What happens on a call

Home, Inbox, Contacts and Business

Home shows what needs you, today’s summary, setup and the last 7 days. Inbox lists every call and caller text, newest first. Contacts lists everyone who has called or texted; tap a caller on a call to open them. Business holds what your receptionist knows. Settings is the gear at the top. Home was called Overview and Inbox was called Calls before October 2026.

Your contacts

Contacts lists everyone who has called or texted. Type in Search contacts to find a person by name, phone number, address or email, and tap a contact to open them.

• A contact’s page shows their details and addresses, their calls and texts (under History), their Tags, their Status and Value, and their Jobs.
• The owner and admins can choose Edit to change a contact, add tags with Edit tags, and set the status (New lead, Quoted, Booked, Done or Lost) and what the job is worth. A member can open contacts but not change them.
• Filters narrows the list by status, tags, contact fields, last contact or whether a contact has a reminder. Clear filters brings everyone back.
• Jobs on a contact lists their jobs; bookings your receptionist makes show up there too. Choose New job to add one, or open a job to see its stage and activity.
• Reminders under More lists reminders, yours or everyone’s, due or upcoming. Choose Add reminder to make one.
• The owner and admins also find these under More. Import contacts brings in a spreadsheet file (CSV) whose first row names the columns, up to 10,000 rows and 2 MB; you match the columns, and nothing you have already entered is overwritten. Undo import removes the contacts that import added, except any you have edited, merged or heard from since, for a limited time. Contact fields keeps details you need on every contact, such as a gate code, up to 25 fields. Possible duplicates lists contacts that look like the same person; choose Merge to join them. You can undo a merge for 30 days with Unmerge in the contact’s history.
• Phone contacts in Settings is a different thing: it shows the names from your phone’s own contacts next to calls to your business.

How a call goes

• It greets the caller with your approved greeting and says it’s an AI.
• If you chose which calls come here, it also says when you’re closed and when you open again, or that nobody can come to the phone right now.
• It answers questions about your services, prices, regular hours and approved answers only from the facts you saved. It’s told never to make up prices, availability, policies or things it has done.
• When it can’t answer, it offers to take a message for you. A message doesn’t promise the caller a callback time.
• It asks for the caller’s name and what they need. When the caller’s number shows, it asks whether that number is the best one to call back; otherwise it asks for the ten digits and reads them back once.
• If you chose We go to customers, it offers times first. Once the caller picks one, it asks for the ZIP code of the visit and says it back: inside your Service area it goes on, and outside it says so and offers to take a message. Then it asks for the street address, says it back once, and puts it in the calendar event.
• With your Google Calendar connected, it offers open times, reads the booking back, and books only after the caller agrees. It says a visit is booked only once your calendar confirms it.
• If it can’t reach your calendar on a call, it says it can’t check or book times right now and offers to save the request for you.
• A request to cancel or move a booking becomes a message for you, unless you switched on Let callers cancel by phone (and, for moves, Let callers move by phone) under Appointment rules.
• It never asks for card numbers, passwords or verification codes.
• In an emergency, it tells the caller to hang up and call 911. It can’t call 911 or send help itself.
• It speaks English.

Read an example call

What you see afterwards

Every call leaves a record in Inbox: the transcript, the caller’s details, the outcome and your notes (Add a note). When you’ve handled it, choose Mark done. To reach the caller, choose Text back; it opens your conversation with them, calls and texts together. If a call you marked done needs more work, choose Reopen to return it to Needs you.

Calls you haven’t opened yet are marked unread; Mark all read clears them. Needs you on Home and the number on the Inbox tab count the calls still waiting for you until you choose Mark done.

A caller who books can get one confirmation text from your business number. It’s off until you turn on Text a confirmation after a booking under Business, Your receptionist, and save. With it on, your receptionist asks the caller after the booking whether they want a text about the appointment, and only a yes gets one. The text has the day, time and address and ends with “Reply STOP to opt out.” The caller can say no on the call or reply STOP later. The call’s record shows Text to the caller: whether it was delivered, and the text itself. If the caller texts back, you get a notification, and what they wrote appears under it with the time. Owners and admins can choose Stop texting this number there; a stop you made stays until you choose Allow texts again, and a caller’s START or YES doesn’t lift it. A caller who asked to stop can only allow texts again themselves. If the caller later moves or cancels the appointment by phone, they get one text with the new time or saying it’s canceled. Nothing is texted until your number’s carrier registration is approved; the record says it wasn’t sent.

You can have your receptionist ask for a Google review after a visit. Under Text a confirmation after a booking, turn on Ask for a review after a visit and paste your Google review link (in your Google Business Profile, choose Ask for reviews, then Share), then save. It applies to bookings made after you save, and the caller hears that you may ask once. After the visit, Home asks you “Did this visit happen?” under Needs you. Tap Yes, ask for a review and the caller gets one text with your link, between 9 AM and 8 PM your time; tap No, it didn't happen and nothing is sent. Every visit that happened gets the same request, because Google doesn’t allow asking only happy customers. A caller is asked at most once in 180 days, a caller who said no to texts or replied STOP is never asked, and the call’s record shows the Review request and whether it was delivered.

The day before a booked visit, your receptionist can text the caller one reminder. It’s on whenever the confirmation text is on: under Text a reminder the day before you can turn it off or choose Send at 10 AM, 2 PM or 6 PM your time, then save. It applies to bookings made after you save, and the caller hears that a reminder is coming. It isn’t sent for a booking made less than a day ahead or one that was canceled, and after a move the reminder names the new time.

• Booking confirmed

  Your calendar confirmed the booking.

• Booking pending

  The request went to your calendar and the answer isn’t back yet.

• Outcome unknown

  It can’t tell whether the booking went through, so it says so instead of guessing.

• Needs follow-up

  Something is unfinished or went wrong, and only you can sort it out.

• Message taken

  The caller left a message for you.

When your receptionist ends a call itself, the call’s page says why: the caller didn’t say anything, the line went quiet, or the call ran long or reached its time limit. If we ended it early on our side, the page says so and that the caller was asked to call again.

Share a call

The owner and admins can share a call that has ended. Open it and choose Share this call.

• The link lets anyone who has it read the summary and the transcript, with no account needed. It shows what the caller said as they said it, which can include an address or an email. Only the caller’s number is hidden.
• The page shows the caller’s number masked, with the last four digits, unless you choose Show the caller’s full number. The caller’s name is always shown.
• Choose Include the recording to add the recording, where the call has one.
• A link works for 30 days. Choose Share link or Copy link. The links you have made are under Active links, and Stop sharing ends one at once.

Find a call and call back

• In Inbox, type a name, a phone number, an address or what the caller needed into Search calls.
• Choose Needs you, Booked, Messages, Missed or Turned away to see only those calls. Calls are grouped by day: today, yesterday, then the days before.
• Turned away lists the callers who couldn't get through in the last 30 days, then the ones your own rules turned away under Blocked by your rules. When All leaves some of them out, its row More callers couldn't get through opens Turned away.
• Open a call and choose Call back. On a phone, your dialer opens with the caller’s number. On a computer, a sheet shows the number with Copy number.

A call that ended before your receptionist answered reads Ended before your receptionist answered in the list. With a number to call back it’s marked Needs follow-up; with no caller ID it’s marked Missed, as there’s no one to call back. Both are under the Missed filter.

Analytics

• On Home, the Last 7 days card shows how many calls your receptionist answered and booked, beside the days before.
• Tap it to open Analytics, also under Settings. Switch between 7, 30 and 90 days or a year at the top. The arrows beside it step back or forward a whole period, such as the 30 days before, and the calendar button picks your own dates. You see calls over time, then Trends, then your contacts, calls while you were closed, when customers call, new and returning callers, and time on calls.
• Trends has a card for each result: answered, booked, messages, transferred, missed and turned away. Each shows the period’s total, a small graph and whether it is in your usual range. Tap a card to see its graph larger, with its average line, the same period controls, and Trends Analysis below, which compares the latest days with the same number of days before them.
• Under Contacts, New contacts is a card like the Trends ones, and the pipeline shows how many jobs from the period were quoted, booked and done.
• The owner and admins also see Booked at your prices: the total of the prices of the services booked in that period. A price set under Services and prices turns a booking into money; a booking made before you set it counts at today’s price. It shows only when at least one booking has a price. If some have none, it says how many do, such as “12 of 14 have a price”, with Add prices beside it. A canceled booking isn’t counted.
• Days are counted in your business’s time zone. Test calls you start in the app aren’t counted.

Your team and who’s on it

• Open Settings and choose Team. The owner can choose Invite someone, type an email, pick a Role and choose Send invite. A business can have up to 3 people for now.
• The roles are Owner, Admin and Member. Choose What each role can do to read them. A member works the calls; an admin also runs the receptionist; only the owner handles billing, the number and the team.
• On a team of two or more, a call that needs someone shows I'll take it. Anyone who can open the call can take it. It then reads “You’re on it” to you and “Maria is on it” to the others, and the call’s history lists who took it and who let it go.
• Choose Release to let it go. The person who took it can release it, and so can the owner or an admin. A member can’t release a call someone else took. Marking the call done also lets it go.
• Taking or releasing a call doesn’t notify anyone. The others see it when they open the call.
• Under Team, Your name is what the team sees when you take a call. Without one, they see your role. Only a name you set yourself is shown, never your email or phone number.

Join a team

When the owner invites you, you get an email with a link. The link opens a page that says you’re invited to join a team.

• On an Android phone with the app, choose “Open VoiceDog”. You can also choose “Join in your browser”.
• On an iPhone, or on a computer, choose “Join in your browser”. On a computer the browser comes first, and the page tells you to open the link on your phone if you have the app there.
• If the invite link signed you in, the app first asks “Continue as” and your email. Choose Continue if it’s yours, or Use another account.
• Before you join, the app asks Join, naming the business and whether you’ll be an admin or a member, and says which email you’re signed in as. If the invite was sent to a different email, it says so. Choose Join to accept, Not now to leave it, or Not you? Sign out to switch accounts. Only join a business you know.
• An invite can expire. If it has, ask the owner to send a new one.

Who can call

• Open Settings in the app and choose Who can call.
• Answer calls from anyone: when it’s off, only test calls are answered and other callers hear a busy signal. Turn it on when you’re ready for customers to call. Each answered call uses your plan’s minutes. A call can last up to 15 minutes.
• Block callers who hide their number and Block numbers that fail the caller ID check turn away those calls once anyone can call. A number that calls many times in an hour or a day is turned away until later.
• To block a number, type it under Blocked numbers and choose Block number, or choose Block this number on a call. A blocked number hears a busy signal. Choose Unblock to undo it.
• Turned away by these rules lists the last 30 days of calls that weren’t answered, and why.
• Under Sales calls, End sales calls and recordings is on unless you turn it off. When a caller is clearly pitching one of the phrases listed there, or it’s a recorded message, the receptionist ends the call politely. Type your own under Add a phrase, or choose Reset to suggested phrases. The call shows in Inbox as Spam, ended, with no notification. Choose Not spam to undo it. A number ended this way twice in 30 days is blocked. It works only while Answer calls from anyone is on.

Transfers to your phone

When a caller asks for a person, the receptionist can ring a phone of yours and connect the call if you answer. On the Team plan your rules pick who rings, and up to three people can ring one after another on one transfer.

• To set it up, open Settings in the app, choose Transfer calls, type the phone that should ring and choose Save number. On the Team plan, choose Add another person to name and verify up to three phones.
• Choose Call me with a code for each phone. The receptionist calls that phone from your business number and reads a six-digit code aloud. Type it and choose Verify. The check lasts a year, and the app tells you when it needs doing again. Up to three codes a day.
• Business hours rings only while your saved hours are open. Any time rings whenever a caller asks. Choose Remove to take a phone away; add and verify one again to start over. A person who is in a rule is taken out of it too.
• On the Team plan the Rules card says who rings for which calls: after hours, during business hours or any time, an emergency or not, and one kind of visit. The first rule that fits a call decides who rings: its people ring one at a time, in the order you set, each for the rule’s ring time. When no rule fits, your verified phones ring in the order you verified them, 20 seconds each. Choose Add a rule, or Edit on a rule to change its people, their order and the ring time, or to move or remove it.
• Choose Emergencies to list what you call an emergency. If anyone is in danger, or a caller mentions gas, smoke, fire or sparks, the receptionist tells them to call 911 first.
• The caller hears the receptionist say it will see if you can take the call, while your phone rings.
• If the person ringing doesn’t answer, is busy, doesn’t press 1 or can’t be reached, the next one rings, as long as the call has at least two minutes left. Once the caller hangs up, no one else rings.
• You hear who is calling and why, then “Press 1 to take the call, or hang up.” Press 1 and the caller is connected to you.
• If you don’t answer, don’t press 1 or hang up, the receptionist comes back on the line and offers to take a message. The call’s record in the app says how it ended: that the person didn’t answer, that “the caller hung up while it rang”, or “Couldn’t reach” the person. If a voicemail picks up, it may record the prompt; it never connects the caller.
• It won’t try outside your hours when you chose Business hours, when the call has under two minutes left, or a second time on the same call. Once the month’s transfer minutes are used, it offers to take a message.
• The minutes you spend talking to the caller aren’t counted as plan minutes.

Call recording

Calls are transcribed, and audio is not kept. Call recording is Planned, except a voicemail a caller leaves (see Voicemail).

When recording is available

• Recording is off until you turn it on. In the app, open Business, then Your receptionist, turn on Record calls and save.
• Every call has a written transcript, so your receptionist says “calls may be recorded” in its greeting. If a caller asks, it says you get a written transcript and no audio is kept.
• While it’s on, your receptionist says “and this call is recorded” with the AI notice in its greeting, every call. If a caller talks over it and doesn’t hear it, that call’s recording is deleted and not kept.
• If a caller asks not to be recorded, your receptionist stops the recording and it isn’t kept, not even the part before the caller asked. The caller hears that the business still gets a written summary of the call. The call’s record says why nothing was kept, and the transcript stays.
• Open a call in Inbox and choose Play under Recording. Recordings are deleted after 30 days, or sooner if you choose a shorter time under Keeping call details. Choose Delete recording to delete one sooner; the transcript stays. Our backups keep a copy of a deleted recording for up to 30 days.
• Recording laws differ by state, and in some states everyone on a call must agree to it. That’s why your receptionist tells every caller.

Voicemail

On plans with voicemail, once your minutes are used up, a caller can leave a message.

• In Inbox the call reads Voicemail, or No message when the caller hung up without leaving one.
• Open the call to see Voicemail transcript. It reads Transcript on its way while it is written. Choose Play under Recording to hear the message.
• A voicemail waits under Needs you until you choose Mark done.
• A voicemail is kept whether Record calls is on or off.

Connect your tools

After each call ends, your receptionist can send what happened, the caller’s details and a link to the call to the tools you choose. It never sends the transcript. You set it up in the app.

To connect Zapier:

• Tap Open Zapier and make a Zap with Webhooks by Zapier, choosing Catch Hook; copy the address it gives you.
• Back in the app, tap Paste and choose Send a test.
• In Zapier, choose Test trigger: it shows the fields from that test call. Add an action, then turn the Zap on.

Webhooks by Zapier is on Zapier’s paid plans.

Make works the same way: add a Webhooks module and choose Custom webhook, then paste and test as above.

Google Sheets can’t be connected yet. When it is available, you will find it under Settings, then Integrations. We make a spreadsheet in your Google Drive and add a row for every call, with the same columns as Export calls. Your calls from the last 30 days go in first. We can only see the spreadsheet we make. The sheet has the caller’s full phone number. The spreadsheet is yours: when we delete a call’s details after your keeping period, or you delete a call, its row stays. Disconnect stops new rows and leaves the spreadsheet in your Drive.

Your own system, under Advanced, is for developers: the same address, signed, so a developer can check that a call really came from your receptionist. Its Signing secret is shown once, when it’s made; keep it somewhere safe.

Export calls, also under Advanced, gives a spreadsheet of your calls for a date range you choose, with the same details, to open in Sheets or Excel.

Don’t see your tool? Vote for it under Request an integration, or tap Suggest an integration. Voting doesn’t set a date.

The integrations page lists every tool and says which ones work today.

Ask Claude, ChatGPT, Codex or Muse about your calls

Connect Claude, ChatGPT, Codex or Muse to your receptionist and ask in your own words, such as “which calls this week need me?”

Read-only. They can read your calls, transcripts, bookings, prices and plan usage. They can’t change anything, and recordings are never shared. What they read is handled by that service under its own terms. Only the business owner can set this up.

In the app, open Settings, then Integrations, then AI assistants under Advanced, and tap Add an assistant. Choose one and create its key. The app shows the key once, with Copy key, then that assistant’s steps. Each assistant gets its own key. You can connect more than one, and adding one never disconnects another.

Claude

Claude offers this on Pro and Max. On Team or Enterprise an owner opens Organization settings, then Connectors; the steps are the same.

1. In Claude, open Customize, then Connectors, choose + Add, then Add custom connector.
2. Enter a name and paste the server address from the app, then choose Continue.
3. Choose Continue, then Sign in now, and under OAuth client choose Register automatically.
4. Choose Add. Claude opens a page from your receptionist: paste the connection key on that page, then choose Allow.

ChatGPT

Custom apps need a ChatGPT Business, Enterprise or Edu workspace; they are not offered on the free, Plus or Pro plans.

1. A workspace admin turns on developer mode: open Workspace settings, then Permissions & Roles, then Connected Data, and turn on Developer mode / Create custom MCP connectors. On Enterprise and Edu, it is under Settings, then Apps, then Advanced settings.
2. In ChatGPT, open Settings, then Apps, and choose Create.
3. Paste the server address from the app and set authentication to OAuth.
4. Choose Scan Tools. ChatGPT opens a sign-in page from your receptionist: paste the connection key there, then choose Allow.

Menu names as of October 7, 2026; they may differ slightly.

Codex

In ~/.codex/config.toml, add [mcp_servers.receptionist] and url = "server address" (Copy settings fills in the address), then run codex mcp login receptionist and paste the connection key on the page it opens. As of October 12, 2026.

Meta’s Muse

Muse is available in the US only. In the app, tap Copy message for Muse: it fills in your server address and connection key. In a Muse chat, paste it.

Then ask your question. Muse runs in Meta’s cloud and reads your calls at your request.

Another assistant

Choose Other and name it. Give the assistant the server address and the key. If it asks for a bearer token, use the key. If it opens a sign-in page from your receptionist, paste the key there.

To stop one

Open AI assistants, tap the three dots on its row and choose Remove. Only that assistant stops; the others keep working. Make a new key replaces that assistant’s key only.

Texting your callers

Phone carriers make every business register before it texts customers. We send your details for you; you fill in the form once.

• Open Settings in the app and choose Texting. Only the owner can see it.
• The form asks for your business’s legal name as it appears on your tax records, the name callers know you by, the kind of business, your industry, your website, your address, and a contact person with an email and a US phone number. A privacy policy address is optional.
• It also asks for your business tax ID (EIN). The carriers check your legal name and tax ID against your tax records, so they must be exactly as the IRS has them. We store the number securely and never show it again; the app only says On file. Leave the field empty to keep the one we have, or type a new one to replace it.
• Choose Save to keep what you typed and finish later. Choose Send for review when every detail is filled in.
• Review usually takes 10 to 15 days. Texts to callers start once it’s approved, and only from a number that can send them. A new number can take a few hours to be picked up.
• The status at the top of the page tells you where it is: Not sent yet, Sending, In review, Approved, Needs a fix, Paused or Withdrawn. We’re looking into it means a person is checking it for you.
• If it says Needs a fix, the page says what to check. Fix the details and send them again. Once it’s sent, the form is read-only while the carriers review it.
• If something needs fixing after you sent it, or the page asks you to, choose Contact us or write to us from Help. We’ll sort it out with you. A registration that was withdrawn is restarted by us, too.
• A caller can reply STOP to any text. After that they’re never texted again, unless they send START or YES. Any clear way of asking not to be texted counts, not only the word STOP.

What it doesn’t do yet

Not built yet. Until then, the receptionist takes a message instead.

A caller who speaks Spanish hears, in Spanish, that calls may be recorded, and that your receptionist only speaks English and passes their number on for a call back. The call is marked Spanish speaker. Conversations in Spanish are planned.

• PlannedSpanish
• PlannedTexting a caller back from the call’s record