Calls in the Inbox

Once voice calling is on for a line, calls become part of the Inbox: they ring in the browser, you answer without leaving the conversation, and each call ends up in the thread. This page covers the day-to-day use.

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Answering a call

When a customer calls, a small call panel appears in the bottom-right corner of the dashboard, whatever page you are on, showing the caller’s name and Incoming call. If browser notifications are on, you also get an Incoming call notification, so you notice even from another tab. WhatsApp gives you roughly half a minute to pick up. The call rings for everyone who can see the conversation. An unassigned conversation rings for everyone, agents included. An assigned conversation rings for its owner and every admin. Answer connects the call in your browser. The first teammate to answer takes the call, and everyone else’s panel closes with “Another agent answered this call”. Answering an unassigned conversation also assigns it to you. Decline rejects the call for everyone (and sends the caller to voicemail if that trigger is on). Dismiss only stops it ringing on your screen, so a colleague can still take it. The first time, your browser asks for microphone access. If you deny it, the call cannot connect. Allow it for the Ciarem site and it will not ask again. While the call is up, the panel shows the timer and a live waveform of the customer’s voice, with Mute microphone, Mute caller, a shortcut to the contact’s profile, and Hang up. Minimize shrinks it so you can keep working the Inbox with the call still connected: open other conversations, read the contact panel, take notes. Reloading the page or closing the tab ends the call.

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Calling a customer

The chat header of a WhatsApp conversation has a Call button. It is enabled only when the customer has allowed calls and is not marked do not call. Hover it and the tooltip says why it is disabled (“You can call once the customer allows it. Ask for permission from the message menu.”). Click it, allow the microphone if asked, and the panel shows Connecting… until the customer picks up. Outbound calls need the customer’s permission, and it is always their decision. You can get it in three ways:

• Ask to call. In the composer, the phone icon opens the Voice calling menu. Ask to call sends a short message that WhatsApp renders with Allow / Don’t allow buttons. Edit the wording before sending. It only works inside the 24-hour window, and Meta allows one request per 24 hours and two per 7 days per contact. Their answer appears in the thread as Allowed calls for 7 days, Allowed calls, or Declined calls.
• A call from them. With Ask to call back on in the line settings, a customer who calls you is asked to allow a call back. No message needed.
• A Call on WhatsApp button. The same menu’s Add a Call us button posts a message with a button that calls your line. No permission is needed because the customer places the call. Outside the 24-hour window, put the button in a message template: the template editor’s Actions offer Call on WhatsApp.

The permission a customer granted shows in the contact panel as WhatsApp calls: Allowed until (7 days) or Always allowed. If a call cannot be placed, the message tells you why: the customer has not allowed calls or has used up WhatsApp’s per-contact limit, the contact is marked do not call, your line’s country cannot dial out, or the WhatsApp wallet cannot cover the call. After two unanswered outbound calls in a row, WhatsApp asks the customer whether to keep allowing calls. After four, permission is revoked.

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After the call

Every call becomes a card in the thread, where it happened: Incoming call or Outgoing call with its duration and time, Missed call, Declined call, or Outgoing call, no answer. When transcription is on, the AI’s summary sits right under the card, so you can read through a conversation’s calls the same way you read its messages. The conversation list shows the last call as the preview (“Missed call”, “Outgoing call · 1:35”). Details opens the full record: who answered or placed the call, the recording with a player, the transcript with You and Customer speaker labels and timestamps, and the summary. Click a transcript line to jump the player to that moment. Recording and transcript typically arrive within a minute or two of hanging up; until then the card says they are still being prepared. Missed and declined calls have no recording. A call on a line with recording off keeps only the card and the timing. A voicemail shows up as a normal voice note right after the missed-call card, with the usual Transcribe action.

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Good habits

• Answer incoming calls, or let voicemail take them. WhatsApp hides the call button on lines that repeatedly ring out.
• Answer from one tab. A second Ciarem tab of your own also rings; the first to answer holds the call.
• Read the summary before calling back. It is the fastest way to pick up where the last call left off.