Messaging Channels

Setting up SMS, WhatsApp, and Signal so your team can receive and respond to text messages.

Your hotline can receive messages over SMS, WhatsApp, and Signal in addition to voice calls. Messages arrive in a unified Conversations view where your team can read and respond.

Setting up SMS

SMS uses the same telephony provider as your voice calls (Twilio, SignalWire, Vonage, or Plivo). To enable it:

1. Go to Settings and find the messaging section
2. Toggle SMS on
3. Configure a welcome message — this is the automatic reply sent when someone texts your number for the first time
4. Point your provider’s SMS webhook to your hotline’s SMS endpoint (shown in settings)

Setting up WhatsApp

WhatsApp requires a Meta Cloud API account. To enable it:

1. Toggle WhatsApp on in settings
2. Enter your Meta Cloud API credentials: access token, verify token, and phone number ID
3. Configure your WhatsApp webhook in the Meta dashboard to point to your hotline’s WhatsApp endpoint

WhatsApp has a 24-hour messaging window — you can only reply to someone within 24 hours of their last message. After that, you need to use a pre-approved template message to restart the conversation.

Setting up Signal

Signal uses a bridge service called signal-cli. To enable it:

1. Toggle Signal on in settings
2. Enter the bridge URL and phone number
3. The system monitors the bridge health and will warn you if the connection drops

How messages flow in

When someone sends a message to your hotline number, it appears in the Conversations page. Each conversation is threaded by sender, so you can see the full history with that person.

Messages are encrypted when stored — the server discards the original text immediately after encrypting it.

Auto-assignment

Incoming messages can be automatically assigned to the team member on shift, or you can configure them to go to a specific team. Staff members respond directly from the conversation view, and their reply goes back through the same channel the person used.