An AI assistant on WhatsApp

It is an assistant you chat with in WhatsApp, like a person who handles your errands. There is no new app and nothing to learn. You read and reply the way you do with anyone else.

Gravel differs from an assistant you have to open and question. It reads the email and calendars you connect, notices what needs you, and messages you first. Here is an example conversation:

Gravel: Want me to move the dentist to Thursday at 3:30? I’d cancel Tuesday, book Thursday and update your calendar.

You: yes

Gravel: Done. Thursday at 3:30 PM with Dr. Lee. It’s on your calendar.

This example was recorded in Apple's Messages app to show how Gravel is designed to work. It is not a chat with a running Gravel. The same conversation works in WhatsApp. One yes covers the whole plan, and Gravel tells you when it's done. Gravel always presents itself as an AI.

Anything you'd ask an assistant who can see your mail and calendar. Gravel answers, or it proposes a plan and waits for your yes.

• "What did my landlord write?" Gravel searches your mail and tells you.
• "Remind me tomorrow at 9 to take out the trash." It sets the reminder.
• "Write Lena that I'm coming Saturday." It drafts the message in your voice, shows it exactly as it would go out, and sends it when you say send.
• "Add milk to the shopping list." It keeps lists of any name, plus notes you can find again later.
• A photo or PDF of a letter or a bill. It reads the document and tells you what it says and what's due.
• A voice message instead of typing. Gravel transcribes it and answers.
• "Tell me when this jacket drops below €80." It watches the page and messages you when it does.

Ask "what do you know about me?" to see what Gravel remembers, and tell it to forget anything. Browse the use cases for more.

Gravel messages you first when something clears its bar, and only after you opted in during setup. It stays quiet from 10 PM to 7:30 AM by default, sends a few unprompted messages a day at most, and sends fewer if you ignore them. Anything that can wait goes into a short morning brief.

WhatsApp has one rule of its own. A business can send free-form messages only within 24 hours of your last message. After that, it can send only pre-approved templates. Gravel keeps those messages short and plain. Reply, and the normal conversation picks up again.

Text "pause" and all background work stops until you say so. Text "stop telling me about packages" and it mutes that topic. See how Gravel works for the full flow.

Gravel encrypts your data with a key that belongs to your account only, and it is hosted and processed in the EU. Gravel does not train AI models on your data, and neither do its providers. The messaging itself runs through WhatsApp, which is a Meta service.

Gravel uses WhatsApp's option to keep message content at rest in Germany. While a message is being processed, Meta can handle its content in its data centres anywhere in the world for up to 60 minutes.

If that doesn't suit you, you can switch to another channel at any time with one message.

If a person at Gravel ever has to look at your data, for example because you asked support for help, it's written to your activity log before they can. Export everything with a one-time link, or delete your account and your key is destroyed, so nothing left can be read. More in security.

Join the waitlist. Gravel is in early access, and you get one email when your spot opens.

When it does, you link WhatsApp with a one-time code or link, opt in to messages from Gravel, and connect a mailbox and a calendar. Gravel starts with read-only access and asks for more the first time an action needs it.

It works with Gmail and Outlook (you sign in with Google or Microsoft) and with iCloud Mail, GMX, WEB.DE, T-Online, freenet, mailbox.org, Posteo and other IMAP mailboxes (you use an app password). Calendars: Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar, iCloud Calendar and any CalDAV calendar. See integrations. It costs €12 a month, one plan with everything included.