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GAIA lives in the blue bubbles you already use. Register your number once, text /auth, and from then on it’s just a normal conversation in Messages, on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
iMessage is a Pro feature. Every other GAIA bot is available on the free plan.

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Getting started

Unlike the other bots, there is no public number to message. Each account is assigned its own GAIA line when you register, so setup starts inside GAIA.
1

Register your phone number

Open Settings → Linked Accounts, choose iMessage, and enter your phone number in E.164 format (for example +14155550123).GAIA registers you with its iMessage provider and shows you the number to text. It is specific to your account, so copy it from that screen rather than reusing one you saw elsewhere.
2

Text /auth to your GAIA number

Open Messages, start a new conversation with the number GAIA gave you, and send:
You’ll get a link back. Tap it, sign in, and your account is connected.
3

Just type

Every message after that goes straight to GAIA. No command prefix, no mention.

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Send from your phone number, not your Apple ID

This is the one thing that trips people up. Apple lets you send iMessages from either your phone number or your Apple ID email. GAIA’s shared line only routes messages that arrive from a phone number — a message sent from an Apple ID email gets an automated bounce instead of a reply. If that happens, on your iPhone go to Settings → Messages → Send & Receive, set Start new conversations from to your phone number, then start a new conversation with the GAIA number. An existing thread keeps using whatever address it started with, so the new conversation matters.

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What you can do

Everything the other bots can do. Talk in plain language, or use the same commands: See Bot Commands for the full list. You can also send photos and documents, and GAIA will read them as part of the conversation.

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What’s different on iMessage

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Troubleshooting

Your message was sent from your Apple ID email rather than your phone number. Change it under Settings → Messages → Send & Receive and start a new conversation, as described above.
iMessage is Pro-only, and the plan is re-checked on every message. If your subscription lapsed, the bot stops replying until it’s active again.
Expected. GAIA only responds in direct messages, group conversations are ignored by design.
Want to run your own iMessage bot instead? See iMessage Bot Development.