Phone & Messaging Settings

Everything about how your shop's phone works lives on one page: Settings → Phone & Messaging. It is built from cards you can read top to bottom. Each card saves on its own, except the AI receptionist, which is saved with the page's Save changes button.

1. Phone provider

The status pill in the corner tells you whether calls can flow right now: Enabled – not configured, Verifying, Configured, Ready, Degraded (the provider reported a problem; the reason is shown) or Disabled.

The first time you open the page a short setup walks you through it:

1. Choose account — Shop Commander managed or your own Telnyx account. See the overview for the differences.
2. Connect & verify — paste the Telnyx key for your own account. It is stored encrypted; the page only ever shows the last few characters and the date it was set.
3. Add or port a number — jump to the Phone numbers card.
4. Test call — the system rings a number you enter so you can hear it works.
5. Emergency backup — set the number calls fall to when Shop Commander cannot take them.
6. Done — test the completed carrier routing. An in-service number cannot be changed through the credential form; provider migration is a supervised cutover.

Afterwards the card shows a summary with Verify connection, Test call, Change provider and Roll back. An Advanced diagnostics section (for people who manage the provider) lists the raw status values support may ask for.

1b. Calls — what the line does with incoming calls

The phone system is a module you size to the shop. Under Calls, pick one:

• Texts only — no calls. Callers hear a short announcement (edit it or keep the standard one) and the call ends. Nothing rings and no voicemail is taken; text messaging keeps working.
• Voicemail only. Every call goes straight to voicemail; the team works voicemails and missed calls from the Phone page.
• AI receptionist answers. Shop Commander AI answers every call and hands off to a person when someone is signed in, else takes a message.
• Full phone system. Your routing rules decide: browser phones and desk phones ring, with the AI receptionist and voicemail as backups.

Changing the mode also turns the Phone System and AI Voice Advisor features on or off to match, and the server refuses browser-phone sign-ins and outbound calls unless the mode is Full. When you first connect a provider, Use this line for (calls and texts, texts only, calls only) sets the mode and Text Messaging for you; change either later here.

2. Phone numbers

Your numbers, with the main one starred and chips for what each can do (calls, texts, picture messages). Telnyx connections can Search & buy, port and release. Any BYO connection can explicitly Bring my number when it already exists in that carrier account. Unsupported actions are not shown. You can also Edit the label/outbound caller ID or Make main.

Details: Numbers & porting.

3. Port my number

Move the number customers already know from your current phone company. See Numbers & porting.

4. Incoming call routing

Rules, in plain words, for what happens when a customer calls. Each rule says when it applies (any time, during business hours, after hours), who it applies to (anyone, known customers, unknown callers) and what happens:

• Ring my team first — ring a ring group for a number of seconds, then take a voicemail, hand to the AI receptionist, forward, or end the call.
• Ring my team, then the AI receptionist.
• Let the AI receptionist answer right away.
• Go straight to voicemail.
• Forward to another phone.

The editor shows the rule as a sentence while you build it — "During business hours, callers ring the Front desk for 25 seconds, then send to the AI receptionist." Rules are tried from the top, and the first match wins; the order number controls that. A rule can also carry a missed-call text that is sent to callers who were not answered.

The card shows separate lists for business hours and after hours, and tells you whether the shop is open right now by the hours on the Operations tab.

5. Ring groups & who receives calls

A ring group is the set of phones that ring together. Add employees (they ring in the browser or the app when they are available — the list shows their current presence), desk phones, or an outside number such as a mobile. Choose everyone at once or one after another with a ring time, and mark one group as the default for rules that do not name a group. A default group with nobody chosen rings everyone with a signed-in phone (browser phones and desk phones), so a new shop rings from the first sign-in; any other group with no members rings no one.

6. AI receptionist

The AI receptionist's greeting, disclosure, booking rules, transfer number and advisor style. See AI receptionist. These fields are saved with the page's Save changes button.

7. Voicemail

The greeting callers hear, the longest message you accept, and whether voicemails are written out as text.

8. Recording & transcription

Record calls answered by staff, turn them into text, keep AI summaries, and decide how long recordings and transcripts are kept. You can have the phone company's copy removed once Shop Commander has stored its own. There is also a recording notice you can play or show to callers.

Rules about telling callers a call is recorded, and whether one or both sides must agree, vary by province, state and country. Shop Commander does not give legal advice — check what applies where your shop and your callers are before turning recording on.

9. Desk phones

A physical handset or a softphone app can ring alongside the browser phone. Add desk phone creates a sign-in and shows the username and password once; enter them in the phone's SIP account settings with the server shown. Desk phones can be added to ring groups and included in the emergency path.

10. Emergency failover

Its own, clearly separated card at the bottom: where calls go when Shop Commander cannot take them at all. See Emergency failover.

Messaging tab

Text templates for estimate-ready, invoice-ready, inspection-ready and reminder messages stay on the Messaging tab. The provider credentials that used to be there have moved to Phone & Messaging — one provider carries both calls and texts.

If a card says "Not available yet"

If a card shows a Not available yet note, check the Phone provider card's status, readiness list and provider features, then verify an incomplete connection.