Poke is the iMessage agent that wants to kill your spreadsheet

Apple approved Poke — built by The Interaction Company — as the first third-party AI agent to run directly inside iMessage via the Messages for Business platform. No separate app. No dashboard. Just a text thread that does things.

Recipes are the key mechanic. Poke lets you build reusable workflow automations connecting to Gmail, Outlook, Navan (for expense tracking and flight deal alerts), and enterprise ledgers — all triggered from a conversation you're already having. It's a small approval with massive implications. Apple has kept iMessage a closed garden for years. Opening it to third-party agentic AI, even carefully through business accounts, is a quiet shift that matters more than most of what got announced on stage at WWDC.

The spreadsheet UI had a good run. But if a text thread can now trigger your expense reports, update your calendar, and pull your flight confirmations without you opening a single other app, the days of switching between tabs and tabs and tabs are numbered. Poke didn't get the headline coverage of Siri's overhaul, but it might end up being the more disruptive announcement.