Over the past few months, we’ve been building something new.
It’s called Jest, and it’s a marketplace for messaging apps - experiences that leverage messaging to engage and retain consumers.
Messaging has become the most important surface on the smartphone. It’s where attention lives. It’s where people respond. And with richer messaging standards rolling out broadly, it’s evolving from a communication channel into an interactive platform.
Behind the scenes, we’re building the infrastructure that makes messaging apps possible. Jest handles messaging delivery, compliance, carrier integrations, and player opt-in - so developers can build messaging-native experiences without becoming telecom experts.
We’re starting with the largest category in the app store: gaming.
Today, we’re excited to announce that the Jest Beta - focused on messaging games - is live in the US.
Why Now
For years, messaging had the audience but not the capability. SMS was static and limited. Experiences were constrained.
That changed with the rollout of RCS, the next generation texting standard.
RCS upgrades messaging with rich media, structured content, branding, and interactivity - turning what was once a basic communication channel into a surface developers can build on.
And recently, with Apple’s adoption of RCS in iOS 18, messaging crossed an important threshold. For the first time, RCS is supported consistently across both Android and iOS. What was once fragmented across carriers and devices is converging into a single, richer, cross-platform surface for interactive experiences.
At the same time, consumer behavior is shifting. With the rise of AI assistants and chat-based tools, people are becoming increasingly comfortable interacting with software through messaging interfaces. Conversation is no longer just for people - it’s becoming a primary way we interact with technology.
When infrastructure and behavior shift together, it’s time to build.
What’s Next
The Jest Beta is now live in the US.
If you’re curious, you can try messaging games today at jest.com.
Over the next few months, we’ll be inviting a small number of select studios to experiment with this new format. Messaging games are still early, and the design language is still being defined. We want to work closely with teams interested in exploring what’s possible inside messaging.
Our primary goal during the beta is simple: to learn.
We’re focused on understanding:
- Adoption — Do consumers opt in to messaging and respond to it?
- Retention — Do players come back over time when games live inside messaging?
- Engagement — What kinds of mechanics feel natural and compelling in a conversational format?
If messaging becomes a platform, the next generation of apps won’t be downloaded - they’ll be texted.
We are excited to test that hypothesis.