Ask HN: Practical AI setup for staying on top of personal messages?
Most of my personal backlog is on iPhone/iMessage, and I’m looking for a mobile-first system. I’m also juggling work + personal logistics, so I need something that works in short batches vs. being “always on”.
I’m looking for success/failure stories and practical setups using AI for triage + drafting across texts/email/voicemail. I’m not looking to auto-send replies—just help deciding what to reply to and drafting something I’ll send myself.
Questions I’d love input on:
- What workflow finally stuck (batching, queues, reminders, templates, “SLA” rules)? - What failed (tone mismatch, hallucinations, too much friction, privacy concerns, social blowback)? - Which tools were worth it (clients, plugins, Shortcuts, local vs cloud), and why? - Any prompt patterns that reliably produce short, warm, context-aware replies?
If you built something custom (scripts/Shortcuts/agents), I’d love the rough architecture.