Communications Tab

Talk to the field three ways — live radio channels, text messages, and phone calls — all from one incident.

The Communications (Comms) tab brings every way of reaching your team into a single place. It is divided into three sub-tabs — Radio, Messages, and Phone — selected from buttons at the bottom of the screen. The active sub-tab is underlined and its label turns red. A live incident timer and the incident number appear in the header.

Overview

Sub-tab	Position	What it does
Radio	First (default)	Join live and virtual radio channels, listen, and push to talk. Splits into Radio List and Radio Stream.
Messages	Second	Browse the incident's conversations and open one to read or reply.
Phone	Third	Call contacts from the incident directory over the network.

Header control	Description
Back button	Leaves the tab. What happens to your audio depends on an agency setting — see Leaving the tab below.
Menu button	Opens the additional options for this tab.
Incident number	The incident's reference number.
Incident timer	Counts up live for an open incident; shows the fixed total time for a closed one.
Connection dot	A small indicator that turns green when the live audio connection is up.
Master volume slider	Sets overall output from 0 to 100. A bubble shows the exact number while you drag. It moves with the device's own volume buttons, so the two never disagree.

Sub-tab behavior	Detail
Default view	Radio, with Radio List selected.
Remembered position	The sub-tab you leave open is saved and restored next time.
Active colors	The selected main sub-tab's label turns red. Inside Radio, the selected Radio List / Radio Stream label turns blue.
Unread badge	A number on Messages counts unread messages across the incident's conversations.

Getting Here

1. Open an incident from the Incidents tab.
2. Tap the Comms tab.
3. Tap Radio, Messages, or Phone along the bottom.

Using Radio Channels

The Radio sub-tab has two views of its own, chosen from buttons at the top of the radio area.

View	What it shows
Radio List	Every channel available to you as a card you can join, listen to, and transmit on.
Radio Stream	A compact list of the streamed channels, showing each one's mode and type.

Channels in Radio List are grouped under two headings:

Group	Meaning
Live Radio	Channels carrying live radio traffic.
Virtual	Channels created inside the app for this agency or incident.

Joining a channel and talking

1. Tap Radio, then Radio List.
2. On the channel you want, tap Join. Once joined, the button label turns green, a border appears around the card, and the producer's name and agency fill in.
3. Press and hold the microphone button to transmit. The button turns orange for as long as you are holding it, and you feel a light buzz when transmit starts and again when it stops.
4. Release to stop transmitting. Your transmission is recorded against the channel.
5. Tap Join again to leave the channel.

What a channel card shows

Element	Description
Channel name	The channel's name, with the owning agency beneath it.
Producer name and agency	Who is currently producing the channel. Blank until you join.
Speaking indicator	The panel behind the producer turns green while someone is talking on a channel you have joined, and stays grey otherwise.
Information lines	Up to five short lines of channel information set by your agency (for example talkgroup or site details). Lines your agency left empty appear blank.
Member count	The number of people connected. Shows - when nobody is connected, and only opens the member list when there is at least one.
Microphone button	Press and hold to transmit. White when idle, orange while you are transmitting.
Transmit availability	The transmit control is unavailable until you join the channel.
Volume slider	This channel's own volume, independent of the master volume.
Speaker button	Chooses which output this channel plays through. Green while you are joined, blue when you are not.
Recordings button	Opens the recorded audio files for this channel.
Settings button	Opens the audio settings for this channel.

note

While you are transmitting on one channel, the other channel cards dim. That is deliberate — it keeps you from trying to talk on two channels at once.

Reading the Radio Stream list

Each row in Radio Stream shows a badge and a pill that tell you how the channel works.

Badge	Meaning
D (blue)	Digital channel.
A (green)	Analog channel.

Pill	Meaning
TRK	Trunked channel.
CNV	Conventional channel.

The line under the channel name combines the two — for example Digital · Trunked. If your agency has not set a type, only the mode is shown.

Volume and output

1. Drag the master volume slider at the top to set overall output from 0 to 100. A small bubble shows the number while you drag.
2. Drag a channel's own volume slider to balance one channel against another.
3. Tap a channel's Speaker button to choose where that channel plays.

tip

Set the master volume once for your environment, then use the per-channel sliders to push the channel you care about above the rest instead of turning everything up.

Leaving the tab

Agency setting	What happens when you tap Back
Keep audio playing on module close is off	You leave every channel, the audio connection stops, and the live connection closes.
Keep audio playing on module close is on	Channels you have joined keep playing. If you had not joined any, the connection closes anyway.

caution

Joining and transmitting need microphone permission. If you press and hold the microphone before joining, you will see "Please join room". If the live connection has dropped, joining shows "Websocket not connected please try again" — check your signal and try again.

Sending and Reading Messages

1. Tap Messages to see the incident's conversations.
2. Tap a conversation to open the chat in place — you stay inside the incident rather than jumping out to the messaging area.
3. Type your message and send it. Attach files where your agency allows it.
4. Tap back to return to the conversation list.

Row element	Description
Color bar	A colored stripe your agency assigned to that conversation, for quick visual sorting. Blank if no color was set.
Initials badge	The first letters of the conversation name.
Conversation name	Who or what the thread is with.
Agency	The agency or sub-group beneath the name. Blank if not set.
Unread count	A number showing how many messages you have not read in that thread. Hidden at zero.

State	What you see
No conversations	An empty list — no message threads have been set up for this incident.
New message arrives	The list refreshes on its own and the unread count goes up, with no action from you.
Group thread	A conversation with more than two internal participants opens as a group chat.

tip

The number badge on each conversation — and on the Messages sub-tab itself — counts unread messages, so you can spot new traffic without opening anything.

Placing a Phone Call

1. Tap Phone to see the incident's contact directory.
2. Tap a contact to place the call. The app asks for microphone permission the first time.
3. The outgoing-call screen appears once the call connects, with the contact's name and number.
4. Use the on-screen call controls to manage the call. Tapping Back on the directory screen ends and disconnects the call.

Row element	Description
Initials badge	The contact's initials, taken from their name.
Name	The contact's name.
Directory	Which directory or group they belong to.

Validation	When you see it
"Phone number is not valid"	The contact has no number stored, or the number is shorter than 10 digits.
"Dial number is empty"	The call was set up but no number came back to dial. Try again, or report the contact to your administrator.

note

Calls go over the network, not your cellular voice plan, so they need a working data connection as well as microphone permission. The number is cleaned up automatically before dialing, so stored formatting such as dashes or spaces does not matter.

How This Connects

Comms is where the incident's conversation lives, and all three sub-tabs draw on the same incident record.

• Where the data comes from. The channel list, the conversation list, and the phone directory all arrive with the incident when you open it. Your agency decides which channels and contacts belong to an incident.
• What updates it. Radio traffic, channel membership, and speaking indicators come over the live audio connection and update the cards as they happen. Incoming messages refresh the list and the badge on their own. The Messages badge is what drives the Comms count you see on Incident Overview and in Command Tabs.
• What else uses the same channels. The Audio Hub in Command View is the command-side companion to this tab: it works the radio positions and command channels rather than the incident's channel cards, but both use your device's microphone and speaker, so only one of them should be transmitting at a time.
• Recordings and transcripts. Each transmission you make is stored against the channel and reachable from that channel's Recordings button. Transmissions are also turned into text, which is what makes radio traffic searchable alongside the rest of the incident record.
• Where calls and messages show up elsewhere. Conversations opened here are the same threads you see in the messaging area of the app; reading one here clears its unread count everywhere. Calls placed here use the same network calling as the app's phone screen.
• Offline. Nothing in this tab works properly without a connection: you cannot join a channel, transmit, send a message, or place a call. The lists stay visible and already-downloaded messages stay readable.
• On reconnect. The connection dot turns green again and the channel list becomes usable. You are not re-joined to channels automatically — tap Join again on the channels you need.

Troubleshooting

If this happens	What to do
"Please join room" appears when you press the microphone	Tap Join on that channel first, wait for the button to turn green, then press and hold.
"Websocket not connected please try again"	The live connection dropped. Check your signal, wait for the connection dot to turn green, and join again.
Nothing happens when you press and hold the microphone	The app does not have microphone permission. Allow microphone access for the app in your device settings.
You can hear a channel but the transmit control is unavailable	You have not joined that channel — listening and transmitting are separate. Tap Join.
Other channel cards look dimmed	You are transmitting. Release the microphone and they return to normal.
Audio keeps playing after you leave the tab	Your agency has keep audio playing on module close turned on. Leave the channels first, then go back.
Audio stops as soon as you leave the tab	That setting is turned off for your agency. Stay on the tab, or ask an administrator about changing it.
The member count shows - and will not open	Nobody is connected to that channel yet. The list only opens when there is at least one member.
Channel information lines are blank	Your agency has not filled those lines in for that channel.
"Phone number is not valid" when tapping a contact	The stored number is missing or under 10 digits. Ask an administrator to correct the directory entry.
"Dial number is empty"	The call could not be set up. Try again; if it repeats, report it with the contact's name.
A call will not end	Tap Back on the phone directory screen — that disconnects the call.
The Messages badge will not clear	Open each conversation that still shows a number. The tab badge is the total across threads.
Volume is too low even at maximum	Check the per-channel slider as well as the master slider, and confirm the channel's Speaker output is the device you are actually listening on.

Related Pages

• Incident Overview
• Info Tab
• Maps Tab
• Additional Tab
• Audio Hub

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