# Manage Customer Queries from External Messaging Channels on the Mobile App When customers reach your team through an external messaging channel, you can respond and work each conversation from the Cloud Voice App on your mobile device. This page walks through the everyday actions an agent performs on a session, from claiming an incoming chat to closing it out. Every task below starts from the same place in the app: open **Chat**, then tap **External Chat**. ## Before you begin Confirm the following with your system administrator and on your own device. **Your Cloud Voice system** - Runs version `84.20.0.128` or later. - Is on the Enterprise or Ultimate plan. - Has at least one messaging channel configured. **Your mobile app** - Cloud Voice App version 5.19.7 or later. ## Claim an incoming session If you belong to a message queue, new conversations that arrive in the queue appear so that any agent can take them. You claim one by picking it up. :::note Pickup is only offered when your queue's chat assignment mode is set to **Manual Pickup** or **Auto-Pickup**. - **Manual Pickup**: you pick up each session yourself before you can reply. - **Auto-Pickup**: the session is assigned to you automatically the moment you send the first reply. You can still pick it up manually first if you prefer. ::: ![The External Chat list showing a queued conversation with a Pick Up control at the top](/images/pbx/pick-up-session-mobile-1.png) 1. Go to **Chat > External Chat**. 2. Open the queued session and tap **Pick Up** at the top. Once you pick up a session it belongs to you alone: no other agent can see it or reply to it, and a confirmation prompt lets you know the handoff succeeded. ## Hand a session to someone else While you are working a conversation you can pass it to a colleague or to another message queue. If your administrator has connected Cloud Voice to an outside message analytics service, you can route the session there instead for extra processing or automation. :::note The option to transfer to a third-party message analytics platform appears only when your administrator has integrated that platform with Cloud Voice through its API (Application Programming Interface, the connection two systems use to exchange data). If you do not see the option, that integration is not set up. ::: ![Transferring an active conversation to a colleague from the chat details](/images/pbx/transfer-a-session-mobile-1.png) 1. Go to **Chat > External Chat** and open the active session. 2. Tap the more (three-dot) icon in the top-right corner. 3. On the **Chat Information** page, tap **Transfer**. 4. Search for and select the colleague, queue, or analytics platform, then tap **Confirm** in the pop-up. The session leaves your external chat list and moves to the chosen destination together with its full message history. ## Call the customer from a chat When a conversation is easier to resolve by voice, you can dial the customer straight from the session. :::note Placing the call requires outbound calling permission. Ask your administrator to confirm you have it. ::: ![A messaging session with a call control in the top-right corner ready to dial the customer](/images/pbx/elevate-chat-to-call-mobile-1.png) 1. Go to **Chat > External Chat** and open the session. 2. Tap the call icon in the top-right corner. The app dials the customer's number right away and routes the call through Cloud Voice. ## Save the customer to Contacts You can add the person you are chatting with to your contacts without leaving the conversation. ![Adding the customer from a conversation to a new or existing contact](/images/pbx/add-contact-in-a-conversation-mobile-1.png) 1. Go to **Chat > External Chat** and open the session. 2. Tap the more (three-dot) icon in the top-right corner. 3. At the bottom of the **Chat Information** page, tap **Add to Contacts**. 4. Choose how to save them: - Tap **New Contact** and fill in the customer's details, or - Tap **Add to Existing Contact**, pick the record, and update its details as needed. ## Review session details Open a session's details to see information such as the source channel and the channel number it came in on. ![Viewing the source channel and other details for a messaging session](/images/pbx/see-conversation-details-mobile-1.png) 1. Go to **Chat > External Chat** and open the session. 2. Tap the more (three-dot) icon in the top-right corner. The **Session Details** section lists the conversation's details. :::tip If the customer is already saved in your contacts, tap their name to jump straight to their contact record. ::: ![The customer's contact information opened from a session](/images/pbx/customer-info-mobile.png) ## Archive a session Archive a session when the customer has gone quiet or when you simply want to set it aside and return to it later. ![Archiving an active conversation from the external chat list](/images/pbx/archive-a-conversation-mobile-1.png) 1. Go to **Chat > External Chat**. 2. In the chat list, press and hold the active session, then tap **Archive**. The session moves from the **Recent** list to the **Archived** list. :::note Sending a new message in an archived session reopens it automatically and moves it back to the **Recent** list. ::: ## End a session When you have finished helping a customer, close the session out. :::caution Closing is not the same as archiving. A session you archive reopens the moment a new message arrives, but a session you close stays closed: you cannot reply in it again. If the customer writes in later, Cloud Voice starts a brand-new session instead. Archive rather than close if there is any chance you will need to continue the same conversation. ::: ![Closing a completed conversation from the chat information page](/images/pbx/close-a-conversation-mobile-1.png) 1. Go to **Chat > External Chat** and open the active session. 2. Tap the more (three-dot) icon in the top-right corner. 3. On the **Chat Information** page, tap **Close**. 4. Tap **Confirm** in the pop-up. The session closes and moves to the **Archived** list. ## Remove a session To take a session off your chat list entirely, do the following. :::caution Delete removes the session from your chat list on every device where you are signed in to the Cloud Voice App, not just this phone. Unlike archiving or closing, this leaves no entry to return to. If you might need the conversation again, archive or close it instead. ::: ![Deleting a conversation from the external chat list](/images/pbx/remove-a-conversation-mobile-1.png) 1. Go to **Chat > External Chat**. 2. In the chat list, press and hold the session, then tap **Delete**. The session disappears from your chat list across every Cloud Voice App you are signed in to. ## Work campaign sessions If your administrator runs message campaigns that send bulk messages and assigns those campaign sessions to your extension or to a queue you belong to, you can view and reply to them here. ![The external chat list with a Campaign Group entry](/images/pbx/chat-list.png) 1. Go to **Chat > External Chat**. 2. Tap **Campaign Group** to list every session created by message campaigns. 3. Tap any session to read and reply to the customer's responses.