Voice Assistant

What it does

Shoppers tap the phone icon in the chat on your store website and speak with an AI assistant. It:

finds products and tells live prices and stock (only from your catalog, never invented)
answers shipping, returns, payment and FAQ questions from your store settings
checks free appointment times and prepares a booking or a cart; the shopper pays on your secure checkout page
tells shoppers signed in to your store the status of their own orders
hands the caller over to your team with a support ticket when they ask for a person

The assistant says at the start that it is an AI and that the call may be transcribed. Card details are never taken on a call.

Availability

The voice assistant is available to every store and is on by default. Its settings are in Channels & integrations → Voice assistant & phone; turn it off (or back on) on the General tab if you do not want calls answered. If the switch is greyed out, the assistant is not available for your store right now (for example while the platform engine is paused) and a short reason is shown.

Turn it on and try it

Open Channels & integrations → Voice assistant & phone and check on the General tab that the voice assistant is on (it is on by default). Only the store owner or an admin can change the switch.
Click Talk to us, allow microphone access, and talk to the assistant. It uses your real products, bookings and store info. Click End call when you are done.
Test calls are billed like any other call. Your call history, transcripts and recordings are in Inbox → Calls.

You can also start a voice call from the OIC chat in the panel (OIC and AI layouts): before the first message a large phone orb sits in the middle of the chat; once there are messages, the same orb is small in the chat header. Press it to start the call, and again to cancel while it is connecting. That call goes to your panel assistant — the same assistant you write to in the chat, with your owner or admin rights — not to the store assistant your customers hear: ask, for example, "how many orders today?" or say "set the stock of the blue mug to 5". The assistant looks things up with the panel tools, repeats a change and waits for your yes before applying it; deletions, payments and account settings stay in the panel. When the call ends, the conversation is added to the chat as text. The test call on the General tab still talks to the store assistant, as a customer would hear it.

Turning the switch off pauses the assistant; your settings and call history stay. All voice assistant settings are on the Voice assistant & phone page; only the voice-call model, voice and speaking speed stay in Assistant → AI Models under Customer voice → Voice calls.

Call speed

During and after a test call you see how fast it was: time to the first audio, each reply, and how long store lookups took. Speed comparison lists your recent test calls. Choose the model (Mini is faster and cheaper, 2.1 has the best quality) and the voice under Customer voice → Voice calls in Assistant → AI Models.

Calls from your store's chat

Stores using the OrderInChat engine can let shoppers call from the chat bubble on the storefront: a phone icon appears in the chat header. The shopper passes a quick security check, allows the microphone and talks to the assistant; the conversation is shown as text on screen and links (product pages, booking checkout) appear as a card. Signed-in customers can also ask about their own orders. These calls are billed from your AI credits by the AI usage of the call, and they end automatically at your maximum call length. Store website calls can use GPT Realtime 2.1 / 2.1 Mini, Gemini 3.8 Live or Grok Voice Think Fast 2.0, chosen under Customer voice → Voice calls in Assistant → AI Models; the test call in the panel always uses GPT Realtime.

Live calls: with Gemini Live or Grok Voice your team can join website calls by voice, take over, hold and mute from Inbox → Calls; with GPT Realtime website calls only allow instructions, say exactly and end. Phone-line and WhatsApp calls always allow every control. See Calls.

Before the shopper writes anything, a large Talk to us button appears above the quick replies; once the chat starts, it moves to the chat header as a small phone icon. To show only the header icon, choose Header icon only under Voice call button in Channels & integrations → Widget.

During a call the conversation is shown as text across the whole chat (turn it off under Show the conversation as text during a call in Channels & integrations → Widget). Closing the chat does not end the call: a small Call in progress bar stays on the page with an end button. Links the assistant shares (checkout, product or booking pages) open on the same page so the call keeps going, and shoppers who are not signed in are offered an optional sign-in so the assistant can check their orders. In Assistant → AI Models you can also set the speaking speed (GPT Realtime and Grok; Gemini Live speaks at its natural pace), see which voices are multilang, and play a voice sample.

The phone sits on the left of the chat header, in place of the chat icon (to move it among the header buttons, choose Right under Phone icon position in Channels & integrations → Widget). It pulses while no call runs and shows sound waves during a call. Shoppers press it to call and press it again while the call is connecting to cancel. The assistant never hangs up on its own: after a checkout or booking link it asks whether there is anything else, and that page opens in the same window while the call goes on. Only the shopper (End) or your maximum call length ends the call. If the page is reloaded during a call, the shopper can continue the same call with one tap (Continue call) within about 40 seconds. A finished call stays in the chat history as text under a Voice call · N min line.

If a caller insults, threatens or harasses the assistant, or keeps pranking, the assistant first warns them that it will end the call and ends it only if it continues (insults and threats: after one warning; pranks and nonsense: on the third turn in a row). The caller then cannot start voice calls at your store for 1 hour; a second time for 3 days; a third time permanently (counted over 90 days; the text chat stays open). The block applies to the store customer, the browser and the IP address. You see these callers with the end of each call under Blocked callers on the Blocked tab and can lift a block there.

Calls on WhatsApp

The assistant can also answer the voice calls customers make to your WhatsApp Business number: turn it on on the WhatsApp calls tab (it needs at least one simultaneous call, 2 USD a month, shared with the phone line). While it is off, a customer who asks in the WhatsApp chat to call you (for example "can I call you?") gets a short WhatsApp message in their language: with the voice assistant on, a link to your store that opens the chat with the call button; with it off, an invitation to continue in writing. Voice notes on WhatsApp keep working as before. See Calls on WhatsApp.

Phone line

The same assistant can also answer your phone numbers: connect your own Twilio account and pick the numbers it answers (or forward your existing number to one of them), answered around the clock. You set it up on the Phone line tab. See Phone line.

Call recording

Phone and WhatsApp calls the assistant answers are recorded by default: before the assistant speaks, the caller hears a short notice in their language that the call is recorded. Recordings are kept for 90 days, then deleted automatically. Owners, admins and agents play them in Inbox → Calls; calls with a recording show Recorded. To stop recording, turn off Record calls on the Recording tab (owner or admin): calls are then not recorded and callers hear no notice. Calls from your store website's call button are never recorded.

Rate the call on WhatsApp

After a WhatsApp call longer than 20 seconds, the caller gets one thank-you message from your WhatsApp number asking them to rate the call from 1 to 5, in their language. Once per call; never to blocked customers or after a call that ended with an error. The score shows in Inbox → Calls and in Customer 360 (latest and average), and the assistant does not reply to it. It is on by default; turn off Send the rating message in the Rate the call on WhatsApp card on the General tab (owner or admin). On phone and WhatsApp calls the assistant also greets a caller whose name it knows ("am I speaking with …?") or asks for the name early and saves it on the customer.

Cost

Calls are billed from your AI credits: store website and test calls by the AI usage of the call. The maximum call length and the credits needed to start a call are shown on the settings page. If nobody speaks for about 20 seconds, the assistant asks whether the caller is still there and politely ends the call a few seconds later if there is no answer; that silent wait is not billed. When your credits run out, the assistant does not start new calls; callers see a short message instead.

Web calls are available on every plan, Starter included, with no plan limit; their minutes are paid from AI credits. The phone line is on every plan too: connecting your own Twilio numbers is free, and you buy simultaneous phone calls (2 USD a month each).

Settings

Open Channels & integrations → Voice assistant & phone in the menu. The page has five tabs:

General — the on / off switch with the price and the Talk to us test call, and:
- Answer calls — pause or resume the assistant (on by default)
- Default language — the call starts in this language when the caller's language is not known; the assistant then switches to the language the caller speaks
- Maximum call length (website) — calls from your storefront chat end automatically after this time. Type a whole number of minutes from 1 to 15; the default is 10
- Opening hours — answer at any time, or set working hours; outside these hours callers hear a short closed message
- Rate the call on WhatsApp — the thank-you and rating message after WhatsApp calls
- a link to your call history in Inbox → Calls
Phone line — your Twilio account, numbers and simultaneous calls. See Phone line.
WhatsApp calls — let the assistant answer calls to your WhatsApp Business number. See Calls on WhatsApp.
Recording — the Record calls switch (see Call recording above).
Blocked — callers blocked for abuse and your store's Blocked numbers list (see Blocking numbers below).

Calls and transcripts

Your call history is in Inbox → Calls (the General tab links there): every call with the customer, where it came from, its length, a short summary, the full transcript and, for phone and WhatsApp calls, the recording. Search by name, number, email or summary, and filter by source and date. See Calls.

Calls also appear on the customer's page when the caller was signed in to your store, or when the caller's phone number or email matches the customer: in the Timeline (where the call came from, its length and summary; the link opens the call in Inbox → Calls with its transcript) and in the Voice calls card (Customers → Support). Transcripts are kept for one year; recordings of phone and WhatsApp calls (see Call recording) for 90 days.

Call length limit

Your maximum call length applies to every voice call: store website, phone line and WhatsApp calls. About 15 seconds before the limit the assistant tells the caller, in their language, that the call time is up and that they can continue in writing (in the website chat, or on WhatsApp for phone and WhatsApp calls); then the call ends. Calls are billed only up to the limit.

Blocking numbers

Your team can block a phone number that sends spam or keeps calling: Block number on the customer's page (Customer 360), next to the caller in Inbox → Calls, Block in the Inbox, or by typing the number in international format (for example +1 202 555 0100) under Blocked numbers on the Blocked tab. From then on, WhatsApp messages, phone calls and WhatsApp calls from that number are ignored before the assistant: no reply, no notification, no AI credits used, and calls are declined. Your conversations with the number are kept. The block lasts until a team member clicks Unblock; the list shows who blocked the number, when and why. The customer is not told.

The number is also blocked on your own WhatsApp number(s), so the customer can no longer write to or call you on WhatsApp at all. WhatsApp allows this only for people who wrote to you in the last 24 hours: otherwise the list shows WhatsApp: not blocked with the reason, and it is tried again automatically the next time they write (or with Try again on WhatsApp). WhatsApp Business numbers cannot be blocked on WhatsApp. Unblocking also lifts the WhatsApp block. Conversations of blocked contacts are hidden from the Inbox list; you find the contacts under Blocked in the Inbox.

WhatsApp users who hide their number. Some WhatsApp users show a username instead of their phone number. Block them on the Blocked tab by their WhatsApp user ID (it looks like US.1234…), which stops both their WhatsApp messages and their calls, or by their @username, which stops their calls. The Block caller button on such a call in Inbox → Calls (caller panel) and on the customer card does this for you. When the store knows the customer, the list shows their WhatsApp profile name and @username. Blocked callers get no reply and cost nothing. WhatsApp's own block list (at Meta) is used only for phone numbers, so for these users only the OrderInChat block applies, right away.

Callers whose phone or WhatsApp call the assistant ends for abuse are blocked from voice calls by their number automatically, with the same steps as website callers (1 hour, then 3 days, then permanently). They appear under Blocked callers with the end of the call.