The new Mac app that Rply launches today is designed to help Texters achieve “Inbox Zero” with iMessage.
Targeting people who forget to reply and forget to deliver their friends for days, Rply uses AI to identify missed texts and respond to prevent unintentional ghosts I propose. AI Assistant can automatically respond to messages in your inbox for users who have not received replies for more than 24 hours.
Rply is the brainchild of Molly Cantillon, a 21-year-old Stanford dropout who created Nox, a personalized AI assistant for iOS, supported by Openai's Startup Fund.
“Rply was built to handle the 'text debt' and responded mentally, but never hit a send, distracted or forgotten. The core idea is to keep texting authentically connected, while not feeling too much of a burden,” Cantillon told TechCrunch.
Image credits: rply
AI-powered Smart Reply Technology has been around for nearly a decade and is used by major tech companies like Google, but Cantillon points out that he hasn't seen solutions like Imessage's Rply yet. I did.
Rply's Imessage assistant takes it a step further by analyzing the entire user's text history to create replies tailored to the writing style and personality, bringing natural sound responses.
Taking inspiration from Inbox Zero, the popular virtual assistant for email, Rply also removes unanswered messages. Even providing users with a clear overview of unread text allows them to see how many messages require responses. This feature provides a simple summary and makes it easier than scrolling through iMessage.
Cantillon believes that the unanswered message filter is “a simple yet important feature that Apple has surprisingly overlooked.”
The app also includes a stats page that displays average weekly response times and tracks “Inbox Zero Streaks.” To make users more aware of their texting habits, we display statistics such as “Who's the quickest answer” and “Who likes ghosts.”
While testing the app, TechCrunch discovered that AI responses sounded natural and showed understanding of the context. Most of the people we sent the message were unaware that the response was being generated by AI. However, some users have noticed something was off when the AI puts the comma after “haha”. Also, no emojis were used.
Image credits: rply
Rply has already attracted considerable interest, and has signed up to 1,000 paid users so far. Cantillon said many people portrayed in the app are in the technical, creative and business fields. The app is aimed at founders, recruiters, retailers, and other professionals who are overwhelmed by their busy inboxes. College students may find this app useful too.
Many people are attracted to Rply because of their useful features, but it raises the question: Can rely on AI reduce the emotional connections that can be obtained from text messages? This is a topic that has emerged before with the rise of generator AI tools, but it is worth considering whether the ease of use of AI is worth giving up on the heartfelt exchange of them.
Additionally, to use the app, users must grant permission to access all text messages and contacts. This requirement can raise concerns for some people as it means that AI will look into personal conversations with friends and family.
According to Rply's privacy page, the app does not use text content to train generalized AI models and follows a “strict data retention policy.” This means that the data is not saved and is deleted immediately after processing. Rply also states that it does not sell user data to third parties.
Cantillon added that RPLY offers local llama-based options (META's AI model) to users who want to keep all text data processing completely on the device, preventing text data from being uploaded.
It is normal for AI systems to require user data to function properly, but it is important to note that even if companies claim strong security practices, violations are still occurring. Chinese AI company Deepseek recently dealt with an exposed internal database containing sensitive information, including chat history. Always be aware of relevant privacy risks.
RPLY is currently only available on MACOS devices. Apple is known for its strict App Store guidelines. This suggests that Rply may have developed a MAC app as a strategic workaround.
In the future, Cantillon envisions increasing the availability of Rply to platforms such as WhatsApp and Slack. However, it is unclear whether this will occur, and there may be concerns among users of Slack, the app used by employees, regarding their willingness to share extensive information with AI companies.
It's also on the more expensive side. The basic subscription costs $30 per month after a 14-day free trial.