without having to call them by phone. Poke’s users ask the AI agent a question or make a request, and it responds via text.

For founders and investors, the more interesting detail may be the business model it opens up. Marvin von Hagen, co-founder of The Interaction Company of California, the Palo Alto-based startup behind Poke, says his startup will pay its messaging service provider, that it worked with to enable Messages for Business, on a per-user basis. While he can’t share the exact pricing, he notes that it’s significantly lower than Meta AI, after it increased fees in response to EU regulation that required it to permit third-party AI agents on WhatsApp.

“I think Apple is just noticing this is the best way to offer AI,” he said, adding that he believes Apple’s support for AI agents will grow over time as well.

Getting Apple’s approval required the company to verify that it could offer live support, if needed, and that its AI agent was clearly identified as such. Poke also submitted testimonies from its messaging providers and customized its user interface to meet Apple’s guidelines.

For instance, Poke on Apple Messages for Business has to show link previews instead of inline links, as before, and it uses Apple’s style guide for things like buttons and interface 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. As for being the first? That had a lot to do with trust.

“It was also just important that we were very aligned in terms of the positioning of the company,” he noted, explaining that many consumer products today are about getting to numbers through questionable tactics. “We care about quality, we care to have a brand that signals trust,” von Hagen said.

It’s not clear if Apple will announce any news related to AI agents on its Message for Business platform at WWDC next week, and von Hagen isn’t clued into Apple’s plans. However, Poke is currently rolling out invites to existing users that will allow them to optionally move over to the Apple Messages for Business platform if they prefer. Poke will continue to offer subscriptions, which will include an option to use Apple Pay.

Backed by Spark Capital, General Catalyst, and other angels, the 10-person startup recently added another $10 million to its coffers, on top of last year’s $15 million seed round. It’s now valued at $300 million, post-money.

Apple was not immediately available for comment.

Correction: This story has been updated after co-founder Marvin von Hagen clarified that Poke pays its messaging service provider on a per-user basis, not Apple directly.