Text with Groupthink

Text with Groupthink lets you ask about the people in your life from your phone's own Messages app, with nothing to install.

Summary

• You link your mobile number once, save the Groupthink number to your contacts, and text it a question like "Who haven't I talked to in a while?" or "What did Maya say about the launch?". The answer comes back in the same thread, drawn from what Groupthink knows about your relationships.
• You can also text it what happened ("Just had coffee with Dana"), ask what your day looks like, get ready for a meeting, find a time you're free, add someone new, or mark something done.
• Anything that changes your record waits for you to reply YES.
• What it does not do yet, and the messages you might see, are in Reference.

Link your number

1. Go to User Settings > Notifications and find the Text with Groupthink card at the top.
2. Enter your number in Mobile number and click Text me a code.
3. A text arrives from Groupthink with a six-digit code. Reply to that text with the code. You do not type the code into Groupthink; replying is how Groupthink knows the phone is yours.
4. Groupthink texts back to say you are linked, and the card changes to Linked.

If you gave your assistant a name, that text greets you by it. See Give It a Name.

While Groupthink waits for your reply, the card reads Waiting for your reply. It updates on its own once your reply arrives, so you can leave the page open.

Codes stop working after 15 minutes. If yours expired, enter the number again and click Text me a new code. To give up on a code, click Cancel.

Text it

Once you are linked, the card shows the number Groupthink texts you from. Save it to your contacts so you can find the thread again, then text it anything about the people in your life.

The quickest way to start is the Send your first text button on the card. It opens your Messages app with a new text to Groupthink and the question "Who haven't I talked to in a while?" already typed, so all you do is press send. It works on a Mac (in the browser or the Groupthink desktop app), an iPhone or iPad, and an Android phone. On a Windows or Linux computer, which cannot open a text, the button reads Copy the question instead: it copies the question so you can paste it into a text from your phone.

Some other things to ask:

• "Who haven't I talked to in a while?"
• "What's going on with Theo?"
• "What did I promise Ines last week?"
• "What's my day look like?"
• "When am I free Thursday?"

Answers are short and in plain text, written for a phone screen. Ask a follow-up in the same thread and Groupthink keeps the context of what you were just talking about.

To answer, Groupthink searches your whole record, not only your most recent people: your notes, captures and voice memos, imported texts and emails, meeting summaries, calendar events (including their location), and what it knows about each person. If the answer isn't in your record, it says so. Your private reflections are never used in a text answer.

Your day and your meetings

If you've connected a calendar, you can ask about your schedule by text:

• "What's my day look like?" or "What's on tomorrow?" Groupthink reads your calendar fresh and sends back the shape of the day: who you're meeting and when. For today it also mentions meetings that need a debrief, what you owe people, open threads with people (where either of you may owe the next move), check-ins that are due, and birthdays coming up. You can ask about up to a week at a time.
• "Prep me for my 2pm" or "Prep me for dinner with Haley." You get the two or three things worth knowing about the people you're meeting, from the same prep your Today page shows.
• "When am I free Thursday?" or "What times can I offer Sam next week?" Groupthink checks your connected calendars against your working hours and sends the open times, the same list Copy my open times gives you in the app. A calendar whose account has needed reconnecting for more than 7 days is left out. Name the hours if you want different ones ("between 8am and 6pm").
• "Send me my booking link." You get each of your booking links with its length, ready to forward.

Groupthink can read your calendar by text but can't change it yet. To schedule or move a meeting, use your calendar.

Tell it what happened

Text Groupthink after a call or a coffee, the way you'd tell a friend: "Just had coffee with Dana, she's leaving Stripe in March." You don't have to ask it to save anything. It replies with what it will log and asks you to reply YES. One YES saves the conversation and the details in it.

• Say who else was there ("lunch with Dana and Theo") and it's logged for both.
• Say when and how ("called Sam yesterday") and the day and channel are saved with it.
• A day ahead ("lunch with Sam Thursday") is saved as a plan.
• News with no conversation ("Dana is leaving Stripe") is saved as a note on Dana.
• Got a detail wrong? Text "That coffee was yesterday, not today" and Groupthink proposes fixing the date or channel of something you logged by text.

If you mention someone who isn't in your contacts, Groupthink offers to add them instead of asking who you mean. "Add Haley Smith, college friend, haley@example.com" adds her with what you said. A list of several people adds each one, and anything else you said about a new person (a note, a conversation) is saved with them on the same YES.

Mark things done

When something's finished, say so: "I sent Jonathan the deck," "We covered the reorg with Ana," "The call with Sam happened." Groupthink finds the matching item and proposes closing it.

• A commitment is marked done. Add "and I told him" and it also records that he knows. Nothing is sent to him.
• A suggested action item is accepted or dismissed. Dismiss also works for a commitment that isn't happening.
• An open thread is marked covered, with what came of it, or set aside until a day you name.
• A planned touchpoint is marked as done, or cancelled if it didn't happen.

If nothing matches, Groupthink says so and offers to log it instead.

Make changes by text

Ask for a change in your own words, for example:

• "Set Michele to monthly."
• "Her name is Nora Sandoval." (about a contact that only has an email address)
• "Add a note to Theo: he's moving to Denver in March."
• "Log that I had coffee with Ines today."
• "Remind me I owe Sam the board deck."
• "Draft a follow-up to Maya about the launch."
• "Sam is a client at Acme."
• "Sam's cell is 206-555-0100."
• "Keep it casual with Dana, no emoji."
• "Anything to review?"
• "That note about the Acme job is Dana, not Sam."

Groupthink replies with each change in plain words and ends with Reply YES to do it (or to do both, or to do all three when there are several).

• Reply YES to make every change in that message. Groupthink then checks your record and tells you what it now says, such as "Michele Oh is set to monthly." If a change could not be made, it says which one and why.
• Reply NO to cancel. Nothing is changed.
• Reply anything else and Groupthink treats it as a new message. The proposed change waits, unanswered.

Nothing changes until you reply YES. A proposed change expires after 30 minutes; after that, ask for it again.

What you can change by text:

Change	What it does
Cadence	Sets how often you want to be in touch with someone, or clears it.
Name	Saves the name you call someone by. Useful for contacts that only have an email address.
Note	Adds a note to the person's record.
Interaction	Logs that you were in touch, so their last interaction is up to date.
Commitment	Records something you owe them, or they owe you.
Draft	Saves a draft message on their page. Groupthink never sends it.
New person	Adds someone to your contacts, with any email, phone, role or cadence you gave.
Role	Makes a role the person's main one, like Client at Acme. The role they had before stays on their page as another role.
Phone or email	Adds a phone number or email address to the person. What they already have stays.
How you sound	Changes one setting Groupthink uses when it drafts a message to that person: a note on how they communicate, how formal, direct, warm or long to be, or whether emoji are fine.
Suggested fact	Confirms or dismisses a fact Groupthink picked up about the person but has not checked.
Note on the wrong person	Moves a note to the right person in your contacts.

You can change anyone in your contacts, not only people mentioned earlier in the thread. You cannot change your own record by text.

Suggested names. Many contacts only have an email address. When you ask about them, Groupthink may suggest a name, read from the address, a calendar invite, how they sign their email and texts, or a note you wrote about them, and say that it is a guess. It also points out group addresses, like a team inbox, that are not a person. A suggested name is not saved until you ask Groupthink to save it and reply YES.

Checking a change. Text "Did that save?" and Groupthink reads your record again and tells you what is there now.

A number or email that is already there. If the number or address you give is already on that person, or on another of your contacts, Groupthink says which one and does not propose the change. To give it to someone else, remove it from the other contact in the app first.

Adding someone who is already in your contacts. Text "Add Haley, haley@example.com" when Haley is already there, and Groupthink says so instead of adding her twice. It then offers to add the role, phone or email you gave to the Haley you have.

Suggested facts. Text "Anything to review?" and Groupthink lists, in plain words, the facts it picked up about people but has not checked. Say which are right and which are not ("those are right" covers them all), and one YES confirms or dismisses each one. These are the same facts as the AI-suggested section on a person's page. See Relationship Intelligence.

Changes you make by text show up everywhere you use Groupthink: on the web, in the desktop app, and on iPhone.

Groupthink only ever texts you, the account owner. It never texts your contacts, and it does not text you first: apart from the code and the "you're linked" message (and the setup intro below, for a new account), it only replies when you text it.

Links for things that need a screen

Some things can't be done in a text, like connecting a calendar or changing your plan. Ask for them anyway ("How do I connect my calendar?") and Groupthink replies with a link on its own line. A link into the app signs you in and opens the right page, so there's nothing to log in to. Each link works once and expires after 24 hours; if one has expired, ask again.

Afterward, text "done" or "Did that work?" and Groupthink checks your setup, such as whether your calendar is connected and syncing, before it tells you it worked.

Setting up by text

If your Groupthink account is less than 30 days old, linking your number starts a short setup in the same thread. Groupthink introduces itself, by the name you gave your assistant if you named it, and asks for a few people who matter to you. Then it sends a link to connect your calendar, offers a few optional ways to bring in more (forwarding meeting notes by email, importing your Mac Messages history, the desktop app), and finishes with a first answer from what you just added.

It's one step per text, and you can text "skip" at any step.

Pause or stop texting

Reply STOP (or OPT OUT) to the Groupthink number at any time. Groupthink stops texting that number straight away, and the card in settings reads Paused.

To turn texting back on, reply START, UNSTOP, or YES from the same number. Groupthink texts once to confirm, and you are linked again. You can also enter the number in the card again and click Text me a code, then reply to the new code, just like the first time.

Change or remove your number

To remove your number, open the card and click Unlink this number. Groupthink stops answering texts from it.

To switch to a different number, unlink the old one first, then link the new one. Each account has one linked number, and each number can be linked to only one Groupthink account.

Reference

What it does not do yet

• Groupthink does not send you anything on its own. There is no daily text, reminder, or nudge. It answers when you ask.
• It never texts anyone but you. A drafted message is saved on the person's page for you to send yourself.
• It does not capture a text thread you forward to it. To file a conversation onto someone's record, use Capture a Text Conversation.
• It can't change your calendar. It reads your schedule and open times, but scheduling or moving a meeting happens in your calendar.
• Some edits still happen on the person's page. Over text you can change the things in the table above. To remove or edit an email address, phone number or role, or to change tags, open the person in Groupthink. See Staying in Touch.
• Numbers in the US and Canada only. Numbers from other countries are not accepted yet.

Messages you might see

Message	What it means
Enter a mobile number we can text, with its country code if it is outside your region.	The number could not be read as a mobile number. Check it, and include the country code.
Texting is only available for numbers in US, CA right now.	The number is outside the US and Canada.
That number is already linked to another Groupthink account.	Someone else has linked or is linking that number. Unlink it from the other account first.
We just texted that number. Give it 5 minutes before asking for another code.	You asked for a code a moment ago. Reply to the one you already have, or wait before asking again.
That number asked us to stop texting it. Try again later.	The number replied STOP recently and has not been confirmed as yours. Wait and try again.
We couldn't text that number just now. Try again in a few minutes.	Groupthink could not send the code. Nothing is wrong with your number; try again shortly.
That code didn't match. Check the text and try again.	The reply did not match the code. Reply again with the six digits from the latest text.
Too many tries. Open Groupthink settings to send a new code.	Five replies did not match, so the code no longer works. Ask for a new one in settings.

If you get a text from Groupthink with a code you did not ask for, reply STOP and Groupthink will not text you again.