Triage and Reply to Email by iMessage

"Is there an email client that also handles iMessage?" is a fair question, and most answers stop at a push notification. This page covers what the texting side of Slashy does, step by step, including where it stops. We build Slashy, so the product facts here come from our own help center and the pricing page, and the limits are included on purpose.

What does it mean to handle email by iMessage?

It means the assistant lives in a normal text thread. You message the Slashy number the way you would message a person, and it does the work in your connected inbox and calendar. Slashy's iMessage capabilities guide says everything the agent can do in the desktop sidebar it can do by text.

Concretely, that is searching mail, rendering an email as a screenshot inside the thread so you see the real layout, drafting and sending replies, setting reminders, and checking or changing your calendar. It is a remote control for the inbox, not a mirrored copy of the inbox in your Messages app.

How do you triage email by text?

Two ways: you ask, or it tells you.

Asking is plain language. Examples from the help center: "Find the last email from Sarah about the Q4 budget," "Show me unread emails from today," "Did John ever reply to my proposal?" and "Forward me any OTP codes from the last hour." The agent searches your full inbox history, so a question like "What did Priya say last about the launch?" works across years of mail rather than the last page of results.

Being told is the briefing. You ask once, for example "every weekday at 8am, send me a morning briefing on iMessage," and Slashy texts you the day's meetings, unread mail from your VIPs and pending follow-ups. You can reply to the briefing to act on an item, such as "Follow up with David about the partnership." Slashy's briefings guide walks through the setup, including an end-of-day version.

There is also a weekly one for clutter. Every Sunday at 5 PM in your timezone, according to the automations overview, Slashy scans for newsletters and senders you rarely read and texts you a checklist of five, each as an "Unsubscribe from [sender]" choice.

How do you draft and send a reply by iMessage?

The loop has three steps, and you stay in control of the last one.

1. Ask for the draft. Text "Reply to Sarah's email saying I'll have the report ready by Thursday."
2. Review the preview. Slashy sends a visual preview of the draft into the conversation.
3. Refine or send. Reply "make it more formal" or "add a line about the timeline" and it revises. Say "send it" and the email goes out. Say "save as draft" and it waits in Slashy for you to finish on a laptop.

The draft is written from the same memory that writes drafts in the desktop app, so a reply you send by text sounds like the ones you send from the keyboard. There is also a Slashy app inside Messages: tap its icon in the app drawer above the keyboard and any draft Slashy prepared is waiting there, with the quoted thread hidden behind a toggle so you can check which conversation you are answering. From that view you can edit, send, or schedule it for later.

When Slashy needs a decision, it asks as a native iMessage poll. Tap which time works for a call, or whether to send or edit a draft. Polls need iOS 26 or macOS 26; on earlier versions it asks the same question as a text and you type the answer.

If you would rather talk, send a voice message. The agent transcribes it and acts on it, which helps when the instruction is long, like "find everything from investors this month I have not answered and draft a short update for each."

"It's like having an EA who's always one step ahead. I'm walking to a meeting, text 'what do we know about this person,' and the full context shows up immediately."

Daniel Paredes, Sierra Ventures

What will it not do without asking?

Send mail. According to the agent autonomy page, Slashy drafts, searches and manages your calendar freely, but "in chat and iMessage it asks before sending." Sending any email, and sending via iMessage in interactive mode, needs your explicit approval, with a preview of recipients and body first.

There is one exception you opt into. If you confirm a goal, such as "get a time booked with this vendor," the agent is authorized to email people from your connected inbox toward that outcome without asking each time. Read Mode, a switch in Settings, blocks sending and calendar changes entirely while still letting it search and draft. Use it while you are learning what the assistant does.

How do you set it up?

During onboarding, after the inbox preview, click Connect iMessage. That opens Messages with a pre-filled text to the Slashy number. Send it without editing: the message carries invisible characters that link your phone number to your account, and retyping it breaks the link. On a computer with no Messages app, the step shows a QR code to scan with your iPhone. The setup guide suggests three first messages to test: your latest unread email, today's calendar, and a draft of a thank-you reply.

If it stops responding, text "hi" to wake it. There is no toggle to flip.

What are the limits?

Four you should know before relying on it.

• iMessage only. Slashy's setup guide says it requires iMessage, not SMS. Green-bubble messages mean iMessage is off on your iPhone, and on Android the iMessage agent is not available.
• Groups work, with boundaries. You can add Slashy to an iMessage group and it answers when addressed. A linked member can ask about their own mail and calendar, a guest cannot open anyone's private mail, and everyone in the chat sees the replies, so keep private details for the one-to-one thread. SMS group chats are not supported.
• Polls need a recent OS. iOS 26 or macOS 26, as above.
• Complex jobs take longer. Meeting prep or multi-thread searches can run past the 10 seconds a simple lookup takes.

Is texting your inbox private?

The same protections apply as in the app. Slashy does not train AI models on your email, and its AI privacy page says this is a contractual guarantee in its data processing agreement. iMessage conversations are processed by the same AI as the web and desktop apps and follow a rolling-summary approach rather than being stored permanently. Slashy is SOC 2 Type II and CASA Tier 2 certified. One practical point: the thread lives on your phone like any other iMessage conversation, so a locked phone matters.

Which plan includes it?

The iMessage agent is part of Slashy Professional, $30 per user per month or $25 billed annually ($300 a year), with a 7-day trial that needs a card to start. Slashy works with Gmail, Google Workspace, Outlook.com, and Microsoft 365. Our roundup of clients with a Slack or iMessage agent compares the field, and what an AI email agent actually does explains the triage, draft and send loop in more depth.

Frequently asked questions

Is there an email client that also handles iMessage or text messages?

Can Slashy send an email without my approval?

Does the iMessage agent work in group chats?

Does it work with Outlook or only Gmail?

Is my email used to train AI when I text Slashy?

Have more questions? Visit our Help Center.

Related reading

• Email clients with a Slack or iMessage AI agent
• What an AI email agent actually does
• Best AI email app for iPhone

Last updated: October 6, 2026