About folk
Overview
folk is the AI friend that lives in your texts. It works as a regular contact inside iMessage, Telegram, and WhatsApp, so there is no new app to learn — you just text it like you text a friend. folk books tables, tracks flights, drafts texts, watches prices, and remembers everything you tell it, so the best message in your day is often one you never had to send.
folk bills itself as the alternative to Poke, OpenClaw, and ClawdBot. It is free to start — the free tier stays free forever with no card needed — and Pro unlocks unlimited messages with folk working 24/7 in the background for $20 a month.
Key Benefits
- Lives in iMessage, Telegram, and WhatsApp as a contact with no app to download
- Remembers months of context and shows you everything it knows on your dashboard
- Holds you accountable with wake-up calls and gym streaks checked against your real location
- Reads Canvas to track deadlines and runs timed lock-in study sprints with real check-ins
- Texts first about price drops, flight changes, and birthdays before you ask
- Runs in its own private space where messages are never sold or used to train AI
How It Works
Adding folk takes about a minute. Put folk's number into your contacts in iMessage, Telegram, or WhatsApp, or add the bot to a group chat, and start texting it like a friend. Tell folk what you care about — your goals, deadlines, trips, and prices — and it runs 24/7 on its own computer, takes real action like booking tables and tracking flights, and reaches out first when something changes.
Use Cases
- Students — use the study buddy to track Canvas deadlines and stay in timed lock-in sprints
- Goal-setters — get wake-up calls and location-checked gym streaks to stay accountable
- Busy professionals — let folk manage email and calendar and watch your inbox, money, and prices
- Travelers — get flight-moved alerts and price-drop texts before you ask
- Friend groups — add folk to an iMessage group or Telegram to plan the night and book the table
Why Choose This Product
A tiny team of college students and gen z builders made folk so AI feels like a friend rather than a tool, meeting you in the group chats you already use instead of forcing you to learn a new app. Under the hood, the nia memory and context engine keeps months of context, and privacy is built in by default — your data stays yours, and you can wipe your whole account in one tap.
folk Pricing
View full pricing →Pricing extracted from the product website and may change. Check the source for current details.
Frequently asked questions about folk
What is folk?
Folk is a friend who lives in your texts and keeps you on track. You text it like you'd text anyone else, and it checks in on your gym days, keeps your habit streaks, locks you in for exams, logs your meals from a photo, asks how you're doing, and nudges you when it matters. It also looks stuff up, searches your email, and watches a price when you ask. It has its own computer to work on, it keeps going while you're asleep, and it remembers what you told it months ago. Today you can text folk on iMessage and Telegram, with WhatsApp switching on country by country.
Can folk keep me accountable?
Yes, that's the main thing people use it for. Tell folk the goal and how hard to push: "gym Mon/Wed/Fri at 7, ask me the night before and the morning of," or "nag me until my FAFSA is submitted." It texts at those times, asks for proof, keeps your streak, and follows up when you go quiet. You control the tone, from gentle to relentless, and you can pause it any time.
Does folk track habits, workouts, and calories?
Yes. Name a habit and the time and folk checks in and counts the streak. Tell it your gym days and it nudges you before and asks for the post-workout proof after. Send a photo of your plate and it estimates calories and protein and logs it against your target. Connect Strava and it sees your workouts automatically. It is all one thread with one friend, so your gym days, your food, and your sleep are in the same memory.
Can folk help me study or lock in?
Yes. Say "lock in for 2 hours, essay" and folk sets the sprints, checks in between them, and asks what you finished. Connect Canvas and it knows your deadlines, so it starts nudging before the panic does. Students also use it for wake-up calls before early classes, flashcard quizzing over text, and a wind-down at night so the phone actually goes down.
Is folk a therapist or a mental health app?
No. Folk is a friend who checks in every day, remembers what you said, keeps a mood log if you want one, and holds the notes you want to bring to your next session. It is not a therapist and won't pretend to be one. If something sounds serious, folk shares crisis resources and encourages you to reach a real person.
Can folk send me a daily Bible verse or a reading plan?
Yes. The daily-bible skill texts you a verse every morning at the time you pick, and the bible-reading-plan skill walks you through a plan chapter by chapter and checks in on your streak. You can also just ask folk to pray with you, explain a passage, or set up a prayer rule, and it remembers where you are in the plan.