Agent, the 5-apps-in-1 smart assistant for Android, goes free

Launched back in November, Agent for Android has proven to be a very popular service for automating actions in your day-to-day life. Indeed, Agent proclaims to be five apps in one.

The handiwork of Kulveer Taggar, a Y Combinator graduate who sold his first company for $5m back in 2008, Agent serves to preserve your battery, silence your phone during meetings, remember where you parked your car, send auto-responses when you’re driving AND allows only urgent calls/messages when you’re asleep.

Yes, Agent is one truly smart app. And the explosive uptake the app has seen in the 10+ weeks since launch has now led Taggar to make it available for free, having initially cost $1.99.

Here’s a quick look at what Agent does.

How it works

You can control the five components of the app individually by disabling/enabling accordingly.

Sleep Agent can silence your phone automatically when you go to sleep, and you’re able to configure the times and days it’s active. You can also stipulate the number of minutes of inactivity on your phone before this mode is activated, which is useful if you don’t go to bed exactly on cue. You can then select who’s allowed to wake you by choosing specific names from your contacts, or select an auto-respond message asking your chosen contacts to text ‘urgent’ to ring your phone.

You can also set alerts for when your battery falls under a certain percentage of charge, and automatically turn off Bluetooth, dim your screen and more. And in terms of meetings, well, it also taps your calendars to automatically silence your phone and send a message while you’re busy.

For car-owners, Agent really comes into its own too. It remembers where you parked, with an activity-detection function establishing when you’re driving to pinpoint where you park your car. It then directs you back to your car afterwards. The specific Drive Agent feature is triggered by Bluetooth, and can be configured to read text messages aloud, auto-respond to say you’re driving and more.

Though the app is now free for everyone, premium features will be landing soon, and these will be free for those who previously coughed up Agent. Though if you’re suitably peeved by this move you can email (feedback@tryagent.com) for a refund.

➤ Agent