Phone

The Phone page is where staff take calls. It works in any modern browser and in the Shop Commander mobile app; there is nothing to install on a computer.

Being available

Set your status at the top of the Phone page:

• Available — calls for your ring group ring you.
• Do not disturb — you are skipped; calls go to the next person or the fallback.
• Offline — the same as signed out.

You only ring when you are signed in, available, and a member of the ring group the routing rule chose. A person who is on another call is skipped automatically.

Choose when and where to ring

Open Profile → Phone Availability / Devices, also linked from the phone status menu. Choose During shop business hours, Always, Custom schedule, or Do not ring me. Custom hours use your shop’s timezone. Business-hours availability follows the shop’s hours and holiday closures.

Choose Ring all active devices, Ring preferred device only, Browser only, or Mobile only. For a preferred device, choose whether other eligible devices should ring when it is unavailable. You can rename devices, turn incoming calls off on a device, or remove it. Save availability changes with Save phone availability; device changes save as you make them.

Several computers and phones can ring for one person. Several tabs or windows in the same browser share one phone, and only the owner tab plays the ringtone. You can answer from a passive tab; it passes the action to the owner. The first answer wins and the other devices stop ringing.

Personal availability only changes whether you are called. It does not change the shop’s ring groups, AI, voicemail or after-hours routing.

Answering a call

When a call rings, the page shows who is calling before you pick up: the matched customer, their vehicles, any open repair order and the next appointment. If two customers share a number you are asked which one it is. Press Answer; from the call you can:

• Hold and resume.
• Transfer — send the caller to another employee, ring group, or external number. Telnyx does not support moving an already-established human call into Conversation Relay; route new calls to AI first when that workflow is wanted.
• Start or stop recording, when recording is allowed by your settings.
• Add a note; notes stay with the call on the customer's timeline.

Ignore on this device silences and dismisses this device only. The call keeps ringing on your other devices and for other employees. It does not send the caller to voicemail or decline for the team. Under More, Send to voicemail is an explicit separate action for permitted users.

Placing a call

Press the phone icon on a customer, vehicle or repair order, or type a number on the Phone page. The call is placed from your shop number (or the caller ID configured for it) and is linked to the record you started from, so the outcome lands on that repair order.

Missed calls and voicemail

Missed lists calls nobody answered that have not been dealt with. Press Resolve once you have called back, or open the call to see whether a missed-call text was sent. Voicemail shows each message with its transcript when transcription is on; mark it read or assign it to a colleague.

Call details

Open any call to see the full record: the timeline of what happened (rang the front desk for 25 seconds, went to the AI receptionist, booked an appointment), who handled it, the recording and transcript when available, the AI summary, notes, and the customer, vehicle and repair order it is linked to. You can correct a wrong match here.

On a phone

Use the current Shop Commander app to receive and place calls through the shop line. Calls stay inside the app, and the recipient sees the shop’s configured caller ID rather than your personal mobile number. Calling also works from appointments, estimates and messages.

When mobile calling has been enabled for your shop, allow microphone and call notifications. Incoming calls can appear through the phone’s call screen while the app is in the background. Open the app to see the securely loaded customer and RO details. Keep the app updated and open it regularly to renew background access. Device settings, force-stop and network availability can affect background delivery.

During a call, use mute, speaker, keypad, hold, transfer and hangup, or open the customer/RO, add a note or send a text. The call remains in the Shop Commander phone as you move between screens.

Related

• Phone system overview
• Phone & Messaging settings — routing, ring groups, voicemail, recording
• AI receptionist

AI callbacks and conversation evidence

An AI callback request creates one high-priority task per call session in the Callbacks queue, with a 30-minute staff follow-up target, caller context and a link to the originating call when available. Staff can assign and complete that task through Tasks. The target is an internal queue deadline, not a promise that a particular employee is available. Resolve the call's follow-up state separately after handling it.

Call detail separates the AI conversation, provider transcript and voicemail. When an AI transcript is reconstructed from retained conversation events, it is labelled accordingly. Voicemail audio is separate from a full-call recording; transcript and recording permissions still apply.

Record AI calls controls recording for AI conversations. SC requests recording when the AI answers an authenticated call. Staff-call recording has a separate setting. Call detail shows requested, failed/unconfirmed, processing or playable audio as evidence becomes available. An enabled switch or a transcript does not mean a recording was saved. This setting cannot recover audio from an earlier unrecorded call.

Transcript access scope

Transcript access covers AI summaries too. Own records only permits calls the employee placed or answered. AI-handled inbound calls need All shop records access. Owners can review the effective scope in employee permissions. A restricted call shows an access explanation; it does not claim that no summary exists.