Poke: An AI agent you don't have to install

Poke is a product of the California startup The Interaction Company of California from Palo Alto, founded by co-founder Marvin von Hagen. The company has so far raised $25 million from investors including Spark Capital and General Catalyst, and was valued at $300 million in its latest funding round. All with just ten employees.

The service has been running since March 2026 and, according to TechCrunch, has already facilitated over 100 million messages. It originally ran via SMS, Telegram, and in some countries even WhatsApp — but has now gained approval for the Apple Messages for Business platform, which was previously reserved only for large companies like airlines or hotel chains.

For Czech iPhone users, this means one fundamental thing: you can use an AI assistant directly in the Messages app, without installing anything else. No separate app, no complex setup. You simply chat with it like a friend.

How to activate Poke on iPhone

Activation is surprisingly simple. Just go to poke.com/apple-messages and tap the "Open Poke in Messages" button. Then enter your phone number with the Czech country code (+420) and copy the verification code from the SMS. From that moment on, a Poke channel will appear in your iMessage.

During the first conversation, the agent will inform you that — as required by Apple — you are talking to an artificial intelligence, and that if needed, you can be transferred to live support. This is one of the conditions Apple has set for AI agents on its platform.

Czech from day one: why it matters

With global AI services, Czech is often an afterthought — if it's available at all. Poke is a pleasant surprise in this regard. It understands Czech right from launch and can not only reply in Czech but also summarize content, search the internet, or generate QR codes. For users who aren't confident in English, this is a significant advantage over most competing solutions.

MobilManie's editorial team found during testing that Poke handles Czech without issues — including diacritics and natural sentence structures. It's not broken machine-translated Czech, but communication at a level that feels natural.

Everything Poke can do — and where it falls short

Poke handles a wide range of everyday tasks:

• Planning and calendar — helps organize your day, reminds you of appointments
• Health and fitness — connects with fitness apps and tracks your activities
• Smart home — controls compatible devices via text commands
• Internet search — finds current information, weather, news
• YouTube video summaries — send a link and get a content digest
• QR code generation — just say what the code should contain
• Photo generation and editing — though the service has shortcomings here, editing isn't perfect yet

One of the most interesting aspects is how the agent communicates. It's not a dry "question–answer" exchange. Poke simulates the behavior of a real user — occasionally sends several messages in a row, sometimes reacts spontaneously. It feels much more natural than interacting with a typical chatbot.

On the other hand, you should expect that response times can sometimes be slower, especially with more complex requests. And as mentioned, photo editing isn't yet on par with specialized tools.

Price haggling: a business model without parallel

The basic version of Poke is completely free, and the creators promise that features you use now "will remain free forever." Premium features — unlimited photo generation and editing, faster response times, and full email and calendar integration — however, require a subscription. And here comes the most interesting part.

You negotiate the price with the AI agent. For MobilManie's editorial team, Poke initially offered a monthly subscription for 199 CZK. After a short haggle, it dropped the price to 95 CZK. It then added a payment link directly into the conversation. This is a business model we haven't seen in mobile apps before — dynamic pricing driven by the agent itself.

This approach makes sense: the startup isn't betting on a fixed price list, but on individual willingness to pay. For users who wouldn't use the service at 199 crowns, the resulting 95 CZK might be acceptable. And for Poke, that's better than no customer at all.

Apple and AI agents: a new revenue stream

What does Apple get out of this? According to TechCrunch, Poke pays Apple a fixed fee per user. The exact amount isn't public, but according to the co-founder, it's significantly lower than what Meta charges for running AI in WhatsApp in the EU after increasing fees in response to European regulation (DMA).

For Apple, this represents a new, potentially lucrative revenue stream — if the AI agent market grows, per-user fee revenues could be significant. Moreover, Poke's approval comes just days before WWDC 2026, where AI enhancements for Siri and new developer tools are expected to be announced. There is even speculation that Apple could open an App Store specifically for AI agents.

Getting Apple's approval was not easy. The process took several months and involved adapting the user interface to Apple's design standards, verifying the ability to hand off conversations to a live operator, and clearly identifying that the user is communicating with AI.

What this means for the Czech Republic and Europe

Poke is interesting from a European perspective as well. While Meta AI in WhatsApp in the EU operates at higher operational costs due to DMA regulation, Poke managed to negotiate more favorable terms with Apple. This could mean more affordable AI services for European users.

Moreover, Czech support from day one shows that the startup doesn't ignore smaller language markets. For ordinary Czech users who have so far had to use English for AI assistants or settle for poorer localization, this is a welcome change. It's not a full replacement for complex AI assistants like ChatGPT or Claude, but for quick everyday tasks directly in iMessage, it's a surprisingly capable companion.

The question remains how the service will fare under more widespread adoption and whether response times will stay tolerable as the number of users grows. For now, though, Poke comes across as a likable attempt to bring an AI agent closer to ordinary people — without barriers, without installations, and most importantly, in Czech.