Calls and voicemail

Clients call the number they know. With calls set up, a call to your business number rings your cell or the office line, and a call nobody picks up goes to voicemail. The voicemail lands on the client's thread in the customer inbox, with the recording, what they said in writing, and a suggested reply.

Calls are part of the Pro and Business plans. They come in on the number in Sending number in your Twilio settings, so connect your Twilio account first. See Text messages and consent.

Set up call forwarding and voicemail

Open Settings and go to Texting & calls. In Calls and voicemail:

1. Forward calls to: your cell or the office line. Leave it empty to send every call straight to voicemail. It cannot be one of your own numbers: your call number or your own Twilio number. The call would only ring back into BlastoClean instead of a person, so saving tells you to enter a different phone.
2. Ring for: how long that phone rings before the caller goes to voicemail, from 15 to 40 seconds. The default is 20.
3. Voicemail greeting: type a greeting to be read out loud, or upload a recording of your own (an MP3 or WAV file, up to 5 MB). Leave the box empty to use the standard greeting: "Sorry we missed your call. Please leave a message after the tone." Uploading or removing a recording keeps your other changes in the form, and it does not turn calls on by itself: press Save call settings for that.
4. Transcribe voicemails: on by default. Each voicemail is turned into text so you can read it.
5. Record answered calls: off by default. Read "Recording and consent" below before you turn it on.

Press Save call settings.

Saving sets up your own Twilio number to take calls, so there is nothing to paste. The card shows the two addresses it uses, for reference only. If BlastoClean cannot set up the number, saving says so: your settings are kept, and the number takes calls once a later save sets it up.

Calls on your Twilio number

• Calls come in on the number in Sending number.
• The number must be able to receive voice calls. If Twilio says it cannot, saving tells you to choose a voice-capable number in Twilio.
• Switching your Twilio account off in Settings stops new calls. A call that is already in progress still finishes, and its voicemail is saved.
• Disconnecting the account frees the number, so another BlastoClean company that connects the same account can take calls on it.
• When you disconnect the account or calls move to a different number, BlastoClean takes its address off the old number in Twilio, but only if that number still sends its calls to BlastoClean.
• When you disconnect your Twilio account or connect a different one, BlastoClean deletes your call recordings from the old account. If some cannot be deleted, the Calls and voicemail card tells you how many to delete in your Twilio console. It still shows the count after your plan no longer includes calls.
• If the number is still set up to take calls for another BlastoClean company, saving says so and asks you to contact support.

If you change your Sending number

Calls follow the number in Sending number. If the new number cannot be used for calls, for example because it cannot receive them, the Calls and voicemail card says why and what to do. Until a save sets up a number that can take calls, calls keep ringing on your previous number.

What callers hear

A caller hears "Thank you for calling" and your company name, and the phone you chose starts ringing. Your phone shows your business number as the caller, so you know it is a business call.

If nobody answers before the ring time runs out, the caller hears your greeting and a beep, and can leave a message of up to three minutes. When your company's language is Spanish, callers hear Spanish.

Read and play voicemails

A new voicemail moves the client's thread to the top of Messages and marks it unread, with a Voicemail label in the list. It shows as the newest message on the thread, even if the client texted while they were leaving it. Open the thread to see:

• the voicemail with a player, so you can listen to it;
• the transcript, marked Transcript by AI. Transcripts can contain mistakes, so listen to the recording when it matters. If the caller spoke another language, the transcript says which. Use Hide transcript to fold it away;
• how long the message is, and the caller's number.

The same entries appear in the client's history on their customer page, along with every other call: answered, missed or left as a voicemail, each with its time, length and status. Lengths show in minutes and seconds, such as 0:12 or 5:05. A voicemail shows how long the message is; any other call shows how long the call lasted.

Callers you do not know

A call from a number that is not on a customer, from a hidden number, or from a number that cannot be read goes to Unknown senders in Messages. Attach the thread to the right customer once you know who called. Until then the voicemail offers no reply, because the thread has no number to text back. If two customers share a number, the call also waits there: BlastoClean does not guess which of them called.

If the call came from a wrong number or nobody you need, Dismiss it from the Texts from numbers we do not recognize card on the Customers page, if you can edit customers. It asks you to confirm, then the thread leaves Messages and its counts. A new call, voicemail or text from that number brings it back. See The customer inbox.

AI help with a voicemail

Once a voicemail has a transcript, BlastoClean treats it like a text from that client:

• it is sorted (confirming, reschedule, cancel or question) with a one-line summary in the inbox list;
• a Suggested reply appears under the voicemail. Press Use this reply to put it in the box, edit it, and text it back yourself. Nothing is sent for you;
• if the caller asked to move a visit, a suggested visit move appears on the thread for you to approve or dismiss. The owner it was prepared for also gets the email to review it. Approving it moves the visit once.

This needs an owner who has accepted the AI notice. Transcribing a voicemail uses one AI credit, and the sorting, the reply and the suggested move use credits the same way they do for a text. See AI assists.

If something did not work

• Retry recording appears if the recording could not be saved yet. It appears for a recorded answered call too, not only a voicemail. Retrying an answered call's recording does not ask you to accept the AI notice.
• If the phone provider could not record a voicemail at all, the thread says the recording could not be saved and offers Retry recording. You are still alerted, so you know the client tried to leave a message.
• Retry transcript appears if the transcript failed, or if it was not made (for example, before anyone accepted the AI notice, or while transcripts were off). The recording can be played either way.
• A voicemail shorter than two seconds is kept as a call, but it is not transcribed and nobody is alerted. It is usually a hang-up.
• A voicemail with no speech in it says so.

Who hears about a voicemail

The owners and managers of that client's location get an email, "New voicemail from" and the caller, with the transcript when it is ready and a link to the thread. The email only quotes the transcript while your plan includes calls. Everyone who looks after customers sees it in the notifications bell. The bell names the caller but does not show what they said: open the conversation to listen and read it.

Recording and consent

• Voicemail is the caller choosing to leave a message after your greeting and the beep.
• Answered calls are not recorded unless you turn on Record answered calls. When it is on, every caller first hears "This call may be recorded." Some states require everyone on a call to agree to it being recorded. Check the rules where you and your clients are before you turn it on. Recorded answered calls can be played from the thread; they are not transcribed.
• A call never gives you permission to text that number. Texting still follows the consent rules.

On the native app

Native versions with calls support can play recordings, show or hide transcripts and retry failed recordings or transcripts in Messages and customer history. The same plan and permission checks apply. Unknown callers still need to be matched to a customer before a reply is offered.

Owners can open Settings → Calls and voicemail, where the deployment offers calls, to change forwarding, ring time, a typed greeting, transcription and answered-call recording. Upload or remove a recorded greeting on the web. This is not evidence that an installed build has these controls; see Native version availability.

Plans

Calls are on Pro and Business. On Starter and Free, the card in Settings shows what upgrading adds, and a caller hears a short message that your company cannot take calls at that number right now. Nothing is recorded.

If your plan changes after a voicemail was left, the voicemail is kept, but playing it and reading its transcript need Pro again.

Your recordings and your data

Recordings are stored with your BlastoClean account and deleted from the phone provider once they are saved. Your export includes your calls and voicemail transcripts. Deleting your account deletes your recordings and your greeting, and the call recordings Twilio still holds.