You Can Now Talk to Perplexity AI Directly From WhatsApp

After adding a Voice Assistant feature to the iPhone app, Perplexity is now available in WhatsApp. Working just like any other chat, you can use the Perplexity chatbot without an account or any setup. Simply send it your questions, and the Perplexity AI model will reply to you. It has access to the internet, too, so it can provide the latest information, generate images, and more.

How chatting Perplexity on WhatsApp works

Using Perplexity on WhatsApp doesn't require a Perplexity account, and as it stands, there isn't even a way to link your Perplexity account to WhatsApp. This is nice for easy setup, but also, your chats won't sync to your account.

To start talking to Perplexity, start a new chat with the following number: +1 (833) 436-3285. Tap the Plus button to start a new chat, search for this number, and tap the Chat button next to Perplexity to get started.

Perplexity's WhatsApp replies are quite fast, but they are short and to the point. Don't expect full functionality, with tools like Deep Research, here.

How to chat with Perplexity and generate images on WhatsApp

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Once you've started your chat with Perplexity, it's as simple as typing out your questions and waiting for a response. Perplexity's AI is quite fast, coming back with responses in just a couple of seconds. And it supports voice notes too, so you can record a voice note as a question, it will transcribe it, and then promptly get back to you.

You can even ask it to generate images, or to edit an image. Perplexity is really trying to make the whole "make this person bald" thing happen.

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A nice touch here is that Perplexity includes links and sources in its responses, and shares generated images directly in the chat, making them easy to save and forward (ChatGPT, for some weird reason, shares a link to the image instead).

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Perplexity can also accept forwarded messages as input, so you can use Perplexity AI to fact-check that weird forward from your uncle that you already know is a scam.

How Perplexity's WhatsApp integration compares with ChatGPT's

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

ChatGPT is also available on WhatsApp, for free, and just like Perplexity, it uses the latest available models and is connected to the web. Unlike Perplexity, though, it has an option to link your phone number to your account, so all your chats from WhatsApp can show up in your ChatGPT app as well (something Perplexity doesn't offer). Its responses can also be a bit more detailed than Perplexity's, in my experience, including tables and other added context. Still, it's a shame that you have to click a link to see your images.

Good for quick questions

In my testing, I found Perplexity's WhatsApp bot to be best at short queries. As it stands right now, Perplexity AI's responses on WhatsApp are limited to just a couple of sentences, even if you ask a detailed question, so if you want anything deeper, it's best to switch to the Perplexity app or try texting ChatGPT instead.

Although, these might just be growing pains for Perplexity, which had to take its WhatApp bot down for a couple of hours around launch thanks to unexpected demand.

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