September 4, 2026

Happy Friday Photon Community,

This week at Photon: $3000 BEST Photon iMessage Agent Contest, updating our robust iMessage location request feature, community Agent releases from Orchid & Almanac, along with hosting two Consumer founder dinners in New York City with Rho and Verci!

Announcement

$3000 Best Photon iMessage Agent Contest

We're give $3000 to whoever can build the best iMessage Agent with Photon.

• Build on Photon → Post a demo & tag @PhotonHQ → Submit a typeform

• We're giving $1,000 to the best use case, $1,000 to most creative, $1,000 to funniest / most viral

• Deadline: Sep 10. Winners get invited to something special!

Read Details

Feature Updates

Robust iMessage Location Request Update

Photon's iMessage "Share Location" request now renders reliably for everyone, so any agent built on Photon can ask a user for their location and actually get the button.

• Rearchitected rendering pipeline, button no longer tied to contact status or thread size, 99% render reliability

• Works on first-time threads and years-long chats with thousands of messages, and your agent has the most native way to ask where a user is

Read Blog

Built on Photon

Worthwise: Financial Agent with Photon

Worthwise is a Financial planning and management agent build with Photon as the iMessage provider, along with support from Convex and Vercel Eve.

• Every account in one thread: banks, cards, brokerages with stocks, crypto, RSUs, ISOs all supported for financial management

• Offers unique Photon-specific iMessage group chat support

Watch Demo

Community Highlights

Almanac Agent Release

• Almanac’s agents have unlimited memory, their own computers, browsers and access to the tools they need so they can keep working autonomously

• Almanac agents also have unlimited memory, so they remember every call, document, decision, and promise in the company

• iMessage support with Photon

Watch Demo

Community Highlights

Orchid Agent Video Release

• Orchid is a personal assistant that helps you stay organized, find information, and get things done. All through messages.

• Photon supports the Messaging line, so the agent can reach you in the threads you regularly check

Watch Demo

Community Events

Photon in NYC: Verci & Rho Dinners

Photon had a sprint in New York, partnering with the best startups and community groups to organize two 12-person consumer founder dinners!

• Co-hosted with Rho, the all-in-one banking and financial software platform for startups, based in NYC

• Co-hosted with ​Verci, the workspace and social space in LA and NYC, meticulously curated for founders, artists, and creatives.

We're Hiring

Backend Engineers (Intern + Fulltime)

Proficient in Swift, TypeScript (NodeJS, ConnectRPC, Hono), or Rust. Strong understanding of how production-level backend systems work, including OTel, Workflow Systems, Outbox, PostgreSQL, Service Mesh, and k8s.

Email Us to Apply

That's all for this week.

We believe agents should reach everyone:
And we're building every day to make it happen.

Want to learn more about Photon?
Reply to this email or grab time with us for a quick chat.

Photon is building the Twilio for AI agents - enabling agents to live inside existing messaging surfaces like iMessage, phone calls, email, WhatsApp, Instagram, Slack, and more. Our open-source kits have driven 200k+ impressions and adoption from thousands of developers.

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