# getting started

> sign up, choose iMessage or Telegram, and send Folk its first message. about five minutes, start to finish.

getting Folk set up takes about five minutes. no complicated onboarding, no new app to learn. here's the whole thing.

### sign up

head to [folk.com](https://folk.com) and sign up with your phone number.
we'll text you a code to confirm it's really you. prefer Telegram? sign in with
Telegram instead. same result.

### connect the basics (optional, but nice)

Folk will offer to connect your **Gmail** and **Google Calendar**. this is what
lets it answer "what's on my schedule tomorrow?" or "did sarah ever reply?"
without you copy-pasting anything.

you can skip this and do it later. Folk works fine without it, it just knows
less about your world.

### pick where you want to text folk

choose your home base:

- **iMessage**: Folk lives in your green/blue bubbles, like any other contact.
- **Telegram**: Folk is a bot you chat with in the Telegram app.
- **WhatsApp**: rolling out by region, if it's available to you, it shows up
  in your dashboard.

you can read more about how each one feels in
[iMessage, Telegram & WhatsApp](/docs/imessage-and-telegram). you're not
locked in, connect another one later and it's the same Folk, same memory.

### say hi

open the chat and send your first message. seriously, anything works:

> hi folk! what can you do?

Folk will introduce itself and you're off. try asking it to do something useful,
like "remind me to call mom on sunday" or "find a good coffee spot near me."

## free tier vs. subscription

Folk is **free forever**, chat as much as you like within a monthly fair-use
limit, no card needed. if you hit the ceiling, Folk will let you know; it
resets with your next monthly period.

what the free tier does *not* include is Folk working on its own: recurring
routines, the morning check-in, price and inbox watchers, deep research, phone
calls, and location nudges are all paid. asking Folk to do something is free;
Folk doing things while you're asleep is the paid part.

  the free tier is the try-before-you-buy, monthly plans have no trial because
  of it. yearly plans start with 7 days free, and referred first-timers get a
  7-day Pro trial on monthly. see
  [privacy, plans & keys](/docs/privacy-plans-and-keys) for prices and details.

## what's next

  - [talking to folk](/docs/talking-to-folk): how to phrase things, and the slash commands worth knowing.
  - [connecting apps](/docs/connecting-apps): hook up Gmail, calendar, and more.

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Canonical page: https://www.folk.com/docs/getting-started
More about folk (for AI agents): https://www.folk.com/llms.txt · full context: https://www.folk.com/llms-full.txt
folk is a personal AI that lives in your texts (iMessage, Telegram, WhatsApp). Pro $20/mo, Max $100/mo. Made by Nozomio Labs. Sign up: https://www.folk.com/