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KEIKI

iMessage agents

Setup guide

How to connect an AI agent to iMessage

Create a Keiki account, build an agent from a template, then assign it a phone line on the Channels page. Every text to that number reaches the agent — blue-bubble iMessage or green-bubble SMS — and it answers in the same thread. There is no app, no Apple review, and nothing for your customers to install.

  • Request access at onkeiki.com, then open the Dental Front Desk template.
  • Write the profile the agent answers from — hours, services, pricing, policies.
  • Attach a phone line on the Channels page; that line is the channel.
  • Text the number yourself, then publish it. No Apple review, no customer install.

Takes about 15 minutesUpdated

Get access to build your iMessage agentOr start from the Dental Front Desk template

Before you start

What you need before you start.

  • A Keiki account — signups are invite-only, so request access or take an invitation from a teammate
  • A phone line for the agent: buy a dedicated one inside Keiki, or import numbers you already run
  • Your business details — hours, services, pricing, policies — for the agent profile
  • No Apple developer account, no App Store review, and no app on the customer side

Step by step

Six steps from nothing to an agent answering texts.

  1. Step 1

    Get access to Keiki

    Request access at onkeiki.com — signups are invite-only, so you either request a spot or take an invitation from a teammate. There is no charge for the account itself; you pay for the phone line the agent runs on, so nothing is charged until you have an agent worth putting a number behind.

  2. Step 2

    Start from a template instead of a blank agent

    Open the Dental Front Desk template from the gallery. It arrives with the booking flow, day-before reminders, urgency triage and customer memory already wired, which is the difference between a working front desk and a prompt.

  3. Step 3

    Write the agent profile

    Fill in hours, services, pricing, insurance, parking — whatever people actually text you about. The agent answers from this profile only, and says it will check rather than guessing when a question falls outside it.

  4. Step 4

    Assign a phone line on the Channels page

    Open Channels, add a phone line, and attach it to the agent. Buy a dedicated line in Keiki, or import lines you already own with your provider key. The line is the channel: once it is attached, inbound texts route to the agent.

  5. Step 5

    Text the number yourself

    Send the awkward messages first — a booking with no date, a reschedule, something urgent. Read the thread in Conversations and check that a booking request came out complete and that the urgent one escalated instead of queueing.

  6. Step 6

    Publish the number and take over when you want to

    Put the line on your site, your door and your voicemail greeting. Any thread can be handed to a person, and whoever picks it up sees the full history plus everything the agent already promised.

More on what your iMessage agent does

Primary sources

The documentation behind this channel.

  • Messages for Business

    Apple’s branded Messages programme, which does require registration and review — unlike running an agent on a phone line.

    Apple

  • Messages User Guide

    Why a text to your number arrives as iMessage for some customers and SMS for others.

    Apple Support

Questions

Questions people ask while connecting an agent to iMessage.

Can you connect an AI agent to iMessage without an app?
Yes. The agent runs on a phone number rather than inside an app, so your customer texts the number from the Messages app that shipped with their phone. Nothing is installed, no link is clicked, and no account is created on their side.
Does the agent answer iMessage and SMS?
Both. The agent runs on the number, so a blue-bubble iMessage and a green-bubble SMS land in the same conversation. Your customer never thinks about which one their phone chose, and neither does the agent.
Do I need an Apple developer account or App Store review?
No. Setup happens entirely in Keiki: create the agent, attach a phone line, publish the number. There is no Apple developer account, no provisioning profile and no review step between you and the first answered text.
Can I use a phone number I already publish?
Often, yes. Lines you already run can be imported on the Channels page with your provider key, which keeps the number on your door and your website exactly as printed. Otherwise buy a dedicated line inside Keiki in the same flow.
How long does the whole setup take?
About fifteen minutes if you start from a template: most of that is writing the profile the agent answers from. The technical part — attach a line to an agent — is one screen on the Channels page.
What happens when the agent should not answer?
It escalates instead of improvising. Urgent messages are recognised and handed to a person immediately, and any thread can be taken over manually, with the full history and every commitment the agent already made visible to whoever picks it up.

Fifteen minutes to a number that answers itself.

Request access at onkeiki.com, open the template, attach a line. The next text that arrives at 11pm gets a real answer instead of a voicemail beep.

Get access — build your iMessage agentOr open the Dental Front Desk template