Use this article to set up and manage your phone channel in Intercom Phone — from enabling Messenger calls and provisioning phone numbers, to configuring call routing, voicemail, recording consent, and workspace-level settings like blocked numbers, wrap up time, user identity matching, and setting up a custom outbound caller ID.

You also have the option to provision a phone number so teammates can make and receive phone calls straight from the Inbox. This can be done using your existing number or by adding new phone numbers to your workspace.

Go to Settings > Channels > Phone to turn on Messenger calls.

You’re now ready to start using Messenger voice, video and screen sharing! 👌 Learn how to make Messenger calls from the Inbox.

If you don’t want to make or receive phone calls from the Inbox, you don’t need to set up anything else. Setting up recordings and transcripts is also optional.

If you’d like to keep your existing phone number, you can!

To do so, head over to Settings > Channels > Phone and under Phone calls, click Port existing phone number, shown in the Phone calls section below.

You will then be prompted to enter the following information before the number is checked for portability:

Once this is done, you'll need to enter details regarding your phone number with the current provider and select your preferred porting date.

We’ll also need to collect some additional information from you to allow us to port your number.

You can port multiple numbers at once, which will save you time and streamline your setup process. To do so, head over to Settings > Channels > Phone and under Phone calls, click Port multiple phone numbers, shown in the Phone calls section below.

To port your existing phone numbers in bulk, a window will appear where you can enter the numbers you’d like to transfer. In the field labeled Phone numbers to port ?, simply type each number you want to port, separating them with commas.

Be sure to use E.164 format (international phone number standard: + followed by country code and subscriber number, e.g. +15551234567) for each number (for example: +15551234567, +15551234568, +15551234569). This ensures your numbers are recognized and processed correctly.

Once you've entered your numbers, click Validate. The system will then show you a validation summary. This will display "Valid phone numbers" that are ready to proceed, and any "Unsupported phone numbers."

If you want to use Intercom Phone with a new number, go to Settings > Channels > Phone and open the Phone calls section. Then click + New phone number.

It's not possible to freely choose any number from Twilio's full inventory. Twilio is the telephony provider that powers Intercom Phone.

The interface only shows a limited, live sample of available numbers, and neither Intercom nor Twilio can access or display the entire global list. The available numbers change constantly as they’re bought and released by customers worldwide.

Select the country and number type.

Depending on your selection, you may need to add addresses and other information to meet regulatory requirements for that country.

Choose a number by simply selecting one from the list of options. You can enter the starting numbers to filter by a specific area code, and click See more numbers to show alternative options.

Once you’ve selected your new phone number, click Activate number.

After you’ve ported an existing number into Intercom, or activated a new number, you’ll need to configure the phone number settings found in Settings > Channels > Phone under Phone calls (scroll across to the end of the row).

Give the phone number a name. This name is internal only (not visible to customers) and teammates will be able to select it when they’re making a phone call from the Inbox.

Choose whether this number should have inbound and outbound capabilities by toggling these options on:

Each phone number can independently opt in or out of post-call CSAT (Customer Satisfaction score) surveys, overriding the workspace default. Find this toggle in the Outbound calls section when editing a phone number.

If you turn on Inbound phone calls, you’ll have the option to enter a welcome greeting. This message will be played when a customer calls the number, before they are routed to the configured workflow or team.

Select how you want calls to this phone number to be routed:

Fin will speak in the language you select for this phone number. Workflows will also read messages in this language.

If you want to collect GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation)-compliant recording consent for inbound and outbound calls on this number, enable the Recording consent prompt.

In the unified Recording consent section, you can:

When using the "Configure with a workflow" routing option, voicemail greetings and triggers will need to be set up within a "When a customer calls" workflow as detailed in the When a customer calls article.

For the remaining routing options - "Assign to..." and "Assign to Workspace" - you can set up voicemail for those instances where teammates are unavailable. Voicemails will appear in the inbox just like recordings and transcripts for completed calls.

Simply select “Go to voicemail when teammates are unavailable to take a call” and provide a voicemail greeting which will be played when a customer is transferred to voicemail.

Then decide when voicemail should be triggered:

Once you’ve finished configuring the phone number settings, click Save changes.

All saved phone numbers will be shown in the Settings > Phone > Phone calls section. You can edit phone number settings any time by clicking on the Edit icon next to a number.

If your workspace uses multiple brands, you can assign phone numbers to specific brands so that inbound calls and SMS to those numbers are automatically tagged with the correct brand — enabling brand-specific routing, reporting, and Fin responses.

To assign a phone number to a brand:

If you want to block a phone number, you can add it to the Blocked numbers section of your workspace:

If you want to unblock the number again, you can click the unblock icon to the right of the number's row in the Blocked numbers table. This will remove the number from the list and it will be able to make inbound calls again.

If you’d like to give teammates time to wrap up after a call before they can receive another call, go to Settings > Channels > Phone and open the Phone calls section.

Click Update to save your changes.

While on wrap up time, the teammate status will be updated to Away with reason: “Call wrap up”. ​​Teammates will see a banner message from the Inbox saying they’re on wrap up time. They can select Switch to active and end early if they wish.

The Listen in on calls setting allows teammates with the relevant role permission to silently listen in on live calls without interrupting the teammate handling the call or the customer.

Two steps are required to enable call listening in Intercom Phone:

Once in listening mode, you can also coach your teammate privately or join the call as an active participant. See Call listening for full details on both features.

When a caller hangs up before being connected to a teammate, their conversation stays open in your inbox by default. The Route unassigned calls setting automatically routes these calls to a specific team so no customer call gets missed.

Go to Settings > Channels > Phone and toggle on Route unassigned calls. You can optionally select a specific team to receive these calls — if no team is selected, calls route to the workspace.

The Auto-close abandoned calls setting automatically closes conversations when a caller hangs up before connecting with a teammate. This keeps your inbox clear of abandoned calls that would otherwise stay open.

Go to Settings > Channels > Phone and toggle on Auto-close abandoned calls. This setting applies globally at the workspace level — it can't be configured per team or inbox.

A separate sub-setting, Auto-close Fin Voice escalated calls that abandoned the session before reaching a teammate, handles callers who escalated from Fin Voice but dropped off before a teammate connected.

When Auto answer is enabled, incoming phone calls are connected automatically without a teammate needing to click Answer. Go to Settings > Channels > Phone and toggle on Auto answer.

When enabled, the Team composition info setting adds a detailed breakdown to the conversation event log each time a call is assigned to a teammate. The breakdown shows:

This helps with diagnosing call assignment issues and understanding team availability at the moment a call was assigned. Go to Settings > Channels > Phone and toggle on Team composition info.

To identify users based on their phone number for inbound calls, go to Settings > Channels > Phone and open the Phone calls section.

Then choose between:

Remember to click Update to save your changes.

Many countries require approved regulatory information before it's possible to purchase a phone number. You'll need to submit a regulatory bundle and wait for approval before provisioning numbers in those countries. See the full list of countries and number types that require a bundle in the table below.

Each country has different requirements for you to complete. See Twilio’s guidance for specific requirements for each country.

Where regulatory bundles are required, you’ll see the option to select or add a new bundle from the dropdown menu.

Give the regulatory bundle a friendly name, then click Next.

Add business information (e.g. name, address).

Now see the information required and acceptable supporting documents you’ll need to submit (e.g. proof of address). Click + Add supporting document to upload the required documents.

Once you’ve added all the necessary information, click Submit to send your regulatory bundle for approval and monitor the status.

Approval usually occurs within 2 business days and you’ll receive email notifications about status changes.

Once your local regulatory bundle has been approved, you can return to Phone settings to add a new phone number and select this bundle from the dropdown to move on to the next step.

You must allow all of Twilio's IP address ranges and ports on your firewall, otherwise, you can run into issues with audio not coming through for customers and teammates.

The full list of required IP address ranges and ports can be found in Twilio's documentation on IP addresses and ports.