Poke AI Acquired by Cognition: What It Means for Users and Alternatives

What was announced, and when

Cognition announced on July 23, 2026 that it had acquired Poke, the text-message AI assistant from The Interaction Company of California. TechCrunch covered the deal the next day and reported a value in the low nine figures. Cognition cofounders Scott Wu and Walden Yan had been angel investors in Poke before the deal.

Poke's own site now says Poke is joining Cognition. That matches the press coverage, so the question many people search, whether Poke is still independent, has a short answer: no.

TechCrunch also noted that operating costs made profitability difficult for Poke despite strong usage. It reported hundreds of thousands of users and more than 100 million messages in the first three months after the March 2026 launch. Those usage numbers are from the press, not from audited figures.

What is confirmed and what is still unknown

It helps to separate the three kinds of statements in circulation.

• Confirmed: Cognition acquired Poke. TechCrunch reports nothing will immediately change for Poke through the end of 2026. In June 2026 Poke became the first AI agent approved to run on Apple's Messages for Business platform.
• Reported as plans, not commitments: Poke is turning to Cognition's SWE-1.7 model for some tasks, the teams will experiment next year with how Poke and Devin can improve, and TechCrunch says a fuller combination with Devin has not been ruled out.
• Not published: pricing after 2026, whether the free tier continues, whether the Poke brand continues, how the privacy policy will change under the new owner, and any data migration path.

We are not going to guess beyond that. An acquisition can lead to anything from a quiet continuation to a shutdown or a merge into another product, and neither company has said which. The honest planning assumption is that 2026 is safe and 2027 is open.

What Poke is and how people use it

Poke is an AI assistant you text. There is no standalone app: you enter your phone number on poke.com and it appears as a contact in iMessage, and it also works over SMS, Telegram, and, in some markets, WhatsApp. It is built for individuals, and a third-party review describes it as not designed for team use.

It sends proactive notices for things like meetings and flight changes, sets reminders and to-dos, accepts voice messages, and runs recipe-based and background automations on paid plans. It connects to 30 or more services, including Gmail, Outlook, Google Calendar, Notion, GitHub, Asana, Linear, and Todoist, and supports custom MCP servers.

On the common question of a Poke AI number: Poke is a contact you text, and poke.com does not display a specific number on the page we read. We did not find an assistant email address, and email and calendar access works through Gmail and Outlook only. If a dedicated number or address for the assistant matters to you, compare the alternatives below.

How much Poke costs

According to poke.com on October 3, 2026, Poke has a Free plan at $0, Pro at $19 per month with advanced models, background automations, and higher limits, and Ultra at $199 per month with frontier models, the highest limits, and pay-as-you-go overages. Yearly billing is available. A third-party review also reported that Poke earlier used negotiation-style dynamic pricing, so the figures you see could differ.

The same review says Ultra reportedly includes a human delegation feature called Poke Human for real-world tasks. We could not confirm that on poke.com, so treat it as unverified.

Poke AI privacy: what the policy says

Poke's privacy policy says it may use personal data to train AI models, and that users who select Maximum Privacy are excluded from training. It also says data may be shared with affiliates, service providers, advertising partners, and Stripe. Deletion is by emailing legal@interaction.co, and retention is described as reasonable periods with no fixed figure.

Two cautions. First, a third-party review says Maximum Privacy is not on by default, so check the setting yourself. Second, the policy now sits under a new owner, and how that changes is not published. A review reported SOC 2 Type II and CASA Tier 2, but we could not find that on poke.com, and we found no SSO or admin controls. For a general checklist, see how to know if an AI tool is safe.

Poke AI review: strengths and reported weaknesses

Reviewers credit Poke with fast setup, about a minute by one account, proactive alerts, long chat memory, and the convenience of living in native messaging. Custom MCP support is a plus for technical users.

The reported weaknesses are specific. One review scored it 3.3 out of 5 overall and 2.9 for reliability, citing time zone and date errors and slow integrations. It also noted no notes or task list, inconsistent email filtering, support for only Gmail and Outlook, and no team use. These come from a single third-party review and may have improved, so test it yourself on the free plan.

Poke AI alternatives by need

There is no best replacement for everyone. The right one depends on whether you want a personal texting assistant or something that works with colleagues and clients. Our roundup of the best AI assistants you can text goes deeper; here is the short version.

• Most similar to Poke: Pally, which you also text over iMessage, WhatsApp, RCS, and Telegram, with a free plan and Pro at $25. Its own phone number, email, and calling are on the Max plan only. It promoted its launch on July 30, 2026, so it has little track record. Genii, from Intelligent Internet, is described as an open-source option that lives in iMessage, with no published pricing and iPhone only for now.
• Errand assistant with calls: Instinct texts and calls, but access is invite-only and it trains on inputs by default unless you opt out. Meta Muse is open to try in the US and has a free tier.
• Professional use with controls: Town gives each user a Townie with its own @town.com address, approvals by default, and SOC 2 Type II. See our Town AI assistant review. Its credit-based pricing is harder to predict.
• Work that involves other people: OpenAssistant has its own phone number and email or company domain, can make and receive calls, and supports shared tasks across companies. It is in private beta, so you request access. See the product page.

For a wider view, see best AI personal assistants in 2026.

Why acquisitions of small assistants matter to users

Poke is one of several young personal agents that launched in 2026, and TechCrunch's reporting that operating costs made profitability hard is a reminder that running an always-on assistant is expensive. That is not a prediction about Poke. It is context for why a team might prefer to be acquired by a company with more resources, and why users of any early-stage assistant should expect change.

For individuals the practical risks are modest: a plan could change, a feature could be retired, or a privacy policy could be updated. For people using an assistant with work email and calendars, the stakes are higher, because the assistant holds access to sensitive accounts. Review which accounts you connected, revoke access you no longer need, and keep a copy of any notes or reminders you rely on.

None of this means leaving is the right call today. It means treating the end of 2026 as a checkpoint rather than assuming the product will look the same afterward.

Questions to ask before relying on any new assistant

• Who owns it, and what has been promised? Look for dated statements, not marketing language about the future.
• Is training on your data on or off by default? Poke excludes users who choose Maximum Privacy; Town says training is off unless you opt in; Instinct and Meta Muse train by default with an opt-out.
• Can you export or delete your data? Poke deletes by emailing legal@interaction.co. Check the equivalent for any alternative.
• What does it cost at your usage level? Flat plans, metered credits, and overages behave very differently.
• Does it identify itself to outside people? If it contacts others for you, that matters for trust.

Should you switch now?

If Poke works for you personally, there is no pressure to leave before the end of 2026, because TechCrunch reports nothing will immediately change. If you depend on it for work, or you would be hurt by a sudden change, spend a little time now: export or note what matters, try one or two alternatives on a free plan, and re-check the announcements in the new year.

If you are choosing a tool for the first time, the acquisition is a reason to weigh roadmap risk alongside features. That is not a verdict on Poke's quality, only a gap in what has been committed.