Texts is a fun application (desktop only for now) that brings all of your messages into one inbox. It currently supports iMessage, WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, Messenger, X/Twitter DMs, Instagram DMs, LinkedIn, Slack, and Discord DMs, with more on the way soon. It runs entirely on the desktop so it’s super fast and secure. It’s founded and led by Kishan Bagaria, a really unique entrepreneur and technical talent, and has a slate of amazing investors including Lachy Groom, Guillermo Rauch (former Automattician!), Sahil Lavingia, and many others—and I’m excited to announce that it’s now part of Automattic!
This was announced today on the Pivot podcast with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway (my part starts 48:50 in), and also covered in The Verge, TechCrunch, MacStories, and a few others.
Today is also my 18th anniversary at Automattic! So, an exciting day all around.
Using an all-in-one messaging app is a real game-changer for productivity and keeping up with things. Texts is a paid app, with discounted student pricing, and I think a lot of people will find value in it. It’s quickly become one of the top three apps I spend time using.
This is obviously a tricky area to navigate, as in the past the networks have blocked third-party clients, but I think with the current anti-trust and regulatory environments this is actually something the big networks will appreciate: it maintains the same security as their clients, opens them up in a way consumers will love and is very user-centric, and because we’re committed to supporting all their features it can actually increase engagement and usage of their platforms.
We’re still working out everything for mobile, so if you’re looking for the all-in-one experience on iOS or Android in the meantime, I recommend checking out Beeper. It really is great to have everything together.
If you’re a reverse engineer hacker that is interested in working with a super-small elite team in this space with the fun of a startup and the air cover of Automattic, get in touch with Kishan on Twitter DM or email (kb at texts). Here’s a fun video for Texts. 😄
This looks great. The time shifting will be a lot of value for me.
Brings back memories of how much fun Adium was 20 years ago.
Also, remember Matt when you used to do “Top Emails”? These type of attention/screen time stats would be excellent for Texts.
Please add Skype to the list of supported services!
It’s actually really cool that you would recommend a competitor like Beeper for those who need a mobile app. I’m a huge Automattic fan, so once this gets ready for prime time I’ll consider switching!
I’m all over this when I can get it in my hands. Also, love the ad 🙂
Wow, Matt. You’re still the same great guy I met when he was 18! You do all the best things.
Matt,
Congratulations on the anniversary!
Looking forward to all the new features coming to Texts.