How to connect Twilio SMS & Voice

Overview

Connect your Twilio account to Bugalou to send and receive SMS messages and make voice calls directly from your dashboard. All SMS conversations appear in your team inbox alongside WhatsApp, email, and other channels.

Twilio SMS & Voice is available on the Pro plan and above.

Prerequisites

Before connecting, you need:

1. A Twilio account — create one at twilio.com
2. A Twilio phone number with SMS and/or Voice capabilities purchased in the Twilio Console
3. Your Account SID and Auth Token from the Twilio Console dashboard

Connecting Twilio

Step 1: Navigate to Twilio settings

Go to Channels → Twilio in your dashboard, or find the Twilio card in the Channel Catalog.

Step 2: Enter credentials

Fill in your Twilio credentials:

• Account SID — starts with AC, found in your Twilio Console dashboard
• Auth Token — found below the Account SID in the Twilio Console

Step 3: Connect

Click "Connect Twilio". Bugalou will verify your credentials, automatically sync all your phone numbers from Twilio, and configure the webhooks. Once connected, you'll see a green "Connected" status.

Managing Phone Numbers

After connecting your Twilio account, manage your phone numbers in Settings → Calls. Here you can:

• View all synced numbers — your Twilio phone numbers are automatically imported
• Add additional numbers — add more numbers from your Twilio account
• Set a default number — used for outbound SMS and as caller ID
• Assign to a team — incoming messages and calls are routed to that team
• Assign to a user — incoming calls ring only that user's browser, SMS conversations are auto-assigned
• Enable/disable SMS and Voice — per phone number
• Add labels — e.g. "Sales", "Support" for easy identification

Multiple Phone Numbers

Bugalou supports multiple Twilio phone numbers per workspace. This allows you to have separate numbers for different teams or purposes, for example a Sales number and a Support number. Each number can be independently assigned and configured.

Call Routing

Incoming calls and SMS messages are routed based on the phone number configuration:

• Assigned to a user — incoming calls ring only that user's browser. New SMS conversations are auto-assigned to that user.
• Assigned to a team — incoming calls ring all users in the workspace. New conversations are assigned to that team.
• No assignment — incoming calls ring all users. Conversations appear in the shared inbox.

The default number is used as the outbound caller ID when a user doesn't have a specific number assigned.

SMS Messaging

With SMS enabled, you can:

• Receive incoming SMS messages in your team inbox
• Reply to SMS conversations like any other channel
• Create new SMS conversations via the compose button
• Assign SMS conversations to team members

VoIP Voice Calls

With Voice enabled, a phone icon appears in the contact sidebar (right side) on the inbox page, and in the main sidebar on other dashboard pages. Click it to open the VoIP panel with three tabs:

Dialpad

Enter a phone number or search for a contact, then click the call button to initiate an outbound call. As you type, Bugalou automatically searches your contacts by name or phone number — click a result to fill in the number instantly.

During a call, you have the following controls:

• Mute/Unmute — toggle your microphone on or off
• Hold/Unhold — put the caller on hold with a visual indicator
• Transfer — transfer the call in two ways:
  • To a team member — select a colleague from the list to transfer the call internally
  • To an external number — type a phone number to transfer externally
• Open conversation — jump to the caller's conversation in your inbox
• Hang up — end the call

A live call timer shows the duration of the current call.

Call History

View a log of all incoming and outgoing calls with duration, status, and timestamps, grouped by date. Click a call record to navigate to the associated conversation.

Settings

Configure your VoIP preferences:

• Call Queue — toggle yourself In Queue or Out of Queue. When you are in the queue, incoming calls will ring your browser. When out of queue, callers are routed to other available agents or go to voicemail. Your queue status is shown as a colored badge on your avatar in the sidebar.
• Ringtone — choose from four built-in ringtones: Default, Classic, Modern, or Silent
• Output device — select your speaker or headset for call audio
• Input device — select your microphone
• Test microphone — click to test that your microphone is working correctly

Audio settings are saved locally so they persist across sessions.

Queue Status & Badges

Your VoIP status is visible to your team:

• A green phone badge on your avatar means you are in the call queue and available
• A red pulsing phone badge means you are currently on an active call
• When you set your status to Away or Offline, you are automatically removed from the call queue

The VoIP panel header also shows a live counter of calls in queue and active calls across your workspace.

Incoming Calls

When someone calls your Twilio number, an incoming call notification appears with the caller's name (if known) and phone number. You can Accept or Decline the call. The phone panel opens automatically when an incoming call arrives.

Calls in the chat window

After each call a line is added to the conversation with the customer, so your colleagues can see there was a call:

• 📞 Phone call (1:23) or 📞 WhatsApp call (0:45) · answered by Anne
• 📵 Missed call or 📵 Missed WhatsApp call, also when the customer then left a voicemail
• 📵 Not answered: outgoing call

These lines don't change the order of your inbox. Twilio calls don't show who answered.

WhatsApp calling (Pro)

Customers can also call you on WhatsApp. You answer in Bugalou, in the same call notification as for Twilio. You don't need a Twilio account for this: only a connected WhatsApp number. Incoming WhatsApp calls are free.

Switching it on

1. Go to Workspace settings → Calls (page Calls & SMS).
2. Under WhatsApp calling, switch it on for the number.

Bugalou then enables calling at Meta and customers see the call icon in WhatsApp. Only owners and admins can change this.

Meta's requirement: calling is only possible from a messaging limit of 2,000 customers a day. With a lower limit you'll see "Not available yet" with your current limit, and the switch can't be turned on. Meta raises the limit automatically as you message more customers with a good quality rating. If it says "Connection expired", reconnect WhatsApp.

Answering

• A WhatsApp call appears at the bottom right as Incoming WhatsApp call, with a ringtone, for everyone in the call queue: phone panel → Settings → Call Queue on. If you're not in it yourself, the WhatsApp calling card shows a notice with a Join the queue button.
• Click Accept. The first time, your browser asks for access to your microphone: click Allow. You choose and test your microphone and speaker in the phone panel under Settings. The call runs in the browser, with a WhatsApp label in the phone panel.
• One colleague can answer a call; for the others the notification disappears.
• Decline only hides the notification for you, so a colleague can still answer.
• Mute and hang up work as with Twilio. Hold and transfer aren't available for WhatsApp calls.

If nobody answers within about half a minute, the customer sees "Not answered" and the call counts as a missed call. You get a notification, and with the trigger Missed call you automatically send a WhatsApp template (recipe Gemist telefoontje).

Switching it off

Turn the switch off. Bugalou disables calling at Meta and the call icon disappears from WhatsApp. If someone still calls (for example from an old chat), the call is declined right away and counts as missed.

Disconnecting

To disconnect Twilio, go to Channels → Twilio and click "Disconnect". You'll need to confirm the action. This removes all phone numbers and stops SMS and voice functionality but does not affect your Twilio account itself.