Starting Teamwire, the Chats tab is shown by default. It shows all chats you have created or are involved in.

As you receive new messages, you will find a badge counter on the Chats tab indicating the amount of unread texts.

Inbox

When receiving new messages, the chat concerned is also provided with a badge on the amount of unread texts. This badge will disappear after you have opened/read the chat. In the chat itself, new messages are visually indicated from already read content by a separator.

Search

Tap  in the right upper corner of the screen to open a search bar. The search will look up for chat titles, contacts, groups, and message content.

Create new chat

To create a new chat, tap  in the bottom right corner of the screen. The creation process has two steps:

• Select participants
• Define a chat title and further settings

You will enter the newly created chat automatically to send your message.

Select participants

Select at least one user from your list of contacts and tap Next.

Teamwire classifies your contacts into three types:

• Contacts
  Single user accounts (usually employees and colleagues) your administrator has allowed to communicate with. If Teamwire has been granted access to your address book, you may also find some of these contacts in Teamwire - even though they do not belong to your company directly. For more information, see My Contacts.

• Groups
  Predefined groups of people (similar to a mailing list) your administrator has allowed to communicate with, or you have created yourself. For more information, see Groups.

• Directory
  You can manually search the Directory (former Enterprise Directory) for individual internal and external users that have not yet been synchronised. For more information, see Directory.

The participants (so-called members) of your chat can be both individual contacts as well as groups. Please notice the maximum of members that can be added to a chat. The number of currently selected users will be shown during the creation (X / 1250 users).

Your list of contacts is arranged in alphabetical order (by the last name) but it still might feel challenging finding your colleagues within an excessive number of users. To find colleagues and groups more quickly, make use of the search bar located atop the list of contacts. It will show all user accounts matching your input.

Define chat title

Define a matching title for your conversation. This title is not final and can be changed at any time via the Chat Settings.

Define further settings

• Chat avatar
  In order to recognise chats more easily, you can set a picture for chat avatar.
   
• Allow to send messages
  You can prohibit other chat members from sending messages to the conversation. This is the so-called broadcast mode which allows composing and sending messages only to chat administrators. For more information, see chat mode.
   
• Allow to mute notifications
  Decide whether chat members are allowed to mute this conversation.
   
• Alert Chat
  This feature is meant for emergencies. An alert chat will always stay on top of its members messages inbox until the content has been read. For more information, see alert message.

After defining all further settings, tap Create and you will enter the newly created chat automatically to compose and send your message.

Emergency Alert (SOS Button)

With the Emergency Button you can quickly create a new alert chat with a predefined group of people. When creating an alert, your location data (via GPS) will be requested and a voice message will be recorded - both being shared with the chat members.

An alert chat will always stay on top of its members messages inbox until the content has been read. For more information, see alert message.

Creating a chat with the Emergency Button

When looking at your inbox, you can open the emergency menu by swiping your screen to the right.

Teamwire will locate your current position via GPS (if Teamwire has been granted access to your location) and will request you to record a voice message (if Teamwire has been granted access to your microphone) to send both information to the chat.

To record a voice message

• tap the button once to start a 30 seconds record timer or
• tap and hold the button as long as you want to record your message.

Afterwards, your location and voice message will be sent to a predefined group of people.

You can configure the group for the Emergency Button via Profile > Message Settings > SOS Group. If you have not configured an SOS Group, you will have to select a group manually each time the SOS Button feature is being used. If your phone is being managed by a Mobile Device Management system, your Teamwire administrator might has already defined an SOS group for you which you cannot change.

Chat contents and actions

Attachments

In addition to texts and emojis, you can send various attachments via Teamwire.

If you want to attach a photo, appointment, or the like to your current conversation, tap  next to your text input field and select the type of file you want to share with the chat.

• Gallery
  Grant access to your gallery to send stored photos and videos.
   
• Camera
  Grant access to your camera to create and send photos or videos. Video recording is limited to 180 seconds.
   
• Voice Message
  Grant access to your microphone to record and send a voice message. The voice message is limited to 180 seconds.
  You can also create a voice message by tapping the quick record button  next to your text input.
   
• Location
  If Teamwire has been granted access to your location data and your mobile GPS is active, you will be able to select either your current position or choose a POI from the map, to send it to the chat.
   
• Calendar
  Grant access to your calendar to select appointments from your calendar app and attach them.
   
• File
  Select any further file type via your file manager and attach them (e.g. PDF, text file, presentation, etc.).
   
• Poll
  Create a poll (interactive attachment) and let your chat members vote to make decisions more quickly.

Alert messages

The text input field allows labeling your message as alert by tapping  If the alert label is activated, the icon and your text input field will turn red:

Alerts cause a special ringtone and will create a different icon on the Android notification screen for its participants. A chat containing an alert message will be visually highlighted in its participants inbox, and will always stay on top until all new content has been read.

To remove the alert label, tap  again.

The alert notification sound can be configured via Profile > Message Settings > Alert notification sound.

Reply to message

Tap and hold the message or attachment concerned to open the context menu. Select Reply to quote the respective message when sending your answer. This is especially useful in conversations with a lot of users to not lose context.

Copy message

Tap and hold the message concerned to open the context menu. Select Copy to copy the entire message content to your clipboard. You can paste the text into another chat or an external app.

Forward message

Tap and hold the message or attachment concerned to open the context menu and select Forward. A list of all existing chats to which you can forward the content to will be displayed. If you want to use a new chat to forward the content to, tap  in the bottom right corner of the screen and continue selecting your participants.

Delete message

Tap and hold the message or attachment concerned to open the context menu and select Delete to remove the content.

Please note, the content will be removed for your eyes only and only for the device at hand. Other members of this conversation will still be able to see the removed message/attachment; it will also remain visible to your other device(s) (e.g. your desktop app).

Read receipts

The present  read receipts of the chat members are represented by their avatars. They can be found at the bottom of the conversation.
Please note, that these read receipts only apply to the last message of the chat and cannot be viewed for previous messages.

If you are looking for a detailed view of the present read receipts, you can tap at the line of user avatars to receive a complete list.

Chat Settings

Tap the chat avatar in the right upper corner of the screen to open the Chat Settings. Among other things, here you are able to change the chat title or add more users to the conversation.

Chat avatar

Tap on the current chat avatar. You can choose an existing image from Gallery or take a photo by tapping Camera. The new avatar will be shown to all members of the conversation.

You can tap the current avatar again to Change or Delete it.

Chat title

Tap on the text below the chat avatar to edit the chat title. Confirm your changes via Enter.

If you want to reset a chat title, remove the current text input and confirm via Enter. The title will adopt the automatically generated name. For group chats, defining your own title is mandatory.

Chat mode

Teamwire supports two chat modes. Change the current mode by enabling or disabling the Allow to send messages feature.

• Normal
  Allow to send messages enabled
  By default, the Chat Settings suggest to create a conversation with the Normal chat mode enabled. This mode allows all members to compose and send messages / attachments to the chat.
   
• Broadcast
  Allow to send messages disabled
  The Broadcast mode will only allow chat administrators to compose and send messages / attachments to the chat. This mode is very useful for sharing announcements or briefings in a company.

Chat administrators

This section lists all administrators of the current chat.

Chat administrators are able to make changes in the Chat Settings, e.g. editing the chat title and chat mode, allowing to mute the chat, or promote other members to become chat administrator.

In a 1:1 chat, both chat members are being administrator by default.

In a group chat, the creator of the chat is automatically promoted for being administrator - whether by selecting individual users, by adding groups (Organisation Groups or User Groups), or by creating the chat with a mix of both.

Promote to admin

In the Chat Settings, tap Members to see a complete list of the current chat's participants. If the chat was created with a group, you can tap the name of the group to view its list of members. Tap the user concerned and select Make chat admin.

Demote admin

The promotion for being chat administrator cannot be revoked.

You may use the following workaround: Remove the user from the current chat and add them again afterwards. Thus the user is being removed from both the list of members and administrators, and will become a chat member only if you add them to the conversation again.

Members

This section lists all members of the current chat.

If the chat was created with a group (or if one has been added later), you can tap the name of the group to view its list of members.

Add more members

In order to add further members to the chat, tap  in the right upper corner of the screen to see your list of contacts.

Select users and groups whom you would like to add and confirm your selection by tapping Done.

Remove members

Tap on a user in the list of members and select Remove from chat to have them removed. Users that have been added via a group cannot be removed individually. A group will always need to be removed as a whole.

Quick editing
When viewing the list of chat members, tap  in the right upper corner of the screen to remove multiple contacts from the chat. Confirm your changes by tapping Done.

Media Overview

Below the Chat Settings you will find the Media Overview, which allows you to look up for all attachments and alarms that have been sent in the current chat. The media is filtered by its file type, but can also be viewed unfiltered via All attachments.

Chat administration

Below the Media Overview you will find options to manage the current conversation, like muting, archiving and exiting the chat, or sending the chat history via email.

Mute chat

Mute a chat to stop receiving notifications. When muted, the notification sound, vibration and push notifications will not be triggered for this chat. The app icon on your home screen will keep showing the amount of unread messages.

There are two options to mute a chat

• Open the chat concerned and view its Chat Settings via the avatar in the right upper corner of the screen. The Mute action is located below the Media Overview.
• In your inbox, tap and hold the chat concerned to open the context menu and select Mute.

You can re-enable notifications for a chat in the same way.

Archive chat

Archive a chat when the conversation is no longer active or when a topic-based discussion is completed. Archived chats are not displayed in your message inbox by default.

There are two options to archive a chat

• Open the chat concerned and view its Chat Settings via the avatar in the right upper corner of the screen. The Archive action is located below the Media Overview.
• In your inbox, tap and hold the chat concerned to open the context menu and select Archive.

To display archived chats in your inbox, activate the option Show archived chats via the menu in the right upper corner of the screen. While viewing your archived chats, you can unarchive a conversation again in the same way as mentioned above.

Email chat history

Open the chat concerned and view its Chat Settings via the avatar in the right upper corner of the screen. Tap Email Chat History to forward the conversation in plain text to your default mail app and send it. The action is located below the Media Overview.

Please note that attachments cannot be transferred to the mail.

Leave chat

Leave a chat when you no longer want to be part of the conversation or your participation is no longer needed.

There are two options to leave a chat

• Open the chat concerned and view its Chat Settings via the avatar in the right upper corner of the screen. The Leave chat action is located below the Media Overview.
• In your inbox, tap and hold the chat concerned to open the context menu and select Leave.