Apps & Consumer
Sesame launches iOS app for its conversational AI agents
Sesame, founded by the creators of Oculus, has launched its conversational AI agents on iOS in 39 countries, with plans for intelligent eyewear expected by 2027.
On Thursday, the artificial intelligence startup Sesame released a public preview of its conversational AI agents, launching an iOS app across 39 countries. Founded by the team behind Oculus—the virtual reality company acquired by Meta—Sesame has spent over a year developing the technology. The startup is attempting to redesign the traditional chatbot experience by prioritizing thoughtful responses over instant replies. According to the company’s launch announcement, “There’s an inherent tension between replying quickly and taking the time to compose thoughtful responses. A slower response is usually more correct, but it can also feel unnatural if it takes too long.” To address this, Sesame has built fast search and retrieval systems that run multiple parallel searches while speaking, allowing the AI to pivot mid-sentence as it integrates new information.
The new app introduces four distinct AI agents named Maya, Miles, Simone, and Charlie, each designed with individual voices, personalities, and memories. Two of these agents, Maya and Miles, were previously tested in a research preview that was accessed by over a million users. According to Sesame’s investor Sequoia, this preview coincided with the startup raising a $250 million Series B—a stage of venture capital financing—to open its beta. Based on feedback from that beta, the iOS app includes features such as search cards with image results, a texting mode for silent communication, and an incognito mode that uses prior context but does not save conversations to memory.
The iOS release is the first step in Sesame’s broader roadmap. The startup expects to launch intelligent eyewear in 2027. Before that hardware release, Sesame suggests the AI agents will also learn to take action on behalf of the user, transitioning them into agentic tools—AI applications capable of performing tasks on behalf of a user—rather than standard chatbots. While the iOS app is currently available, the company states that an Android preview is coming in the future.
Why it matters
Sesame is attempting to solve the latency-versus-thoughtfulness trade-off in AI by allowing agents to perform parallel searches. This signals a shift toward more human-like, agentic interactions that extend beyond simple chatbots and into future wearable hardware.