Team Chat Beta

Overview

Team chat is where your team talks to each other inside Kairvio. It sits next to the Inbox, but it’s only for your people: customers never see it, and the AI receptionist never reads it.

Instead of describing a job or a customer in a text, you send the thing itself. It shows up as a card your teammate can tap to open, and a request turns a message into a task with a due date.

Team chat is in beta. If you don’t see Team in your menu, email support@kairvio.com and we’ll turn it on for your account.

Finding it

Open Team in the menu. On a phone it’s under More, then Team. The number on the menu item is how many unread messages you have across all your chats.

The Team page on a phone, listing a direct chat with Rosa Diaz and the Everyone group, each with an unread count.
Your chats, newest first, with unread counts. The 1 button starts a new chat.

The Team page has two views, switched at the top:

  • Chats: every conversation you’re part of, newest first.
  • People: everyone on your team, with their photo, job title, role and whether they’re available right now.

There are three kinds of chats:

  • Everyone: one group for the whole business. It follows your team list, so new teammates join it automatically and deactivated ones leave it. Nobody can leave or rename it.
  • Direct chat: you and one other person.
  • Group: any set of people with a name, like “Crew A” or “Front desk”.

On a computer, your chats and the open conversation sit side by side.

Team chat on a computer: chats on the left, the Everyone group open on the right with a card for Sarah Mitchell's move-out quote.
On a computer, the list and the conversation sit side by side. Tap to see it full size.

Starting a chat

  1. Open Team and tap the New chat button at the top.
  2. Choose Person for a direct chat, or Group to pick several people and give the group a name.
  3. Tap a name, or name the group, pick its people and tap Create group. Then type your first message.

You can also start a direct chat from People: tap the person, then Message.

The New chat sheet, with a person or a new group to pick.
New chat: one person, or a named group.
The People view: Kairvio support first, then each teammate with photo, job title, role and whether they are available.
People: your whole team and who's available.

Sending messages, photos and files

Type in the box at the bottom of a chat. On a computer, Enter sends and Shift+Enter adds a new line. On a phone, tap the arrow.

  • Photos and files: the paperclip attaches a photo, a PDF, a video or an audio file, up to 25 MB. Files stay private to your business.
  • Mention someone: in a group, type @ and their name. They get a notification on their phone even when the group is otherwise quiet.
  • Bad signal? A message that didn’t send stays in the chat with Tap to retry, so nothing is lost.

Sharing a customer, job or estimate

Most team conversations start with a customer, a job or an estimate. Send it to the team and it lands as a card that opens the real thing.

The Crew A group on a phone: a card for today's cleaning at the Chens and the technician's reply.
A job card in the crew's group. Tap it to open the job.

Where to find Send to team:

  • Inbox conversation: the More actions menu (⋮), then Send to team.
  • Job: open the job, then the Send to team row.
  • Estimate or invoice: open it, then the Send to team row.
  • Customer: the customer’s Team tab, then Ask the team.

Pick a chat or a person, add a note if you like, and tap Send.

The menu on an Inbox conversation with Send to team.
From an Inbox conversation: ⋮, then 1 Send to team.
The Send to team sheet: pick a chat or a person, add a note, or make it a request.
Pick the chat, add a note, send.

A card only shows what each person is allowed to see. A technician who can’t see prices gets the estimate card without the amount. Someone who can’t open that job sees “You don’t have access to this” instead of a broken link.

Requests: handing someone a task

A request is a message that’s also a task. Use it when you need someone to do something, not just know about it.

  1. In a chat, tap the clipboard button next to the message box (or choose Request in Send to team).
  2. Pick who it’s For, write What needs doing, and optionally a due date (By) and a note.
  3. Tap Send request.
The Make a request sheet: what needs doing, who it is for and an optional due date.
Make a request: who, what and by when.
A direct chat with Rosa Diaz showing a customer card for Jessica Rivera and a request card with a due date and a Mark done button.
The request card. 1 makes a request, 2 starts a video call.

The person gets a notification, the request shows as a card in the chat, and it lands on their Home under their tasks. When they tap Mark done, everyone in the chat sees it change to done.

Anyone can make a request for themselves. Making one for someone else needs the Reply, Edit customers or Manage leads permission. The office roles have one of these; technicians usually don’t.

Everything about one customer

Every customer has a Team tab with everything your team has said about them, in one place, and an Ask the team button.

A customer's Team tab with what the team said about them and an Ask the team button.
The customer's Team tab: every message and request about them.

Notifications

Team chat tells you what matters without buzzing all day:

  • A direct message to you: phone notification and bell.
  • An @mention or a request for you: phone notification and bell.
  • Someone starts a video call with you: phone notification with Join.
  • Any other group message: bell only (the Team badge counts it).

Nothing is sent for a chat you’re looking at, and opening a chat marks it read. Phone notifications need notifications turned on for Kairvio: Settings › Profile › Notifications.

Kairvio support in your team

While your business gets set up, Kairvio support appears first in People with a Kairvio badge. Anyone on your team can message us in a direct chat. Support is never added to Everyone or your groups.

To hide it, the owner or an admin can switch off Show Kairvio support in Team in Settings › Team. Chats that already exist stay readable.

Who can use it

  • Every role has team chat on by default. The owner and admins always have it.
  • To take it away from one person, open Settings › Team, tap the person, and switch off Team chat under Communication. They lose the Team menu item; what they already saw stays.
  • Whoever made a group, plus the owner or an admin, can add or remove people and rename it. Anyone else can leave it.

Tips

  • Send the card, not a description. “Can you look at this?” with the estimate attached saves a phone call.
  • Use a request when something has to get done by a time. It shows up on their Home, not just in the chat.
  • Set your profile photo in Settings › Profile (owners: Settings › Business info) so your crew can spot your messages.

Quick answers

Someone doesn’t see Team in the menu. Team chat may be switched off for their login (Settings › Team, the person, Team chat), or they haven’t signed in since it was turned on. Refreshing the app fixes the second.

A new teammate isn’t in Everyone. Everyone updates when someone opens the Team page. Open it once after inviting them.

Can I edit or delete a message? Not yet. You also can’t mute a single chat or search inside one yet; search finds chats and people by name.

Can I text a customer from here? No. Team chat never reaches customers. Use the Inbox for that.

Can I call a teammate? Use a video call from the chat. With the camera off, it works as an audio call.

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