You can get hold of one of your team without leaving Mucka, and they can get hold of you the same way.
Send someone a message
Just ask Mucka:
- "Text Rhys and ask how they got on in Newark today"
- "Let Dave know the part's come in"
- "Tell Priya the customer's rescheduled to Thursday"
Mucka reads it back to you first, with who it's going to and exactly what it says. Say yes and it goes.
It arrives on their WhatsApp. If they've not set that up, it goes to the Mucka app on their phone. If they've got neither, it goes as a text to the mobile on their profile.
Subcontractors get the app or a text, never WhatsApp. Mucka won't ring a subbie either.
Anyone on your team can be messaged, including someone with Assignable on jobs switched off because you only book them as a second pair of hands.
Texts to your team come out of your business's texts, the same as texts to customers: 60 free a month, then your text bundle.
Email it to yourself or someone on the team
Some things are better in an inbox: a materials list to take to the merchant, a job's paperwork, notes for the office. Ask Mucka:
- "Email me that materials list"
- "Send the gas cert for the Hollis job to Dave's email"
- "Email Priya the notes from today"
It goes to the email address on that person's Mucka login, the one they sign in with. Mucka won't send it anywhere else, so if you want it at a different address, that's an email to a customer or supplier rather than to your team.
Job documents and certificates can go with it, the same as when you email a customer.
On a call, Mucka reads back who it's going to and what it says, and sends it once you say yes. In the app it puts a card on screen; tap Send when you're happy with it.
Anyone can email themselves. Emailing someone else on the team needs a role that can see the team.
How they reply
However suits them. They can type, send a voice note, or take a photo of the job. It all comes back to you as a notification, so you're not sat wondering whether they saw it.
Only their first reply gets tied to your question, so if they carry on chatting to Mucka afterwards you won't get pinged for every message.
Where the conversations live
Every thread sits on Messages. There's no menu item for it — you get there by tapping Reply on a message card, by tapping the notification when someone comes back to you, or by asking Mucka ("what did I ask Dave?"). Everyone on the team has it, and each person only sees the conversations they're part of.
How you know it got there
Under each message you send, the thread says how it went:
- WhatsApp, App or Text: that's what carried it, so their phone pinged.
- Waiting: nothing has pinged their phone yet. It's still sitting in their Messages in Mucka, so it's not lost, but if it's urgent, ring them. Usually it means there's no mobile saved for them.
- Seen: they've opened it in Mucka.
If you send something and it can't reach them at all, Mucka says so there and then, and gives you their number.
On a phone with the new look
On a phone with the new look switched on, Messages puts anyone with something you've not read under New, with the number waiting in orange, and everyone else under Earlier. Search by name at the top. Tap someone and the conversation opens as its own page, with their role under their name and the newest message at the bottom.
Type in the box at the bottom. Return starts a new line, so you can write a list or a couple of paragraphs, and the box grows as you go. Tap the round orange button to send it. If it can't go (it's too long, say), Mucka tells you why right above the box and keeps what you wrote. Back takes you to the list.
Your lads can message you
Anyone out on the job can send a message the other way, by asking Mucka on their phone:
- "Tell the office I'm running about an hour behind"
- "Let them know I can't get access at the Hollis job"
- "Tell them I need a part for this one"
That goes to everyone set up as an owner or manager.
What nobody's come back on
Mucka keeps an eye on the questions that haven't been answered, and brings them up without you asking — "you asked Rhys about Newark yesterday and they've not come back to you". You can ask for the lot any time: "who haven't I heard back from?"
When someone replies, it drops off that list on its own. Nothing for you to do.
Clearing one off yourself
Plenty of questions get answered somewhere Mucka can't see — face to face, on site, or on the phone. Others just stop mattering. Tell Mucka and it'll stop bringing them up:
- "Clear that one, they told me on site"
- "Clear everything for Dave"
- "Clear the lot"
Clearing doesn't delete anything. The message stays in the thread on Messages exactly as it was, and nobody gets sent anything — Mucka just stops counting it as outstanding. There's no way to delete a message from the history, so if you want the conversation gone, clearing isn't it.
If Mucka can't reach them
It'll tell you straight, and give you their number so you can ring. Usually it's one of these:
- No WhatsApp, no app and no mobile saved. Add their mobile in Settings → Team → People and send it again. It'll go as a text. Anyone missing one shows No mobile on that list.
- The number saved is a landline. A text can't reach it.
- Your business has run out of texts this month. Top up under Settings → Customers → Automatic messages.
- They've turned notifications off.
Common gotchas
- Long messages arrive as one paragraph. If someone hasn't messaged Mucka in the last day, WhatsApp only allows a set format, and that strips out line breaks. Keep it short and it reads fine.
- No email address on their login? Mucka will say so and offer to message them instead. Their sign-in email is in Settings → Team → People.
- It's for your team, not your customers. Messaging a client works differently, see texting your customers.
- Send it late and Mucka will check with you. Quiet hours are 8pm to 7am by default, so after 8pm Mucka asks whether to hold it until the morning or send it tonight anyway. Hold it and it arrives the moment their phone comes off quiet, with nothing for you to remember. Send it and it goes straight through. Emergency callout at eleven at night, or a question that can wait till Tuesday, both work.