Use cases
The AI Assistant You Can Text and Call
An AI assistant you can text and call is one you reach the way you'd reach a coworker — message a number or ring it, with no app to install. Arlo answers by text or on the phone, takes real action in your tools behind an approval gate, and remembers context across every channel, including Slack and Teams.
Most AI tools ask you to open a tab, log in, and remember they exist. The ones people actually use meet them where they already are. Arlo is an AI assistant you reach the same two ways you reach a coworker: you text it, or you call it. There's no app to download and no new account to set up for the people you share it with.
Arlo is an AI colleague that answers over text and over the phone, and does the same real work either way. Send it a message like you'd text a contact, or ring its number and talk. It listens, takes action in your connected tools, and reports back — and because it's one assistant across channels, the conversation carries whether you started it by text, on a call, in Slack, or in Microsoft Teams.
Text it or call it — same assistant
- Text a number, no app. Message Arlo in iMessage or SMS the way you text anyone. Ask a question, hand off a task, or forward something to deal with. See the text-in-iMessage entry for the details.
- Call it and talk. When it's easier to say than to type, ring Arlo and give it the task out loud. It can also place calls back out on your behalf — more on the calling side here.
- One memory across both. Start on a call, follow up by text, and it still knows what you're talking about. The context follows you, not the channel.
- Share it without onboarding. Because it's just a number, a teammate or a client can reach it without installing anything or creating a login.
Why "no app" matters for a team
A tool everyone has to be trained on is a tool half the team quietly abandons. A number they can text or call has no learning curve — people already know how. That's the difference between a tool you roll out and one that actually gets used. For a small team, "text or call this number" is the entire onboarding.
What it does once you reach it
Getting to Arlo is the easy part. What makes it worth reaching is that it acts:
- Triages and drafts your email, then sends once you approve.
- Schedules meetings and handles the reschedule back-and-forth.
- Reads from and writes to your CRM, project tracker, docs, and 3,000+ other tools.
- Uses apps that have no API by signing in once through a secure browser session.
- Runs recurring work and delivers a morning briefing of what changed.
Arlo vs. AI you can only text
Plenty of assistants let you text them. Far fewer also answer the phone, work across your team's channels, and act under governance.
| Capability | Text-only AI assistant | Arlo |
|---|---|---|
| Text a number, no app | Yes | Yes |
| Reach it by phone call | No | Yes |
| Places outbound calls for you | No | Yes |
| Works in Slack and Microsoft Teams too | Rarely | Yes |
| Acts across 3,000+ tools | Limited | Yes |
| Approval gate before every send or write | Usually no | Yes |
| Full audit trace of every action | No | Yes |
If you're comparing the text-first assistants specifically, see Arlo vs. Poke and the Poke alternatives rundown.
Safe to hand real work to
An assistant you can reach this easily still has to be safe to trust. Every connection resolves through policy before a run, anything that sends or writes waits for a reviewer you choose, and every action lands in an audit trace. You get the convenience of a number to text or call, without giving up control of what it does.
Frequently asked questions
Is there an AI assistant I can just text or call? Yes. Arlo gives you a number you can text in iMessage or SMS, or call directly. There's no app to install — you reach it the way you'd reach a person, and it answers and acts.
Can I call it, not just text? Yes. You can ring Arlo and give it a task by voice, and it can place calls back out on your behalf, then summarize what happened.
Do the people I share it with need an account? No. Because Arlo is reachable at a number, a teammate or client can text or call it without installing anything or signing up.
Does it remember what I said on a call when I text later? Yes. Arlo keeps one memory across text, calls, Slack, and Teams, so context follows the conversation instead of resetting per channel.
Can it actually do things, or just reply? It acts. Arlo connects to Gmail, Slack, Notion, Linear, GitHub and 3,000+ tools, waits for your approval on anything risky, and logs every step.
Getting started
Save one number and use it two ways. Try Arlo, text it or call it, and hand off the first thing on your list.
Last updated July 4, 2026