Phone providers
Connect the phone platform your team already uses, and its texts and calls arrive in your CommSync inbox.
Your team possibly texts from a business phone platform already. When you connect that platform, you keep your numbers, your plan, and your platform. CommSync reads the texts and calls on the lines you pick. It threads them by contact, next to your email. When you reply from CommSync, the text goes out through the platform, from the same number.
This page explains what every connection does, whichever platform you use. Settings → Phone numbers shows the platforms that you can connect. Each platform below has its own page with its setup steps.
What connecting does
You sign in or paste a key
Open Settings → Phone numbers and pick your platform. The setup page shows the platform's own menu names, in the order you click them. The next page asks for the key. Some platforms use a sign-in button. Others use an API key that you copy from the platform's settings. CommSync checks the details with the platform before it saves anything, and it stores them encrypted.
You pick the lines
CommSync lists every line on the account. Pick the ones you want in your inbox. When another workspace uses a line, CommSync shows the line as locked. Each line counts as one channel on your plan, and so does the account. When a line already belongs to another platform account in your workspace, the line moves to the new account. The old account lets go of it, and the last screen of the setup page says "This number moved from" and names the old platform.
CommSync connects the webhook
On most platforms, CommSync registers its webhook over the platform's API, so new texts arrive at once. A few platforms need you to paste a webhook URL into their settings. For those, the setup page shows the URL, a copy button, and the steps, and it waits for your first message.
You choose how much history to import
When the platform shares history, CommSync offers a window: 30 days, 90 days, all time, or none. Old conversations land threaded by contact, like live ones. Each platform shares a different part of its history, so the setup page names what comes in: past texts, past calls, or both. When the platform shares no history, it starts at the moment you connect, and the setup page says so. When the lines join an account that is already connected, the account keeps its name and its history choice, so the setup page skips this step.
CommSync asks the platform what the window holds before it starts. When the platform can count, the card shows the number of items, the size, and your storage after the import. Some platforms cannot count a window ahead of time. The card then shows your free storage alone, and never a made-up number. CommSync refuses a window that needs more storage than your plan has left. It names the shortfall, and it offers the plan page. The import also stops by itself at your plan storage.
After you connect
- Texts and calls arrive in the inbox. A text on a line reaches the people who can use that line. Calls and voicemail appear when the platform reports them.
- Replies go out through the platform. CommSync sends from the line of the conversation. The message shows Sent first. It then shows Delivered or Failed when the platform reports it.
- CommSync also checks for missed texts. A regular sync reads the platform for texts that a webhook did not bring. A short outage loses nothing. The Sync button at the top of the inbox reads every connected account at once, and the platform accounts are in that list. The Sync activity dialog shows each account with its state: importing history, waiting for a history choice, live, or an error.
- The Sync activity dialog also carries the action. An account that waits for a history choice shows a Pick a window button. An owner or an admin picks the window, so a member reads one line that says to ask them. An account whose sign-in the platform refused shows Reconnect.
- You can import history later. Open the account card in Settings → Phone numbers. Then pick Import history from its menu. An account that still waits on a choice also offers Live sync only there, which records the choice and clears the Waiting for you state.
- Access works as on other lines. An owner or admin can give a member the whole account. The grant covers every line on the account. See roles and permissions.
- A paused account imports nothing. Import history stays off on a paused account, and it says why. Resume the account first.
Group texts, and what each platform can do
A text to you and two or more other people lands in one group conversation, whatever the platform. When the platform can send one text to the whole group, you reply from CommSync and every member gets your reply. When it cannot, the conversation says "Reply to this group in" and names the platform, in place of the reply box, and new texts in the group still arrive. Each platform card, and each account page, shows a row of short facts: calls, voicemail, pictures, group texts, delivery receipts, and history. A fact the platform does not have shows with a dashed border, so you can compare platforms before you connect one.
When each person signs in
Most platforms send every text with one account login. A few platforms link each line to the login of one person. On those platforms, each teammate who texts from a line connects their own login once:
- The admin who connects the platform also connects their own lines.
- A teammate with a line to connect sees one card at the top of their inbox. The card has a Connect button. Not now hides the card for 7 days, and the card comes back once.
- The card signs in with the platform's own login. The login connects only the lines an admin linked to that teammate.
- A platform can also offer a key or a JWT. The card then opens the setup page, and the teammate picks the way in.
- History imports per login. The admin picks the window once, on the account. A teammate's older texts arrive when that teammate connects.
- The account shows Importing history while a login still imports. Each line shows its own import state. A line waits while its teammate stays away, and it says so.
- The teammate also sees the account in Settings → Phone numbers, with their own line and their own import state. The account settings stay with the owner and the admin.
- An admin sees the status of each line in Settings → Phone numbers. The admin can send the teammate a reminder email, once every 3 days.
- When no teammate has the email of a line owner, the line shows Not linked to a teammate. An admin picks the teammate from the list on that line. The teammate then connects their own login.
- Until the owner connects, texts still arrive on the line. Only the send waits. The composer says who can send from the line, so no failed message appears.
Nobody else sees any of this. On a platform that uses one account login, none of it appears.
When something needs your attention
The card of each account in Settings → Phone numbers shows its state:
| State | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Connected | Texts arrive and send. | Nothing. |
| Waiting for the first message | CommSync has not received a message on the pasted webhook yet. | Check the webhook URL in the platform, then send a test text. |
| Retrying | The platform did not answer for a moment. | Nothing. CommSync tries again on its own. |
| Reconnect needed | The platform no longer accepts the saved details. | Click Reconnect, then sign in again or paste a new key. |
| Paused | An admin paused the account. No texts arrive or go out. | Resume the account from its card. History imports wait too. |
Each error names the one thing to do, in the platform's own words. To stop a connection, pick Disconnect on the account card. CommSync names the account and asks you to confirm. Your past conversations stay in CommSync.
An account can also show one quiet note under its state. It is not an error, and the state does not change for it. These are the notes:
- The last sync read a page that did not move. CommSync stopped that walk until the next scheduled sync. The note leaves on the next sync that reads normally.
- CommSync refused the last events from the platform, because their signature did not match. Check the signing key on the account, then reconnect it. The note leaves when a delivery passes the check.
- A number on this account moved to another platform account in your workspace. CommSync no longer syncs that number on this account. The note leaves on the next sync.
Names and logos
The platform names and logos in CommSync are trademarks of their owners. CommSync shows them only to name the platform that you connect. Their use does not mean that a platform is a partner of CommSync or endorses it.