A data breach at the dental benefits administrator DentaQuest has reportedly exposed the sensitive data of 2.6 million accounts.

The security incident came to light last month, when the infamous extortion group ShinyHunters listed the company on its data leak site and claimed to have stolen more than 234 GB of data.

Following what the threat actor describes as a failure to reach an agreement with the company, the data was publicly leaked.

DentaQuest, part of Sun Life, is one of the largest dental benefits administrators in the United States. It manages dental insurance plans and provider networks for Medicaid programs, Medicare Advantage plans, employers, health plans, and individual customers.

The company says it serves 35 million customers, operates programs in 50 states, and has a network of 140,000 dentists and dental specialists.

On June 2, DentaQuest confirmed on its website that its networks had been breached and the incident caused “limited disruption” in customer service.

“DentaQuest is actively managing a cybersecurity incident involving unauthorized access to a limited portion of our network,” reads the statement.

“Upon discovery of the initial incident, we took immediate action to secure our environment, contain the attack, and mitigate the threat.”

“Our systems remain fully operational, and we continue to serve our clients with limited disruption.”

The firm also stated that it engaged external experts to help with the investigation and determine the data that was compromised.

Yesterday, data breach alerting service Have I Been Pwned (HIBP) analyzed the leaked information and found that it contained records for 2.6 million accounts. Specifically, the following was exposed in the leaked dataset:

• Email addresses
• Full names
• Phone numbers
• Government-issued IDs
• Health insurance information
• Genders
• Dates of birth

Although DentaQuest’s statement did not confirm that the data breach affected its clients, HIBP is known to validate leaked datasets using multiple verification methods.

HIBP also stated that roughly 66% of the exposed records were present in its database from past incidents affecting other organizations and services.

People who may have had their information exposed in this incident should be cautious about all incoming communications, as the leaked data increases the risk of social engineering and phishing attacks.

Security teams log 54% of successful attacks and alert on just 14%. The rest move through your environment unseen.

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from the say-it-again dept

This week, our first place winner on the insightful side is an anonymous comment offering a theory about ICE’s addiction to masks:

Let me suggest a different reason…

Let’s say that all of those J6 dumbfucks who livestreamed their crimes, and who now have received pardons for acting like trailer trash are looking to start rebuilding their pathetic lives.

Let’s also say that they feel burned by the Trump administration for letting them hang out to dry for 4 years instead of pardoning them in 2020. I’m assuming he thought of them as ‘contractors.’

I’m suggesting that ICE has a hardon for masks because that’s the reward for the J6’ers who got fucked for 4 years – ICE just let them apply, and blam! You have an ICE agency chock full of the garbage of America who have a boner for revenge, but if anyone compares them to J6 footage, they’d be fucked 6 ways to Sunday.

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It’s not like security clearances make any difference to this clown car of fuckups.

Unmask those pieces of shit and let’s start comparing faces. I’ll bet once you dig a little, you’ll start to smell the white trash like the Proud Boys, OathKeepers, and all those other MAGAs with ‘small dick syndrome.’

In second place, it’s Stephen T. Stone hammering home the most important point about the Bricks and Minifigs saga:

Dear everyone involved with this story:

This could have been a few emails between lawyers.

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For editor’s choice on the insightful side, we start out with a reply from dfbomb to the first place winning comment above:

This lines up with my observations that ICE’s behaviors with license plates, car stealing and general fuckery matches the patterns of the Boogaloo and Proud Boys that came to Minneapolis during George Floyd to start a race war.

They even target the same neighborhoods.

Next, it’s Nathan F with a comment about the Supreme Court’s transparently racist double standard on voting rights:

And Roberts still wonders why no one likes the SCOTUS or believes they make good, resonable, well thought out decisions?

Over on the funny side, our first place winner is j with a reaction to our piece on the LEGO dispute:

Wowsers…. There needs to be a length of story warning at the beginning.
I’m used to the normal two to five paragraphs on here. But eighteen page down presses later… just a heads up would be nice.

In second place, it’s Thad raising an eyebrow about one word in a line we wrote about Lindsey Halligan:

Lindsey Halligan — managed to set fire to pretty much everything she touched before deciding to exit to the DOJ.

“deciding”

For editor’s choice on the funny side, we start out with an anonymous reply to a commenter who spotted a “Luigi” bumper sticker:

Glad that Mario’s brother is finally getting some recognition for helping to take down the evil boss in the mushroom kingdom.

Finally, it’s an anonymous comment about Greg Bovino’s not-so-subtle Nazi salute:

I think there is an innocent explanation for that gesture: Bovino was trying to make himself look taller.

That’s all for this week, folks!

Smartphone and laptop speakers often leave music sounding thin and uninspiring, especially when you want to share a track or enjoy it outdoors. The JBL Go 3, priced at $29.95 (was $40), offers a straightforward fix that fits easily into daily routines or weekend escapes. Compact enough to slip into a jacket pocket or clip onto a backpack strap, the speaker measures about 3.4 inches long, 2.7 inches tall, and 1.6 inches deep. It weighs just 0.46 pounds. A sturdy fabric loop on one end turns carrying into a simple clip-on task.

Build quality is all about real-world dependability, or how well it can endure the stresses of daily life. With an IP67 water and dust resistance rating, you can spend the day at the beach without having to worry about sand or pool splashes. Owners routinely travel with these speakers from the city streets to the beach without regard for durability.

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• 5 HOURS OF PLAYTIME: Don’t sweat the small stuff like charging your battery. Go 3 gives you up to 5 hours of battery life on a single charge.

Inside, a single 1.5-inch driver generates 4.2 watts of power, which is more than you’d think from such a little speaker. The vocals and lead instruments are crisp and clear, and the overall sound is just intense enough to get the party started. This thing has it all, whether you prefer rock, pop, electronics, or any other style. The volume can be loud enough to fill a picnic area or a small gathering; however, pushing it too far may cause strain, although at moderate volumes, the ride is relatively smooth.

The battery life is rated at five hours, but in reality, at normal volumes, you can get 8 to 10 hours without having to recharge. In a nutshell, this is what many tests and owner reports have revealed. USB-C charging is quick and efficient, taking about 2 hours and 30 minutes, and you also get a handy little cable for topping up your battery on the go. Bluetooth 5.1 manages the connection nicely, with simple pairing and a reasonable range. Up top, there are buttons for basic playback, volume, power, and other functions.

Ever since Tim Cook announced in April that he’d be stepping down as CEO, the countdown to his planned exit in September began, ahead of the expected iPhone 18 launch. What became Cook’s last year coincided with Apple’s 50th anniversary (which, in hindsight, doesn’t seem like a coincidence), complete with celebrations like a private concert with Paul McCartney.

Given those revelries, we can expect some send-offs at WWDC lauding Cook’s 15 years steering the ship. Apple’s mid-year developer show is always about looking ahead to the next big software updates, but we’d expect some looks back at Cook’s legacy. It’s easy to forget the uncertainty surrounding Cook’s ascension, which coincided with Apple co-founder Steve Jobs’ passing, but the logistics master leaves the company a multi-trillion-dollar success, with a limited but steady embrace of AI in its software and new products like the iPhone Fold on the horizon. 

With that legacy of stability, we don’t expect much to change at Cook’s last WWDC: more software focused on incremental, continued refinement of the company’s operating systems. For the modest Cook, one last wave as the Apple juggernaut steams ahead seems fitting.

President Trump signed a national security presidential memorandum on Friday ordering the US military and intelligence agencies to accelerate their adoption of cutting-edge AI. The directive, NSPM-11, establishes a framework for “rapid onboarding of the most advanced AI models from multiple vendors.” It also bars any company from disabling, degrading, or modifying an AI system that warfighters depend on without prior government approval.

That vendor restriction is the most striking provision. It means an AI company cannot pull a deployed model from military use unilaterally, even if the company has safety concerns about how it is being used. The clause lands directly in the context of the Pentagon’s ongoing feud with Anthropic, which was blacklisted as a supply chain risk after refusing to allow its Claude models to be used for autonomous weapons or mass surveillance.

“The men and women who defend our nation deserve the best, most secure and most reliable AI in the world,” said Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

The memo also directs Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth to issue an updated directive on autonomous weapon systems within 90 days. That update would revise DoD Directive 3000.09, the foundational Pentagon policy governing when and how autonomous and semi-autonomous weapons can be used, including requirements for human judgment before lethal force is applied.

There are stated limits. The memo prohibits defence agencies from creating or releasing AI models designed to “censor free speech, embed ideological bias or conduct unlawful surveillance against the American people.” But it does not define those terms or explain how compliance would be enforced.

The directive follows Tuesday’s executive order that established a voluntary 30-day review window for frontier AI models before public release. Together, the two documents outline a dual approach: light-touch regulation for the commercial sector and aggressive adoption for the military.

The “multiple vendors” language signals a shift away from single-provider dependency. Until recently, Anthropic was the only AI vendor approved for classified military use. After the Pentagon signed classified deals with Nvidia, Microsoft, and AWS, the administration is now formalising a multi-vendor approach.

The memo makes accountability central. Commanders, directors, and agency heads remain responsible for ensuring AI is used in line with its stated obligations. Annual reviews of key guidance across the national security enterprise are required to keep pace with the AI frontier. Whether those reviews will be meaningful or performative remains an open question.

WWDC’s keynote will celebrate macOS 27, but it will also be a funeral for Intel Macs. The final countdown for their apps starts tomorrow.

The introduction of Apple Silicon immediately put a timer on the Intel Mac experience. Apple Silicon was the company’s new direction, and that everyone should migrate that way or be left behind.

Evolve or die. Except less morbid and that it really dealt with software and hardware support.

As the years have progressed, the migration to an Apple Silicon existence has marched onward. There’s no signs of it stopping until it reaches the end, when Apple no longer actually supports any Intel Mac at all with its operating systems and software.

Cupertino’s multi-year impression of the Terminator crossed with the Borg has already claimed some scalps. In 2025’s WWDC Platforms State of the Union address, Apple confirmed macOS 26 Tahoe will be the last major release to include native support for Intel Macs.

That means macOS Tahoe is the last Apple-created operating system you can install on Macs using an Intel chip.

Hardware communities such as OpenCore and Hackintosh users have braced for the end for over a year already. They all know that, hardware-wise, the time has come.

Intel hardware won’t be making the move to macOS 27. Software that uses it, though, will.

Rosetta 2 goes on, for now

Reusing a trick from a previous architecture transition, Rosetta 2 is a macOS feature that translates Intel-based Mac apps to run on Apple Silicon Macs. This is handled automatically, and without modifying the source code of the app itself.

There’s a small performance hit, but otherwise the app runs fine.

The whole point of Rosetta 2 was to buy some time for both app developers and Mac users. The users get to keep running their existing collection of Intel macOS apps, while developers update them to work on Apple Silicon.

Back in the day, you were asked to install Rosetta 2 if you ran an Intel app on an Apple Silicon Mac. – Image Credit: Apple

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Developers also benefited from a universal app, namely an app package that contained both Intel and Apple Silicon versions. To users, they wouldn’t have to remember whether they were using an Intel or Apple Silicon Mac, as they’d just install one app.

While you can expect universal apps to hang around for a few more years, Rosetta 2 won’t last as long.

During the same Platforms State of the Union address, Apple told developers that they need to get their apps supporting Apple Silicon in time for macOS 28.

This doesn’t mean that Rosetta 2 will be killed off entirely. Really, it’s only being scaled back to only support legacy apps that won’t get updated again, like really old games.

Don’t worry, your game saves are probably going to be playable for a while longer. To developers, this means embracing Apple Silicon if they haven’t already done so, assuming they care about their game.

Developers don’t have to go full Apple Silicon either, as they can still service Intel Mac users with the universal app package. This is especially good for apps that have a very large user base, who may be more likely to hold onto their older hardware.

They just can’t expect to produce just Intel-only apps and expect to build their audience.

Update your damned apps, people

While developers have their marching orders from Apple, it’s only half of the audience that should pay attention. End users should, too.

Like many other long-time users of Apple’s ecosystem, AppleInsider is a collection of digital packrats. We have excessive software collections, including apps and tools that are probably old enough to vote.

However, many users will be thinking that their existing apps are already fine, because they run on their Apple Silicon hardware. But, if they’re Intel-only apps, they’re running through Rosetta 2, which makes them a ticking timebomb of annoyance.

Universal apps support both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.

Updating the apps is a pretty straightforward way to migrate, but there’s no guarantee that the apps will switch to an Apple Silicon version. It’s easy to check your own Mac app collection for compatibility, too.

Many developers have already made the jump, with DoesItARM.com listing 52.2% of apps as running natively on Apple Silicon. If we factor out the 38.4% of questionable listings that “need info,” that works out to be a massive 84.7% of apps on the site being Apple Silicon-native.

That is a very encouraging sign, but there’s also 7.4% that work on Rosetta, or 12% if we ignore the “need info” group. While the current “unsupported” group is 2%, that will raise significantly if these Rosetta-needing apps don’t get an Apple Silicon alternative.

There’s also the issue of trusting a developer or a company leaving it late to bring out an Apple Silicon-supporting version of an app. If they’re this late to the party already, there may be other things to worry about on the horizon.

You may have a year to still comfortably use your apps, but seriously consider giving your library a check-through for any Intel-only apps. You’ll have plenty of time to either nag the developers to see sense, or to replace the stragglers with an alternative.

To be fair, you should act like a digital Marie Kondo and get rid of apps that don’t spark “joy” anyway.

Hardware hangups

This is, of course, discussed from the angle of users who have already moved to Apple Silicon. I do have to acknowledge that there are some who are still using Intel Macs, and don’t really intend to make the upgrade.

For computer archivists and historians, and those into retro computing in general, it’s completely understandable to use the older hardware. There’s no argument about that at all.

But, for those who have paid a lot for their Intel Mac and feel it still suits them fine, I implore you to check out Apple Silicon.

The last Intel Mac was the Mac Pro sold in 2023

The claims during the launch of it being much faster than Intel were true. Years and multiple chip generations later, things have only become faster and better.

Sure, there’s the sunk-cost fallacy to deal with, in that you want to get your money’s worth from spending thousands on a Mac Pro.

Yes, we understand that the Mac Pro has its place as an upgradable computer for specialized applications. But really, it was a status symbol that can now be outpaced by a suitably kitted-out MacBook Pro.

The performance gains, even from models that aren’t top-of-the-line, is very real and should be considered. You’ll get over what you spent on your previous Mac, eventually.

Even if your Intel Mac is a mission-critical system for your business, seriously think about making the change. At some point, the metaphorical wheels will come off that wagon, and preventative upgrades are better than dealing with a potentially expensive cure, accompanied by severe downtime.

Monday’s WWDC keynote and Platforms State of the Union will introduce many new shiny features and a massive amount of AI news. What it also brings is the end of Intel hardware updates, and Apple’s preparation to sound the death knell for Intel apps.

It’s two messages that users may miss, but really should listen out for.

Last week’s Sunday Reboot asked Craig Federighi to make the WWDC announcements a little less AI-focused, and to make AI actually matter for once.

The Silent Ransom Group extortion gang is actively targeting U.S. law firms and professional services organizations in social engineering attacks that often lead to data theft within hours of initial contact, according to a new report by cybersecurity firm Mandiant.

The report follows an FBI FLASH advisory published last week warning that the Silent Ransom Group was targeting U.S. law firms in social engineering and even in-person data theft attacks, with Mandiant now providing additional technical details about how the intrusions are conducted.

Mandiant says the threat group, tracked as UNC3753, Luna Moth, and Chatty Spider, targeted dozens of organizations across the legal, financial, and professional services sectors between January and May 2026. 

Mandiant warned that legal firms remain especially attractive targets because they store large volumes of highly sensitive client information and may feel pressured to resolve extortion incidents to avoid reputational and regulatory damage.

“Legal services firms represent high-value targets for extortion actors. They maintain concentrated repositories of extremely sensitive client transaction files, merger and acquisition plans, client trade secrets, and corporate regulatory reports,” explains Mandiant. 

“Threat groups recognize that legal entities are subject to heavy reputational and regulatory exposure and may be highly motivated to resolve extortion situations quietly to protect their professional standing.”

The researchers say the attacks begin with invoice-themed phishing emails from consumer email accounts. These emails do not contain malicious links or attachments and instead serve as a precursor for follow-up phone calls from attackers impersonating corporate IT staff.

Conducting attacks via voice calls has been an ongoing tactic by these threat actors for years, which they previously used in BazarCall social engineering campaigns tied to Ryuk and Conti ransomware attacks. A callback phishing attack is when threat actors send benign-looking phishing emails containing alarming or IT-related lures that prompt the recipient to call them back at an enclosed phone number.

In the current campaign, the Silent Ransom Group impersonates IT help desks and convinces employees to join remote support sessions via Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Quick Assist, or Microsoft Terminal Services.

During these sessions, the threat actors trick the target into installing remote monitoring and management tools such as AnyDesk, Zoho Assist, Bomgar, or SuperOps, thereby granting them initial access to the corporate network.

Mandiant also discovered phishing domains tied to the campaign that impersonate internal IT portals using naming patterns such as:

-itdesk[.]com
-it[.]com
-helpdesk[.]com

The researchers say the threat actors also use privnote[.]com, a self-destructing messaging service, to share installation links and commands with targets during remote support sessions. According to Mandiant, this tactic helps reduce forensic artifacts left in browser histories or corporate chat logs.

Once inside a network, the group searches for sensitive legal and financial documents, including contracts, tax records, Social Security numbers, and merger or acquisition files. The attackers commonly target document management platforms and cloud storage repositories before exfiltrating the data using tools such as WinSCP or Rclone.

Mandiant says the extortion operation is highly aggressive, with ransom demands often arriving within 30 minutes of the attackers leaving the victim environment. 

“These highly aggressive extortion letters give organizations a three-day deadline to respond and initiate ransom negotiations. If the victim organization is unresponsive, the threat actors declare they will call and email target employees and external clients directly to alert them of the data breach,” reports Mandiant.

“The extortion letters explicitly emphasize that the leak will compromise client trust, invite substantial regulatory fines, and suggest that external clients sue the victim organization for data mishandling.”

The report also references the FBI’s recent advisory in which law enforcement warned that the Silent Ransom Group was targeting U.S. law firms with in-person data theft attacks.

According to the FBI, attackers impersonate internal IT staff over phone calls and emails, then attempt to gain remote access or physically visit offices to “image” computers or create backups while secretly stealing files.

While Mandiant said there was limited forensic evidence, the researchers believe these in-person attacks are likely linked to UNC3753 based on similarities in targeting, timelines, and operational behavior.

The Silent Ransom Group has been active since at least 2022, when it was part of the Ryuk and Conti cybercrime syndicate. 

As previously reported by BleepingComputer, the threat actors were previously linked to BazarCall callback phishing campaigns that provided initial access in Conti and Ryuk ransomware attacks.

After the Conti syndicate shut down in 2022, the group shifted to standalone data theft and extortion operations under the Silent Ransom Group branding.

Researchers say the group no longer relies on traditional ransomware encryption and instead focuses entirely on data-theft extortion, in which they steal sensitive data and pressure victims into paying to prevent leaks.

A separate report released this week by Resecurity found that the gang is also operating fast-flux infrastructure to hide and protect its data-leak platforms.

DNS fast flux is a method where attackers constantly rotate a domain’s IP addresses through a large pool of compromised devices to hide their infrastructure and make takedowns or blocking far more difficult.

According to the company, the infrastructure uses residential IP addresses across multiple countries and ISPs to make takedowns more difficult.

Resecurity said the group’s “business-data-leaks[.]com” leak site and related infrastructure rely on residential proxy networks spread across Latin America, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, and Asia. The researchers also linked the infrastructure to other cybercrime-related services and domains.

To defend against the attacks, both Mandiant and the FBI recommend implementing strict verification procedures for IT support interactions, limiting remote access tools, enforcing MFA, restricting USB storage devices, and training employees to recognize voice phishing attempts.

For organizations looking to defend against phishing, BEC, and account takeover attacks, BleepingComputer is hosting a webinar with Abnormal titled “Stop chasing alerts: Automating email security with behavioral AI.“

The webinar will explore how behavioral AI can help security teams detect and respond to modern phishing attacks, automate investigations and remediation, and reduce the operational burden caused by alert fatigue and increasingly sophisticated social engineering campaigns.

Security teams log 54% of successful attacks and alert on just 14%. The rest move through your environment unseen.

The Picus whitepaper shows how breach and attack simulation tests your SIEM and EDR rules so threats stop slipping by detection.

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Here’s the thing. I’ve reviewed loads of the best PS5 controllers, including a bunch of those at the premium price level, including the Razer Raiju V3 Pro, DualSense Edge, and the Victrix Pro BFG Reloaded. The Scuf Omega hasn’t outshone any of them in my testing, even though, on paper, it should win out with its feature set and customization options.

So, where has Scuf gone wrong? Much of it comes down to build quality. While it’s solid enough in the hands – and actually very comfortable – most individual parts can be removed, like the faceplate, touchpad plate, d-pad, face buttons, and the thumbsticks. In isolation, these parts (and the accessories included in the box, like button and paddle blanks and optional long-shaft thumbsticks) feel cheap and flimsy.

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I’m also not at all a fan of the optional paddle buttons on the sides of the controller. These are far too easy to press accidentally, and because they come pre-mapped out of the box, even gently tapping one mid-game can feel like the video game equivalent of stepping on a Lego brick.

After years of forcing Bing into nearly every corner of Windows Search, Microsoft may finally be giving users a way out. The company is reportedly testing changes in Windows 11 that would allow people to completely disable Bing-powered web results from the operating system’s built-in Search experience.

For many PC users, this is a long-overdue change. Windows Search has spent years blending local file searches with Bing suggestions, online results, news links, and Microsoft services – often frustrating users who simply wanted to find an app, document, or system setting on their computer.

According to a report by PCMag, Microsoft is now introducing options that separate local Windows search functionality from Bing’s web integration. That means users could eventually type into the Start menu or taskbar and receive only local PC results instead of being pushed toward online Bing content.

The shift appears connected to the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), which is forcing major technology companies to provide users with greater control over bundled services and platform defaults. Microsoft has already begun making several Europe-specific Windows changes, including easier browser switching and fewer prompts pushing Edge and Bing.

Windows Search may finally become simpler again

For years, Windows users criticized Microsoft for aggressively integrating Bing into Windows Search, even when it reduced usability. Searching for local files could surface unrelated web links, online recommendations, or Bing-powered suggestions that many users never wanted in the first place.

The frustration became even more noticeable after Microsoft began integrating AI-powered Bing and Copilot features directly into Windows 11. While the company positioned those additions as productivity enhancements, many users felt Windows Search became increasingly cluttered and less focused on core desktop functionality.

The reported update could significantly improve the experience for people who mainly use Search to launch apps, locate files, or navigate Windows settings. Removing Bing integration may also improve responsiveness and reduce unnecessary online queries happening in the background.

For Microsoft, however, the move represents something larger than just a settings toggle. Bing has long been a strategic part of the company’s ecosystem push, helping drive users toward Microsoft services, search advertising, Edge, and now AI-powered Copilot experiences.

Allowing users to disable Bing more freely suggests regulators are having a measurable impact on how Microsoft designs Windows.

Microsoft still wants AI everywhere in Windows

Even with the potential Bing removal option, Microsoft is not stepping away from AI or online integrations inside Windows 11. The company continues investing heavily in Copilot and AI-powered productivity tools, which remain central to its long-term strategy for Windows.

That means the upcoming changes are less about abandoning Bing entirely and more about giving users additional control over how deeply Microsoft services are integrated into the desktop experience.

The bigger question now is whether these Bing-removal features remain limited to Europe due to DMA compliance or eventually expand worldwide. If Microsoft rolls the option out globally, it could become one of the most user-friendly Windows Search changes in years.

For longtime Windows users, though, the update already feels symbolic. After years of Microsoft insisting Bing belonged inside Windows Search, users may finally get the choice they have been requesting all along: the ability to search their PC without Microsoft’s search engine constantly getting in the way.

The Poke app will give Siri even more competition, as it lets you send emails, set reminders, generate images, and more, right from the Apple Messages app.

WWDC 2026 is right around the corner, and it’s been rumored that Apple is working on improving support for third-party AI utilities in iOS 27. We may just have gotten a better idea of what the future of iOS might entail, as the iPhone now supports AI agents in the Messages app

Following its public launch in March 2026, the proactive AI assistant Poke has now become the first third-party AI agent officially available via iMessage. It’s offered via the Apple Messages for Business platform, originally designed to let companies reach customers via Apple Messages for Business.

The Interaction Company of California, the startup that created Poke, posted a video on X detailing what its AI agent can do via the Apple Messages app.

Say hi to the new Poke!

Now officially approved by Apple to text on Apple Messages.

As the first and only AI agent. Chat now: https://t.co/VIWYU64dUI pic.twitter.com/AtZxupI2Ji

— Poke (@interaction) June 4, 2026

In essence, Poke can help you respond to emails, including those about potential events. If someone wants to schedule dinner with you, for instance, Poke can help you select the date, time, type of food, restaurant, and more. It can also schedule reminders for you.

Additionally, Poke can conduct web searches, generate and edit images, set up automations, check you in for domestic flights, track flight deals, and a lot more. The Poke service is also capable of generating QR codes, YouTube video summaries in transcript form, and controlling Philips Hue smart lights and Sonos speakers.

Compatibility with other third-party services and products, like the Oura smart Ring, Microsoft Outlook, Gmail, GitHub, Strava, and Navan, is also built in.

While it might not be as impressive as the Google Gemini features previewed in May 2026, Poke’s Apple Messages for Business integration represents a welcome addition to the iPhone.

How to set up Poke

As for what Poke costs users, the service’s FAQ page says that “Poke sets pricing through negotiation with you, so keep chatting until you agree on a price!” In essence, Poke will conduct light actions, process manual prompts, and do background tasks for free, but any intensive requests will require payment.

To use Poke, you will need to create an account with your phone number or Telegram. More detailed descriptions of Poke’s features and capabilities are available via the Poke.com website.

Aside from Siri and its built-in ChatGPT integration, iPhone users now have even more options when it comes to AI agents on iOS. Poke is likely the first of many AI agents that will be available via the Apple Messages app going forward.

The upcoming iOS 27 update might allow for even greater freedom of choice, giving iOS users the option to select AI agents with integration and capabilities rivaling the Apple-designed Siri.