Launch HN: Chert (YC P26) – Twilio for iMessage

Product & Positioning

• Chert is pitched as “Twilio for iMessage”: an API to send/receive iMessages (with SMS/RCS fallback) for business use cases like customer support, scheduling, cart reminders, and form-fill follow-ups.
• Founders emphasize scale, stability, and a managed service over DIY Mac/AppleScript setups, claiming most businesses don’t want to run their own iMessage infrastructure.
• They argue iMessage feels “more conversational” than SMS/RCS due to blue bubbles, typing indicators, reactions, and US user familiarity.

Competition & Alternatives

• Multiple commenters point out existing similar products (e.g., other iMessage gateways, AI agent platforms) and question differentiation.
• Others note that Apple already provides “Messages for Business,” with richer features (forms, quick replies, app payloads) and CRM integrations.
• Founders reply that Apple’s official solution is slow to onboard, restrictive, inbound-focused, and uses visually distinct “business” bubbles.

Spam, Abuse, and User Experience

• A large portion of the thread is hostile to the idea, associating it with more spam, deceptive bots, and erosion of trust in iMessage.
• Many users explicitly say they want fewer business messages, prefer email or SMS for transactional content, and will report “abandoned cart” style messages as spam regardless of opt-in language.
• Founders say they focus on opt-in and high-importance cases (e.g., after-hours support), manually vet customers, and monitor line “health,” but admit they’re not self-serve yet and rely on process rather than strong technical safeguards.

Apple ToS & Platform Risk

• Multiple commenters cite Apple’s own language that iMessage is for personal use, not commercial messaging, and predict an eventual ban similar to the Beeper Mini case.
• Chert argues Apple is mainly against spam, points to AppleScript and existing “agents,” and believes compliant, consented use will be tolerated.
• Many see this as naïve; they stress Apple can shut it down for any reason and that the entire business is “built on quicksand.”

Meta: YC Funding & Ethics

• Commenters are surprised YC funded a model with such obvious platform and legal risk, comparing it to SIM farms / gray-market messaging.
• Some see adversarial interoperability as a positive and hope for legal precedent; others label the idea manipulative, antisocial, and something they “hope Apple kills quickly.”