RPLY: The AI That Answers Your Missed Texts

A brand new Mac app called RPLY is hitting the market today, and it's all about helping you reach that elusive "inbox zero" on iMessage. If you're the type who often forgets to reply and leaves your buddies hanging, RPLY's got your back. This nifty app uses AI to spot those missed texts and even suggests replies to keep you from accidentally ghosting your pals. Plus, if a message goes unanswered for more than a day, the AI can step in and send a response for you.

Molly Cantillon, a 21-year-old who dropped out of Stanford, is the mastermind behind RPLY. She's no stranger to the AI game, having already launched NOX, a custom AI assistant for iOS, with backing from OpenAI's startup fund.

“Text debt” is what Cantillon aims to tackle with RPLY—those times when you mentally reply but never actually send the message, get sidetracked, or just plain forget. Her goal? To make texting feel less like a chore while keeping those real connections alive.

What sets RPLY apart is its ability to dive into your entire texting history to craft replies that sound just like you, matching your style and personality for responses that feel genuine.

Drawing inspiration from the email-focused Inbox Zero, RPLY also sorts out those unanswered messages. It gives you a handy overview of unread texts, so you can quickly see which ones need your attention without endless scrolling.

Cantillon thinks the unanswered message filter is “a simple but vital feature that Apple surprisingly overlooks.”

The app also throws in a stats page, showing your average weekly response time and tracking your “inbox zero streak”—when was the last time you had zero unread messages? It even highlights who you reply to quickest and who you tend to ghost.

When we put RPLY through its paces at TechCrunch, we found the AI replies sounded pretty natural and seemed to grasp the context well. Most folks we texted didn't even notice they were chatting with an AI. Though, a few did pick up on something odd—like the AI putting a comma after "haha." Also, it didn't use any emojis, which we kinda missed.

While RPLY's features are a big draw, it does raise questions about whether leaning on AI might water down the emotional connection we get from texting. It's a debate that's been swirling around since generative AI tools started popping up, but it's worth pondering if the convenience of AI is worth trading for those heartfelt exchanges.

To use the app, you'll need to let it peek at all your texts and contacts. That might make some folks uneasy, knowing an AI's sifting through their chats with friends and family.

RPLY's privacy page assures users that the app doesn't use text content to train broader AI models, and they stick to a “strict zero data retention policy,” meaning your data isn't stored and gets wiped right after processing. Plus, they don't sell your info to third parties.

Cantillon mentioned that RPLY offers a local option based on Meta's Llama model for those who want to keep everything on their device, ensuring no text data ever leaves.

It's worth remembering that even with strong security claims, data breaches can happen. Just look at what happened with Chinese AI company DeepSeek and their exposed database full of sensitive info, including chat histories. Always keep an eye on those privacy risks.

Right now, RPLY's only available on macOS devices. Given Apple's tight App Store rules, it seems like launching a Mac app was a smart move.

Looking ahead, Cantillon hopes to bring RPLY to platforms like WhatsApp and Slack. But whether that'll happen is still up in the air, and Slack users, who are often employees, might think twice about sharing so much with an AI company.

And yeah, it's on the pricier side: $30 a month after a 14-day free trial.

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