Webphone overview
Make and answer calls, send SMS, manage contacts and see your call history in the Webphone on your computer.
The Webphone is your provider’s own phone app. It works in a web browser, as a desktop app for Windows, Mac and Linux, and as a mobile app for iOS and Android. It’s linked to your PBX, so it shows your phonebooks, call history, SMS chats and queues, not just a dial pad.
This page covers the browser and desktop versions. For phones and tablets, see Webphone mobile app.
Before you start
Section titled “Before you start”Your PBX administrator sets you up first: they add your email and a Webphone device to your user. See Set up the Webphone. You then get an email to set your password: see Sign in to the Webphone for the first time.
Main parts
Section titled “Main parts”The dial pad is always on the left, next to the tab you’re on. The tabs at the top take you to each part. In a narrow window, the dial pad becomes its own Dialpad tab, and the tabs move to the bottom.
| Tab | What you do there |
|---|---|
| Contacts | Search your phonebooks, call or text a contact, and add, edit or delete contacts. |
| SMS | Send and reply to text messages in Chats. |
| History | See every call you made, received or missed, on any of your devices, and play call recordings and their transcripts. |
| Services | Call controls (queues, ring groups and call flow controls), Call parking and Voicemail. |
| Settings | Your profile, password, language, defaults, notifications, ringtones, audio, devices and integrations. |
Above the dial pad, Your caller ID displays as: shows the number people see when you call, and Your internal number: shows your extension, which colleagues can call or transfer calls to.
Make a call
Section titled “Make a call”-
Type the number with your keyboard, click the keys, or paste it into Phone number. You can also click a contact’s number in Contacts, or a call’s type (for example Missed) in History, to call it straight away. To clear the number, hold the delete key in the field (Hold to clear).
-
To use a different caller ID, click Change under Your caller ID displays as: and choose a number. The list shows every caller ID your administrator allows you to use, plus:
- Anonymous: hide your number;
- Confirm for each call: choose the caller ID each time you call.
Use the search box at the top of the list to find a number.
-
Click the green call button.
If you see No access to the microphone, the Webphone can’t use your microphone. See Webphone troubleshooting.
Answer a call
Section titled “Answer a call”Click Accept to answer or Decline to reject the call. The desktop app and browser can also show a pop-up notification for incoming calls.
The Webphone needs permission to use your microphone and show notifications. If it doesn’t ring, see Webphone notifications and ringtone.
Contacts
Section titled “Contacts”Contacts shows your phonebooks. Choose one from the list at the top (All phonebooks, a phonebook your administrator shares with you, or your own Personal phonebook), and use Search to find a contact by name or number. Colleagues show a status dot, for example green when they’re available.
- Add a contact: click New contact, choose the Phonebook, and enter the Name and Phone number. Email, a picture (Upload new avatar) and Which caller ID to use when calling this contact are optional. Click Create.
- Hover over a contact to copy its name or number, or use the icons at the end of the row: send an SMS, send an email, open it in your CRM (Integrations), edit it (pencil) or delete it (bin).
Edit and delete only appear in phonebooks you can change. A read-only phonebook, such as your colleagues’ extensions, can only be changed by a PBX administrator. See Phonebooks. To choose the phonebook Contacts opens with, go to Settings › Defaults › Default phonebook.
More detail: Contacts and call history in the Webphone.
Call history
Section titled “Call history”History lists calls to and from you, on all your devices, newest first. For each call it shows the contact or number, the Type (Incoming, Outgoing or Missed), the Line used (the number that was called, or the caller ID you used), the Duration and the Time.
- Use Search and Filters (Date range, Type of calls, Show internal calls only) to find a call, and the refresh button to load new calls.
- The icons at the end of a row add the number to your contacts, send an SMS, open it in your CRM, or play the call recording.
- Call recordings and transcripts: click the play icon to open Call recording. With Speech-to-text, the transcript plays along with the recording. See Play a call recording and read its transcript.
- Open SMS and click +.
- Choose a Contact or type a Phone number.
- In Send from, choose the number or sender ID to send from.
- Type your Message and click Send.
To reply, click the chat, type your message and click Send.
SMS needs an SMS plan and an SMS-enabled number routed to you. See SMS to Webphone users.
Queues and ring groups
Section titled “Queues and ring groups”In Services › Call controls, use the switches under Queue membership and Ring group membership to join or leave each queue or ring group you belong to, then click Apply changes. When a switch is off, you get no calls from that queue, but your other queues aren’t affected. See Join or leave queues and ring groups in the Webphone.
Your administrator can turn these controls off for you.
Do Not Disturb and the profile menu
Section titled “Do Not Disturb and the profile menu”Click the status next to your name in the top-right corner to switch between Available and DND enabled. With Do Not Disturb on, you get no incoming calls on any of your devices or external numbers, and no notifications.
Click your avatar to open the profile menu. It has the status as well (useful in a smaller window), zoom buttons to make the Webphone bigger or smaller, Reload and Log out.
Settings
Section titled “Settings”Settings has a page for each group of settings:
| Page | What it does |
|---|---|
| General | The Language of the Webphone and Enable remote call pickup. In the desktop app, also Open Webphone when answering a call via notification or headset, Set as a default system app for calls and SMS, Launch the app when system starts, and the headset options (see Headsets and audio devices). |
| User | Your avatar (Upload new avatar), your internal number, your name and email, and Change password. |
| Defaults | Default tab, Default phonebook, Default ‘Services’ tab page, Default mode for ‘Add call’ and Default mode for ‘Transfer’. |
| Notifications | Which events show a browser or desktop notification. See Webphone notifications and ringtone. |
| Ringtones | Your Default ringtone (click play to hear it), and ringtones for calls tagged by your administrator (Add). |
| Audio | Audio output for a ringtone, Audio output during a call and Microphone, with a level meter to test your microphone. Not shown in every browser. |
| Device management | How your devices ring (see below). |
| Integrations | CRM and Zapier integrations, once they’re activated for your account. |
The Webphone’s version, for example Version: 1.3.2, is shown under the list of settings pages. Support may ask for it.
Device management
Section titled “Device management”If you have more than one device, such as the Webphone and a desk phone, you can control how they ring:
- Ring mode for incoming calls: Ring all, Linear (one after another, in the order shown) or Twinning (the first device, then all the others together).
- Set each device’s Ring time (10 to 60 seconds) with its slider, and turn off its Incoming calls switch so it stops ringing. Outgoing calls and SMS still work.
- Drag devices to change the order, and click Add external number to ring a mobile as well. Need to accept a call after the answer on the external number stops calls going to a mobile’s voicemail.
Click Save changes when you’re done.
