Caddy joined Y Combinator's Fall 2025 batch and runs entirely by text message: iMessage on iPhone, RCS on Android, no app to install. It watches calendars, email and tasks, sends a daily brief, and acts once you reply. It is a public beta, and its privacy policy says Customer Data is not used to train models.
About Caddy
Caddy is a personal AI assistant from Caddy Technologies Inc, a New York company that joined Y Combinator's Fall 2025 batch. It has no app to install. You message it like a contact: on iPhone it replies with blue bubbles through iMessage, and on Android it uses RCS. The pitch on its site is simple, stay on top of work and life by handing small jobs to a thread you already open all day.
The mechanism is a loop of watching, texting and doing. Caddy connects to the calendars, chats, email and task lists you authorize, then texts you when something needs attention, with context and a suggested next step. You answer in the same thread and it drafts the reply, updates the calendar or starts the task. Its use-case pages describe turning appointment emails into calendar events, copying school dates onto a family calendar, building a grocery cart for you to review, checking you in for a flight with your approval, and logging receipts into a budget sheet. It also accepts voice memos and can join group chats, and the vendor says it learns your preferences the longer you use it.
It suits people with a crowded inbox and calendar who would rather delegate admin than open another dashboard: parents running a household, small business owners answering customers, and frequent travelers. If you want a general chat assistant for writing and research, ChatGPT or Claude fit better, as do Gemini, Perplexity for sourced answers and Microsoft Copilot inside Office apps. If your main problem is scheduling, Motion and Clockwise go deeper on calendar optimization, and Pi is the closer match for a conversational companion. For workflow wiring rather than a texting assistant, look at Zapier or n8n, and for task-running agents see Manus. Not sure which category you need? Smart Match can narrow it down.
Pricing is not published. The site invites you to get started for free, the privacy policy mentions billing information only when payment features are enabled, and the product is labelled a public beta that can make mistakes. Treat it as an early product: useful if the text-first idea appeals, but worth testing on low-stakes errands before trusting it with money or important replies.
Pricing
Caddy publishes no price list. Its homepage button says Get started for free, the /pricing URL redirects away, and the privacy policy mentions billing only for when payment features are enabled. Paid plans, message limits and usage caps are unstated.
Key Features
- Text-based interface: Works through iMessage on iPhone and RCS on Android, so there is no separate app to download or learn.
- Daily brief and check-ins: Texts a short summary of meetings, tasks and reminders, and sends proactive nudges when something changes and needs a decision.
- Acts on your approval: Drafts email replies, adds calendar events from appointment emails and works through website tasks such as airline check-in, with you approving before it sends.
- Voice memos and group chats: Accepts voice notes as instructions and can be dropped into group threads, per the vendor's homepage.
- Personalization: The vendor says Caddy learns your habits, preferences and priorities over time, so two accounts end up behaving differently.
- Connected finance data: Can read transaction history through Plaid to answer spending questions, and the privacy policy says it does not use that access to move money.
Pros
- Needs no install: the whole product lives in an existing iMessage or RCS thread, which removes the usual app-switching cost.
- Takes action rather than only answering: the use-case pages show calendar entries, email replies, grocery carts and receipt logging, each reviewed before it goes out.
- The privacy policy states Customer Data is not used to train AI models, and offers an in-app setting to stop sharing prompts with its evaluations provider.
- Account deletion removes customer data within 30 days, with backups lingering up to 30 more, a clear retention rule for an early product.
Cons
- Pricing is unpublished and the pricing URL redirects away, so you cannot judge cost or limits before signing up.
- It is in public beta and the vendor warns that Caddy can make mistakes, so every action needs your verification.
- Access is bound to phone messaging: there is no desktop or web client listed on the site.
- No security attestations (SOC 2, ISO 27001) are published, and the subprocessor list is available only on request by email.
Data Handling
- Training-data policy
- The privacy policy says Caddy does not use Customer Data to train AI models. Prompts may be processed by third-party AI providers, some under zero data retention configurations.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Caddy charge, and is there a price list?
No. Caddy publishes no price list: the pricing URL redirects away and the homepage only offers a free start. The privacy policy mentions billing information when payment features are enabled, so paid plans may come later. Ask the vendor at contact@trycaddy.ai before relying on it for business use.
Can I use Caddy without paying?
The homepage button reads Get started for free, and the product is in public beta. What the free access includes, such as message caps or connected-app limits, is not stated anywhere on the site. Expect that to change when payment features switch on.
Which assistants are the closest alternatives to Caddy?
For general writing and research, ChatGPT or Claude are broader. For calendar and task planning, Motion and Clockwise go deeper. If you want to wire your own automations rather than text an assistant, Lindy and Zapier offer more control but need setup.
Is Caddy better than ChatGPT for errands and admin?
It depends on where you want the work to happen. Caddy comes to you in iMessage or RCS and offers actions on your calendar, email and tasks for you to approve. ChatGPT is stronger for open-ended questions and drafting, but you open it yourself.
How do I start using Caddy on my phone?
Use the Message Caddy button on caddy.app and send your first text. Connect the calendars and accounts you want it to watch, then reply to its first brief. If texts do not arrive, the site offers a link to message from a new number, which works for existing accounts.
Top Alternatives
- ChatGPT: Pick Caddy if you want errands pushed to you by text; choose ChatGPT when you want a general assistant for writing and research.
- Motion: Choose Motion when calendar and task scheduling is the main problem; pick Caddy for lightweight admin handled in a text thread.
- Pi: Pick Caddy for an assistant that acts on your calendar and email; choose Pi for a conversational companion.
- Lindy: Choose Lindy to build custom automations; pick Caddy if you want no setup and a text-only interface.