This is just a short list of some of the key things that are possible with Twilio especially as they relate to the TwiPhone App’s current and upcoming functionality.
Programmable Voice
Programmable Messaging
Programmable Fax
Programmable Video
Programmable Voice
Twilio provides the ability to program what happens when a call comes in on one of your numbers and to programmatically make calls with your numbers. This leads to all sorts of useful applications.
Voicemail
Do you have an old, traditional landline for your home number? Perhaps with one of those cool, old digital (or maybe even tape!) answering machines hanging off of it? Want to keep your number and the ability to receive calls (or even texts) on it but lose the landline? You can decide what you want the number to do, but one obvious choice is to take a message. Twilio’s pricing makes it a no-brainer to lose that landline (which may cost you $25 US or more per month) and move to the cloud.
Voicemail is an application (the Twilio platform provides call handling and recording, but the concept of “Leave a message at the tone” and to treat such Recordings as Voicemail is application of the platform capabilities – an application). There are many different approaches to creating such a Voicemail application and as long as one results in Recordings being stored on Twilio, those Recordings can be viewed, played, and deleted using TwiPhone. We have a solution called TwiHome that works really well at providing a Voicemail application and if you are interested in using our solution, contact us at twihome@toraason.com and we may be able to work something out. The current release takes a Voicemail and notifies you via a text message to one or more numbers that you specify and we are working on adding a feature that can notify you directly in the TwiPhone app.
There is still a huge advantage in having a “Home” Phone Number where people and businesses can reach members of the same household at the same time. For example, my wife and I use the Home Number for our Vet when we need a prescription filled – by contacting us at the Home Number, we both get notified when the prescription is ready and whoever is closest or available can pick it up. In addition, it is convenient to have one number that we use for the local pizza place (so they know our address) or for the myriad of loyalty programs out there – rather than having to remember if something is tied to her phone number or mine.
Work Phone
If your Home Phone is long gone and you don’t have a “home” number anymore, you still may want a dedicated Phone Number for your Business use. A Work Phone Number can work just like a regular Voicemail number or it can be setup to forward calls to your Mobile Number during work hours which you specify and send to Voicemail the rest of the time so that you are not interrupted during off hours but your customers still have a way to get a message to you. We have another solution called TwiWork that can be used in addition to or instead of TwiHome to help you manage a Work Phone Number. Contact us at twiwork@toraason.com if you are interested.
In addition to call routing and voicemail, a Work Phone Number can be immensely valuable as a way to call your customers using your Work Number from your Mobile Phone in a way that your customers only see your Work Phone Number! This is powerful because it provides you a give your customers a way to reach you and still allows you to have a private life where your customers can only reach you in a way that you control rather than having direct access to you 24/7. It’s up to you how to use it and you can change it as you go – once you give out your Mobile Phone Number to you customers, you are no longer in control of how or when they can call you. This ability to call from your Mobile Phone using your Work Number is a new feature of TwiPhone Pilot v1.2 available today!
Conference Calls
Programmable Voice includes the ability to connect multiple parties together in a conference call. This means that instead of relying on “call trees” where one person does a three-way call to someone who does another three-way call to someone else, etc, you can pull all people together into a single call with one command.
Programmable Messaging
In addition to Programmable Voice, Twilio provides Messaging. Most Twilio numbers are available to send and receive normal texts (SMS) and texts with pics (MMS). This gives powerful capabilities to reach people who prefer to use texts instead on making phone calls and can be used when a phone call is the initial contact and texting is used after that.
Text to Home Number!
The concept of a Home Number being a voice-only number is fading into antiquity. Now it is possible to have a Home Number that can not only take phone calls but also receive texts! Now a text to your Home Phone Number can simultaneously be delivered to all members of the household so that the one who needs to know or respond can act accordingly. An upcoming feature of TwiPhone will allow all users of the same Twilio Account to not only receive messages texted to the Home Number but also respond to the same.
Work Number with Text
Similar to the Home Number, a Work Number can be used via text to reach multiple members of the team that can see and respond to work requests – all without having to give out their personal Mobile Numbers. Imagine having a business on Etsy and still being able to take a vacation knowing that other people on your team will be able to handle the business while you enjoy the beaches of the Bahamas!
Programmable Fax
Twilio is phasing out Fax capability by the end of 2021. Still some businesses rely on Fax. For those that need Faxing capabilities we are looking into addition solutions that will allow you to scan or import a document right from your mobile phone and view Faxes sent by others directly.
Programmable Video
Imagine being able to setup a Video chat with multiple people using your Twilio Account rather that rely on a service like FaceTime or Zoom. Twilio makes this possible via Programmable Video.
TwiPhone Pilot 