How phone and texting work in Flourivate
What you can do with a Flourivate number, what has to be ready before you can call or text, and what it costs.
A Flourivate number gives your practice one line for calls and texts, separate from your personal cell. Calls can ring your browser, forward to your mobile, play a menu or go to an AI receptionist. Texts go out from workflows and from your inbox.
Before you start
Owning a number isn't the same as being able to text from it. Here's what each thing needs:
| To do this | You need |
|---|---|
| Make and take calls | A number, and funds in your usage credits |
| Send texts from a local number | A number, approved texting registration (called A2P 10DLC), and funds |
| Send texts from a toll-free number | A toll-free number, approved toll-free verification, and funds |
| Text a particular person | Their consent, and they haven't replied STOP |
Registration takes days to a few weeks, so start it early. See Register your business for texting.
Where everything lives
Go to Phone System in the sidebar (under COMMUNICATIONS). The page heading says Phone and has these tabs. On a laptop you may need to scroll the tab row sideways.
| Tab | What's there |
|---|---|
| Overview | Phone at a glance (recording, transcription, spam protection) and your call stats for the last 7 days |
| Activity | Every call and text, with status. The browser softphone status shows here too. |
| Messaging | An audit of text sends, blocked messages and failures. Reply to texts in Conversations, not here. |
| Dialer (Beta) | Your browser phone and outbound calling campaigns |
| Routing & IVR | Call forwarding, routing rules, conference lines and phone menus |
| Numbers | Your numbers, buying a new one, and who or what answers first |
| Setup | Readiness checklist, plus Manage Phone System: Connection, Messaging, Verification and Consent |
| Settings | Greetings, voicemail, recording, call outcomes and other call behavior |
What it costs
Phone and text use draws from your workspace's usage credits:
- Texts are charged per segment. A text over 160 characters counts as two or more. Emoji and some special characters shrink a segment to 70 characters.
- Calls are charged per minute, rounded up.
- Call recording is charged separately, so only record if you need to.
- Numbers have a monthly fee. Toll-free numbers cost more than local ones.
- Texting registration has its own one-time and monthly carrier fees.
To see your charges, go to Settings > Usage Credits > Usage & Costs. Email, texts, calls and AI use your workspace's usage credits. If something stops sending, check your balance and add credits. See Add usage credits.
A good order to set things up
- Get a phone number for your practice
- Register your business for texting (or verify a toll-free number)
- Forward calls to your cell so you don't miss anything
- Set your call greetings and voicemail
- Collect text consent and handle opt-outs
- Send appointment reminder texts
Not available yet
WhatsApp shows as Not available under Settings > Integrations and can't be set up yet. Use texts and email for now.
Check it worked
- Phone System > Setup shows your readiness steps, for example "4 of 4 steps complete".
- Setup > Verification shows SMS send-eligible once texting is approved.
If something's off
- A setting is greyed out or says "Inherited from provider": it's set at the account level. Ask us if you need it changed.
- You can't see Setup or Settings: scroll the tab row to the right.
- Calls or texts stopped suddenly: funds may have run low. Send us a request and we'll sort it out. Also check Known issues.