Phone calls (Telefonie)

If your organisation has connected a phone line (a SIP trunk of a phone provider), Coviqo can ring you when somebody calls your number and you can call external phone numbers from the app. Without a line nothing of this is visible.

Receiving calls#

Every number of your organisation follows its call flow, which your organisation administrators set up: it can ring you (your direct line), a group (everybody at once or one after another), play a voice menu ("press 1 for sales"), put callers into a call queue or a voice room, or let the mailbox answer. A number can also be the meeting dial-in (callers enter the meeting PIN). When a call rings for you, a banner appears at the top with the caller's number and the number that was dialled – or why it reaches you: Transferred by Anna, Anna wants to consult or Queue Support:

• Answer (Annehmen) – the call opens in a small panel at the bottom right. If you are in a voice room, meeting or call, answering ends that connection (Annehmen & wechseln) – you are always in one audio session at a time.
• Decline (Ablehnen) – in a group the next person is rung.

Whoever answers first takes the call; for everybody else the banner disappears. While your status is Busy or Focus ("do not disturb") or you are offline, direct calls do not ring for you – except calls from your Do not disturb exceptions (see Call settings), which ring with ringtone. Callers hear a normal ringing tone while it rings; if nobody answers they hear "The person you are calling is not available at the moment" – or your mailbox answers, or the call goes where your call forwarding sends it (below).

Callback for Support (Rückruf für …) – if your organisation offers "Callback instead of waiting" in a call queue, a caller can ask to be called back and keeps their place. When it is their turn, the banner says Callback for and the queue name: answer – as soon as you are in the call, Coviqo calls the caller and connects you. If you do not join within 30 seconds of answering, the callback goes back to the queue with its place.

Mailbox (voicemail)#

On the Calls page, My numbers has a Mailbox button next to your direct line. Switch the mailbox on and choose:

• how long it rings before the mailbox answers (default 25 seconds),
• how long a message may be (default 2 minutes),
• the greeting: Standard ("The person you are calling is not available at the moment."), Own text (read out by a computer voice) or Own recording (record it in the browser or upload an audio file – at most 60 seconds).

After every greeting callers always hear that their message will be recorded (and transcribed, if your organisation uses transcription), then a tone. New messages arrive as a notification New voicemail from +49 … and appear under the filter Mailbox on the Calls page: play them, read the transcript (marked as created by AI), call back or delete them. Messages are stored encrypted, visible only to you, deleted automatically after 90 days, included in your data export and deleted with your account. A shared number (a number that does not belong to one person) has a mailbox too: organisation administrators choose who gets its messages – those people all see them, and deleting one deletes it for everybody. Your plan limits how many messages a mailbox keeps; a full mailbox stops answering until you delete messages. On numbers provided by Coviqo, the time a caller spends with the mailbox (greeting and message) counts against your organisation's incoming minutes; when they are used up, the mailbox does not answer and callers hear that the person is not available.

Call settings#

Call settings (Anrufeinstellungen) next to My numbers on the Calls page holds your personal phone settings (per organisation, if you belong to more than one). At the top you see Your extension – the short number callers type in a voice menu to reach you; your organisation administrators assign it.

• Call forwarding – Always, When busy (in Do not disturb or while you are in a call, see below) or When not answered after 10 to 60 seconds (also when you are offline). Choose a destination from the list: a colleague, a shared number (its call flow takes over), a queue, My mailbox or another mailbox of your organisation – only destinations inside your organisation. Until ends the forwarding automatically at a time you choose. While a forwarding is on, My numbers shows Forwarding on. It applies to calls for you (your direct line, your extension in a voice menu, transfers) – not to groups and queues you ring in.
• Busy while in a call – while you are on the phone or in a running meeting, further calls do not ring for you (they go to your busy forwarding or your mailbox). Organisation follows your organisation's default; On / Off overrides it for you.
• Do not disturb – exceptions – People whose transfers and consultations, and Numbers whose calls ring through even while your status is Busy or Focus. The numbers are stored encrypted, visible only to you, part of your data export and deleted with your account.
• My mobile – if your organisation allows forwarding to external numbers, save your Mobile number here (only you see the full number; it is stored encrypted and deleted with your account). Simultaneous ring on my mobile: when your phone rings in Coviqo, your mobile rings too – whoever answers first takes the call, the panel then says Answered on mobile. Delay lets the mobile ring a few seconds later. Your mobile can also be a forwarding destination (My mobile) and is used by Call me in meetings. When you answer on the mobile you first hear "Call for (your organisation). Press 1 to accept." – you are connected only after pressing 1. So your mobile's own voicemail cannot take the call; if you press nothing, it keeps ringing in Coviqo. If your organisation switched this confirmation off: a voicemail that answers quickly takes the call – set it to answer later than Coviqo rings.
• Queues – the call queues you are an agent of. Switch Signed in on to receive queue calls and off when you are not available; you also see how many callers are waiting. Queue calls only ring while you are free (not offline, not in Do not disturb, not in another phone call).

Making calls#

If your organisation allows it (calls to external numbers switched on for the organisation, and for you "Telefonie: nach extern anrufen" – off by default, administrators always), open Calls (Anrufe) in the left navigation. Type or paste the number into Person or number (international like +49 30 1234567 or national like 030 1234567) or use the large keypad (hold 0 for +; on phones tap Show keypad), then the green Call button. Below the button you see You are calling as +49 … (the number the other side will see) and which organisation's line is used. Numbers that cannot be called are explained right away, before anything is dialled. During the call the panel shows the duration, Mute, a keypad for menus of the other side and Hang up.

If telephony is not set up for you, the Calls page only shows Coviqo calls – no keypad and no numbers.

Hold, transfer and consultation#

During a phone call, the panel has three more buttons:

• Hold – the caller hears hold music (your organisation's or Coviqo's) and does not hear you; Resume brings them back. The panel shows On hold.
• Transfer – Transfer to opens a list of People, Shared numbers, Queues and Mailboxes of your organisation (search by name or extension). A shared number runs its own call flow. If your organisation allows forwarding to external numbers, the list also offers My mobile and colleagues' mobiles ({name}'s mobile), and External number lets you type any number (only if you may call external numbers). Pick one and Transfer: you leave the call at once, the caller hears "Please wait, you are being connected." and the new person sees Transferred by with your name. If nobody answers, the caller reaches that destination's mailbox or hears that nobody is available.
• Consult – ask a colleague first: Consult with → pick a person → Call. The caller is put on hold and the colleague's banner says that you want to consult. Once they answer you talk to each other while the caller hears music. Connect hands the caller over to them; Back ends the consultation – the caller is still on hold, so press Resume. If you hang up while you are connected with your colleague, the caller is handed over too.

Transfers go to destinations inside your organisation – to mobiles and external numbers only if your organisation allows it (each such transfer is an outbound call of your organisation). Everybody who had the call keeps it as answered in their history.

Recording a call – if your organisation allows recordings, the panel has Start recording. Everybody in the call first hears that the call is being recorded; the panel shows Recording until you press Stop recording (they hear that too). Your organisation can also record automatically after a notice or the caller's consent; a caller who declined is never recorded (Caller declined – no recording). Recordings appear on the Calls page under the filter Recordings: play them, read the transcript (marked as AI, if your organisation creates transcripts) and – if you started it or are an administrator – delete them. Who may listen is set by your organisation (the people in the call and admins, or admins only); recordings are stored encrypted and deleted automatically on the date shown.

Your numbers and the history#

My numbers (Meine Nummern) on the Calls page lists your direct line(s) and the shared numbers whose mailbox messages you get. While your status is Busy or Focus, nothing rings (except your Do not disturb exceptions) – the call then appears as missed in your history. Calls of a queue that nobody answered do not appear as missed for every agent; your organisation sees them in its reports.

Phone calls appear in the history of the Calls page with the full number, so you can call back with one click. Missed calls (also calls to your direct line while you were not reachable) show as a red number on Calls and as a notification Missed call from +49 … (setting Missed calls in Settings › Notifications). You can remove single entries or clear the whole history. The history with the full number is visible only to you and is deleted automatically after 180 days; your organisation's call list keeps the other number only shortened.

If nobody in a group you ring in answered – or nobody was available – every member of the group sees the call as missed and gets the Missed call notification once. Calls into meetings or voice rooms do not appear in your history, and clearing the history does not remove the call notes in your conversations.

Numbers you call often can be pinned to the favourites at the top of the Calls page (star next to the number or the history entry) – only while telephony is set up for you. Like the history, pinned numbers are stored in full, visible only to you, part of your data export and deleted with your account.

Some numbers can never be called:

• Emergency numbers (112, 110, 911 …) – emergency calls are not possible through Coviqo. Use a regular phone or mobile.
• Premium-rate and special numbers (0900, 118xx, …) and countries your organisation has not allowed.

Your organisation has a monthly minute budget; when it is used up, calls end and new ones are not possible until next month.

Adding somebody to a meeting by phone#

Organizers of a running meeting find Add participant by phone in the participant panel. Enter the number – the person is called and joins with audio only, shown as "Tel. … 123". While the meeting is transcribed, the person first hears "This call is being transcribed." after answering and is connected afterwards. This is not possible while the meeting is recorded or in end-to-end encrypted meetings.

Call me – if you saved your mobile and your organisation allows forwarding to external numbers, the participant panel of a running meeting shows Call me ("calls +49 …"): the meeting calls your mobile and you join by phone (audio only). If that is not possible right now the button is greyed out with the reason below it – for example No mobile number saved (add it under Calls → Call settings → My mobile), or that your organisation switched it off or its plan does not include it.

Transcription switched on during the meeting: everybody who takes part by phone hears "Transcription has started." (or the German "Die Transkription wurde gestartet.") – and "Transcription has stopped." when it is switched off again.

Meeting dial-in on your organisation's numbers: a meeting PIN entered on one of your organisation's own numbers only reaches meetings of your organisation; the general dial-in numbers shown in invitations reach every meeting.

Adding a phone number to a call from direct messages#

In a running 1:1 or group call from direct messages, More › Add phone number calls a number into the call (chapter "Calls", section Adding a phone number). Not in end-to-end encrypted calls.

Who is calling: caller context#

When a call rings for you, the banner shows the caller's name above the number when it is known: from your organisation's phone book (Telefonbuch) or the name of the colleague whose direct line is calling. If a call flow tagged the caller or asked for digits (for example a customer number), you see that too. In the call panel, Details opens:

• Recent calls (Letzte Anrufe) – the last five calls of this number to your organisation (when, who answered, how long, the outcome and whether there is a note – the note text is not shown here),
• Open tickets (Offene Tickets) from earlier calls of this number that you may see,
• open entries in Missed (team),
• Save caller / Edit caller (Anrufer speichern / Anrufer bearbeiten) – enter a name (and link a member if you like); the number always comes from the call. The entry goes into your organisation's phone book.

Withheld numbers have no context.

Note & outcome#

In the call panel, Note & outcome (Notiz & Ergebnis) opens a small form: choose an Outcome (for example "Call back agreed" – your organisation administrators maintain the list) and write a Note. After an answered call, Wrap up call (Anruf nachbearbeiten) appears at the bottom right while no outcome is set – Save or Close. On the Calls page every phone call shows its outcome, a note icon and the phone-book name; you can add them there too with Note & outcome. Notes are visible only to the people who had the call and your organisation administrators. You can change them for 7 days after the call, then they are read only; they belong to your organisation's call list and are deleted with it after 180 days.

Missed (team)#

On the Calls page, Missed (team) (Verpasst (Team)) shows the missed calls and voicemails of the numbers you look after (your direct line and the shared numbers whose mailbox you get) with the number of open entries – one entry per calling number, further calls count up. So the whole team sees who still needs a call back:

• I'll take it (Ich übernehme) – the entry is yours; you can also assign it to a colleague (they get a notification).
• Done / Reopen. When the same person calls the same number again and somebody answers, the entry is marked done automatically (Reached).
• Reminder – creates a "call back" task for you at the chosen time in a space.
• Copy number – Coviqo does not dial from here; call back with your phone or the keypad.

Filter by Open / Done, organisation, number and Assignee (Mine, Nobody, a person). Entries are deleted 180 days after the last call.

Call queues: pause and after-call work#

If you work in a call queue (Pro plan), the Calls page shows My status: Ready, Pause (also with a reason such as "Lunch" that your organisation defines) or After-call work. During a pause and after-call work, queue calls of your organisation do not ring for you – calls to your direct line and your groups still do. After-call work starts automatically after a queue call if your organisation has set it up; Ready ends a pause or after-call work at once. You find the same in Call settings under Queues. From there and from the status bar you also open the Wallboard (waiting callers, who is available, today's figures).

Headset, audio devices and ringtone#

In Call settings:

• Ringtone – the Device it rings on (Same as call audio or, for example, the speakers while you wear the headset), the Volume and Test.
• Headset – Connect headset picks a USB or DECT headset; then its call button answers and hangs up, its mute button mutes, and the lights on the headset follow the call. Disconnect undoes it. Works in Chrome and Edge and in the desktop app from version 1.0.16 – there the app asks which headset to use.

If you unplug or plug in a headset during a phone call, Coviqo switches to the matching device and briefly shows Audio device switched or Headset connected. If a second call rings during a call, you hear a soft tone (Call waiting). The media keys of your keyboard or headset hang up during a call, and with the keypad open you can type the digits on your keyboard.

Ringing on your phone#

With the Pro plan, calls also ring on your phone and with the browser closed – as a push notification with Answer and Decline, if you allowed Coviqo notifications there. Answer opens Coviqo and answers the call; if somebody else answers, the notification disappears. On an iPhone this works only with Coviqo on the home screen (iOS 16.4 or later), and without buttons – tap the notification. It is a normal notification with the system sound, not a call screen; battery savers can delay it. Switch it off under Settings › Notifications (Phone ringing). In the desktop app (version 1.0.15 or later) the call notification has Answer and Decline too.

Listening in#

If your organisation has switched listening in on (Business plan), supervisors can listen to a running phone call (Listen), speak only to you (Whisper – the caller does not hear it) or join the conversation (Barge in). The call panel then always shows Being listened to, Whisper or Supervisor joined – nobody can listen in without you seeing it. Your organisation has to inform you beforehand; nothing is recorded.

Good to know#

• Phone calls are not end-to-end encrypted – the panel says so ("Telefonanruf – nicht Ende-zu-Ende-verschlüsselt").
• Phone calls are only recorded if your organisation has switched recording on – and always with an announcement or the caller's consent (see Recording a call). A mailbox message is only recorded when the caller leaves one after the notice. Hold, voice menus and queues never record the caller.
• Your organisation keeps a call list (time, direction, duration, the other number shortened) for 180 days.
• Your own history on the Calls page keeps the full number for 180 days, only for you; it is part of your data export and deleted with your account.

For organisation administrators: connecting your own provider#

Under Organisation → Telefonie → Eigener SIP-Provider (Business and Enterprise) you connect your provider's line. Choose the connection type:

• IP-Freigabe (direkt) – the provider sends calls straight to Coviqo (enter the provider's addresses and/or the digest user name and password).
• Registrierung (über Vermittler) – for providers that require your phone system to register. This option is experimental and only appears when the operator has enabled it. Enter the registrar, the SIP user and password from your provider's customer account, the outbound proxy if the provider names one and your numbers. Registrierung prüfen shows whether the provider accepted the registration ("Registriert") or refused it (e.g. "Abgelehnt 403" – check user name and password).

The password is stored encrypted and never shown again; changing provider details asks for your authenticator code.