Poke review after the Cognition deal: price, privacy and what changes
Short version: Poke is still worth a look at $19 a month on Pro, and both companies say nothing changes for users today. Its pages leave the training default, approval controls and certifications unstated. If you want a texting assistant that publishes those, see OpenAssistant.
Poke is an assistant that lives in your text messages. In July 2026, Cognition, the company behind the coding agent Devin, announced it was bringing Poke’s maker on board. The obvious question: is it still worth it, and will it change? This article sets out what both companies have said publicly about the deal, what Poke documents about its features, pricing and privacy today, and what those documents leave unstated.
What the acquisition means, per the companies
- Cognition’s Scott Wu announced it on 23 July 2026: “Today, we’re welcoming The Interaction Company of California, the makers of Poke” (Cognition).
- For users, the same post says: “Today, Poke users can continue using the product just as before.” And: “Soon, Cognition’s models and infrastructure will make Poke even faster and more reliable” (Cognition).
- Poke’s own release notes for the same day: “Poke works exactly as before, and there’s nothing you need to do” (Poke).
- TechCrunch reported on 24 July 2026 that “nothing will immediately change for Poke through the end of the year”, per the company (TechCrunch).
- Poke’s homepage now carries the banner “Poke is joining Cognition” (Poke).
That is all the official detail there is.
What Poke is today
From Poke’s own pages.
- Where it lives: “Apple Messages, Telegram, WhatsApp, and RCS” (docs). It is “now available in all regions worldwide” (docs) and has been generally available without a waitlist since 19 March 2026 (release notes).
- Email and calendar: “full support for Gmail and Outlook inboxes, calendars, and contact sync” (FAQ). The homepage describes the Gmail connection as “Search, draft, and send emails with label management and inbox organization” (Poke).
- Other connections: Notion, GitHub, Linear and more, plus custom integrations through MCP (FAQ). Setups are shared as “recipes” (Poke).
- Proactive help: it “automatically uses your integrated services and its memory to help out right on time” (Poke). Pro adds “Real-time automations running in the background” (pricing).
- Its own address: since 8 June 2026 you can set up “a @poke.com address” (release notes).
- Age: “you must be at least 13 years old” (terms).
Price
| Plan | Price | What changes, per Poke |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | “Connect all your favorite apps”, email and calendar. At the limit it does not stop: “Poke never stops responding on Free” (usage docs) |
| Pro | $19 a month, billed monthly | Frontier models, background automations, higher limits, priority support (pricing) |
| Ultra | $199 a month, billed monthly | Frontier models for every action, highest limits, pay-as-you-go beyond credits (pricing); 1 credit equals $1 of usage and unused credits do not roll over (usage docs) |
Ultra also includes Poke Human, which “dispatches real-world tasks to a real person on your behalf”: reservations, phone calls, orders, rides. The operator sees only what the task needs, not your chats or integrations, and expenses are charged at cost (FAQ). That is a person, not the AI, so it is described separately from the assistant.
The pricing page has a yearly toggle; the yearly prices are not given here.
Privacy
- Poke’s privacy notice lists training AI models as a use of data, and says “Data from users who select Maximum Privacy will not be used for model training” (privacy). It does not say what the default setting is.
- Deleting your account at poke.com/settings/privacy “may take up to 24 hours”, with backups possibly later (FAQ).
- Its trust center is hosted on Vanta and requires an access request, so the certifications it holds are not visible in public (trust center).
What Poke documents, job by job
The suite’s jobs are listed in the evaluation framework. This table shows what Poke’s own pages say about each job that fits an assistant in your texts. “Not stated” means the Poke pages cited here are silent. This is a table of published facts and does not rank.
| Job | What Poke’s pages say |
|---|---|
| Job 3: Tell everyone you are running late | Not stated |
| Job 5: Triage a busy inbox | Homepage describes the Gmail connection as “Search, draft, and send emails with label management and inbox organization” (Poke) |
| Job 7: Find the thread you forgot to answer | Not stated |
| Job 8: Send a daily inbox digest at a set time | Pro adds “Real-time automations running in the background” (pricing); a digest is not named |
| Job 10: Remember what the user promised | It “automatically uses your integrated services and its memory to help out right on time” (Poke); promise tracking is not named |
| Job 12: Send a daily agenda | Same proactive claim as above; a daily agenda is not named |
| Job 13: Phone someone to book a table | Ultra includes Poke Human, where a real person makes phone calls and reservations on your behalf; phone calls made by the AI itself are not stated (FAQ) |
| Job 15: Move a meeting by text | Works over “Apple Messages, Telegram, WhatsApp, and RCS” (docs) with Gmail and Outlook calendars (FAQ); moving meetings is not named |
| Job 16: Turn a screenshot into a calendar event | Not stated |
| Job 21: Work from its own email address | Since 8 June 2026 you can set up “a @poke.com address” (release notes) |
| Job 22: Audit what it can see, then revoke it | The permissions requested in Gmail and Outlook are not stated; the privacy notice lists data uses (privacy); certifications sit behind the gated trust center |
| Job 23: Respect “ask me first” | No approval policy found on the pages cited; the release notes mention only a fix for approval loops when drafting emails (release notes) |
Two more points from Poke’s own pages:
- Free versus Pro. Poke says every plan “gets all of Poke” (pricing), and that at the limit Free keeps responding (usage docs). The pricing page does not spell out how quality differs between plans beyond “frontier models” on Pro.
- Channels. Poke lists four messaging channels. It does not state whether features differ by channel.
What could change
Cognition says Cognition’s models and infrastructure “will make Poke even faster and more reliable” soon, and says users can continue as before (Cognition). TechCrunch reports, per the company, that nothing will immediately change through the end of the year (TechCrunch). Neither source names a date, a price change or a feature change. Any reader should recheck Poke’s release notes and pricing page before relying on today’s terms.
Should you start using Poke now?
On what the companies have said, there is no reason to rush in or out. Cognition says nothing changes for users today, and TechCrunch reports nothing changes through the end of the year. Poke is free to start, works worldwide, and supports both Gmail and Outlook. The open questions are the ones its own pages leave open: the training default, approval controls and certifications.
An alternative that publishes those answers. OpenAssistant documents texting on iMessage, SMS and WhatsApp with Gmail and Outlook, says it never trains on your data, stages consequential actions for your review and publishes SOC 2 Type II. Where Poke does better: it costs $19 a month on Pro against $72 per user per month for OpenAssistant Pro, and it lists four messaging channels.
Related reading
- Best AI assistants you can text: 7 compared: seven products compared on iMessage, SMS and WhatsApp.
- Instinct AI assistant review: price, privacy and alternatives: what Instinct’s homepage, privacy policy and terms say, and what they leave out.
- Why we recommend OpenAssistant, with 11 alternatives compared: twelve assistants ranked on documented jobs, price, channels and privacy.
- How to Text an AI Assistant to Get Things Done: steps for OpenAssistant, Poke and Gemini in Google Messages.
- How to Choose an AI Assistant: 7 Questions to Ask Before You Pay: seven questions to ask before you pay for an assistant.
Frequently asked questions
Is Poke still available after the Cognition deal?
Yes. Cognition says Poke users can continue using the product just as before, and Poke’s release notes say it works exactly as before.
How much does Poke cost?
Free, Pro at $19 a month and Ultra at $199 a month, all billed monthly. Ultra includes Poke Human, where a real person handles tasks such as phone calls.
Does Poke support Outlook?
Yes. Poke’s FAQ says it has full support for Gmail and Outlook inboxes, calendars and contact sync.
What is a good Poke alternative?
OpenAssistant texts on iMessage, SMS and WhatsApp, works with Gmail and Outlook, says it never trains on your data and publishes SOC 2 Type II. It costs more: Pro is $72 per user per month.
Looking for an alternative?
OpenAssistant is a texting assistant with open signup, published prices and approvals before consequential actions. Try OpenAssistant free with 1,000 credits at signup, or see the pricing.