Signed Call

Learn how to enable Signed Call from the CleverTap dashboard.

Overview

Signed Call is a new-age voice communication system that uses Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology. The Signed Call SDKs enable sending and receiving voice over the internet. All you need to make calls is a device with an internet connection and the Signed Call SDK. Signed Call has many advantages because it is software-driven. Signed Call SDKs manage the in-app calling without sharing the user's phone number, and the signed calls are more cost-effective and secure than the usual PSTN calls. Developers have the ultimate control over call flows, call screens, and so on.

Signed Call can help multiple businesses. For more information about business use cases, refer to Signed Call Use Cases.

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Feature in Beta

This feature is released in private Beta. To enable this feature, contact your CleverTap Customer Success Team or raise a support ticket.

Signed Call Account Setting

Signed Call is an add-on feature to the existing messaging channels of CleverTap, requiring an additional account setup. After setting up your account, you will get an API Key and an Account ID that you can use to integrate the Signed Call SDKs.

To set up your account, navigate to Messages > Signed Call, and click Sign Up on the CleverTap dashboard.

A First Responder Screen showing the Sign-Up button to avail of the Signed Call feature

Sign Up for Signed Call

Set Up Signed Call Integration

The Signed Call feature supports Android, iOS, and Web platforms. This section explains the Signed Call SDK integration for all the supported platforms.
To set up Signed Call integration:

  1. Navigate to Settings > Signed Call > Integration.
A dashboard screen showing Signed Call SDK Integration steps for Android, iOS, and Web platforms. Refer to the Quick Start Guide for documentation

Integrate Signed Call SDKs

  1. Choose the integration platform and refer to the Quickstart Guide to integrate:

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Signed Call Recordings

CleverTap exports the Signed Call voice recorded files directly to your Amazon S3 bucket instead of storing them in the database.

Set Up Signed Call Branding

You can customize the brand logo, theme, and color with the Signed Call Branding feature. An incoming call with business branding helps personalize the user experience. This section explains how to set up Content, and Style for the incoming and outgoing call screens.

To set up Signed Call Branding:

  1. Navigate to Settings > Signed Call.
  2. Click Branding.
  3. Enter the Image URL of your Brand Logo.
A dashboard image showing how to set up Branding for your Calling screen from the Create Content tab

Create Content for Calling Screen

  1. Click Done.
  2. Click the Style tab.
  3. Select the Background Color.
  4. Select the color of the text.
  5. Select Button Theme (Default or White).
  6. Click Done.
    You can preview how the call screen will look on different devices by switching between the Android and iOS toggle.
A dashboard image showing how to Create Style i.e. color, text and button theme for your calling screen

Create Styles for Calling Screen

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Override Dashboard's Branding

You can also show the initiator's and receiver's images on the call screen instead of the brand logo. To do so, use the Override Dashboard's Branding feature for Android and iOS platforms.

Signed Call Stats

Signed Call Stats show the analytics of the call initiated using the Signed Call SDKs. These analytics are real-time. You can view, download, and print the analytics chart in different formats.
To view the stats:

  1. Navigate to Messages and click Signed Call.
  2. Select the duration for the call stats.
A pie chart that represents the call stats for a desired date range from the

View Stats

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Call Detail Records

Signed Call provides Call Detail Records (CDRs). Customers can choose to export CDRs directly in their S3 Bucket after configuring it on the CleverTap dashboard.

To set up your S3 account, refer to AWS S3 Export Guide.

Call Status

Call status shows the status of all the initiated calls. Following are the status you can view on the dashboard:

  • Over - shows the completed calls.
  • Declined - shows the calls disconnected by the receiver.
  • Missed - shows the calls missed by the receiver.
  • Canceled - shows the calls canceled by the initiator.

Call Volumes

The Call volumes across the day board shows the number of calls initiated during a specific period (daily, weekly or monthly).

A line graph that represents the call volumes across the day, week, or a month from the dashboard

View Call Volumes

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Call Volumes

You can view a maximum of 30 days of calls on this board.

Call Screens

CleverTap Signed Call provides inbuilt call screens (Outgoing, Ongoing, and Incoming) with Volume, Bluetooth, and Speaker control for all platforms with zero development efforts. The Signed Call system also comes with inbuilt support for network switching, missed call notifications, and call handling if the user is busy on another call.

Following is an example of a Signed Call screen on Android devices:

An example image from the dashboard showing how the calling screen looks on an Android device

Call Screen in an Android Device

Following is an example of a Signed Call screen on iOS devices:

An example image from the dashboard showing how the calling screen looks on an iOS device

Call Screen in an iOS Device

Following is an example of a Signed Call screen on Web browsers:

An example image from the dashboard showing how the calling screen looks on a web browser

Call Screen in a Web Browser

FAQs

Q. Does a Signed Call work if users switch off their internet?

A. No, you can not make calls without the internet.

Q. Does Signed Call work on 3G/4G/WiFi?

A. Yes, Signed Call works on all networks.

Q. What are the special permissions required for a Signed Call?

A. For Android and Web, the initiator and receivers must allow microphone permission for their device. However, in iOS devices, the Signed Call SDK requires camera permission.

Q. Does a phone ring if the app runs in the background?

A. Yes.

Q. Does a phone ring if the app is killed?

A. If the app is killed, the call still connects on iOS. However, in the case of Android, especially in Chinese OEM devices, we do not guarantee to connect a call if the app is killed because of Battery optimization features on these devices. However, we can connect a call for other Android devices even if the app is killed.

Q. What are the sizes of the Signed Call SDKs?

A. The Signed Call SDKs sizes are ~480KB, ~9MB, and 326KB for Android, iOS, and Web, respectively.

Q. How frequently the business needs to update the SDK?

A. The SDK may require an update once a year. However, you may have to roll out an update if there is a compliance requirement due to Android or iOS updates.

Q. How is a business charged for the calls?

A. A business is charged based on the minutes consumed. The business can choose from different packs based on its consumption patterns.

Q. Does Signed Call work on mobile web?

A. Yes, the device can make or receive calls from the mobile web, but the browser window or tab must be active.

Q. Are there any examples today to understand the Signed Call use case?

A. Yes, in India, a ride-hailing company introduced signed calls and named it the "Free Call" feature. The feature is used when a user books a cab. The user and the driver can call each other without revealing the number of either party.

Q. What are the best practices for initializing Signed Call SDKs?

A. We recommend you initialize the Signed Call SDKs when there is a possibility of initiating and receiving the calls. For example, if you are a Food-Tech company, you would only want to initialize the SDK for the consumer once they place an order. After the order is complete, the Signed Call SDK session can be logged out.

Q. How is Signed Call better than others?

A. The following are the main USPs of Signed Call:

  • Signed Call has the world's lightest SDKs.
  • Signed Call uses its signaling stack for the slightest lag in signaling. Also, Signed Call uses Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) and Apple Push Notification service (APNs) as a fallback mechanism for ideal performance. This is the only solution requiring zero development effort and can be integrated quickly.
  • Signed Call works on data channels, so cost savings are apparent.
  • Signed Call provides the ability to determine incoming calls' trustworthiness and effectiveness along with the Branding (the call is authentic and comes from a legitimate business) and Context (the reason why a user is getting the call) options.

Q. What happens if a user attempts to call back using SignedCalls in call logs on iOS?

A. When it comes to SignedCalls on iOS, the functionality is restricted until it is explicitly implemented within the app based on the app's specific use case. By default, if a user tries to call back using the SignedCalls in call logs, it will automatically launch the app. Upon launching, the app will receive the relevant metadata related to the call log-in question.

If necessary, the app developer can incorporate a callback mechanism within the app. However, on other platforms (Android, Web), the app developer will also have to implement the call log feature within the app.