Sesame, the AI startup co-founded by the founders of Oculus, released a public preview of its conversational AI app for iOS on May 28, 2026, making it available in 39 countries. The app is free to use, though new sign-ups may encounter a short waitlist.
The app features four AI agents — Maya, Miles, Simone, and Charlie — each with a distinct voice, personality, point of view, and memory. Maya and Miles were previously available in an earlier research preview, which drew more than one million users within its first few weeks, according to Sesame investor Sequoia. That beta followed a $250 million Series B funding round from Sequoia and others.
Sesame’s core design challenge, as the company describes it, is balancing response speed with accuracy. “A slower response is usually more correct, but it can also feel unnatural if it takes too long,” the company said in its launch announcement. To address this, Sesame says it built fast search and retrieval systems that allow the AI to run multiple parallel searches while speaking, weaving new information into responses mid-conversation.
Features added during the beta period include search cards with image results, a notes function for capturing takeaways, a texting mode for situations where speaking aloud isn’t practical, support for in-depth topic exploration, and an incognito mode that allows agents to use prior context within a session without saving anything to memory.
The iOS app is described as the first step in a broader product roadmap. Sesame has indicated that the agents will eventually be able to take action on users’ behalf, beyond conversation. The company also expects to launch AI-powered eyewear in 2027. An Android preview is planned for a future date.
Source: TechCrunch