By using your Envoy visitors kiosk with Virtual Front Desk (VFD), you can connect with visitors or traveling employees from any licensed location! This allows you to create a welcoming experience even if you can't be in person to greet everyone.

Looking to set up your Virtual Front Desk? Learn more here!

Workplace admins will determine who receives virtual front desk calls. They can assign an individual or a group (via Teams or Slack). The recipient(s) of these calls will be sent a link to connect with the caller.

Before receiving a message from Envoy, you must set your notification preferences. Virtual Front Desk calls expire in one minute, so please ensure you're notified as soon as possible!

On web

Answering a call is simple! Envoy will send out a unique link that connects you directly with the kiosk. Anyone with access to the link can answer a call - you do not need to log in to Envoy or be an Envoy admin. You will be connected using your device's default browser.

Any device with an internet connection can answer a call, but for the best visitor experience, it's suggested to use a device with audio and video. The first time you answer a call, you might need to allow your browser access to your camera and microphone.

It doesn't matter which notification method(s) you choose—just make sure that it gives you instant notifications. Remember, VFD calls expire after a minute of ringing. Answer calls promptly on the first attempt to ensure the best experience for your guests.

Email notifications have the subject line: 📞 Incoming video call from [iPad name] - [Company Location] and are sent from [email protected]. You can answer by clicking on the hyperlink or the Answer button.

Text messages will come from the same Envoy number every time. This number depends on the country you're located in. For example, the Envoy number in the USA is 52132; in Canada, it's 587-317-6732. It's recommended that you save this number as Envoy in your contacts so you never miss a call link.

If your workplace uses the Microsoft Teams integration, you can receive call links from the Envoy bot. This method is configured under your notification settings and can be used in addition to SMS and email messages or as a standalone method.

Instead of sending links to one person per location, your workplace admin can set up a Teams group chat notification. This sends the call link to multiple people, enabling more flexibility across the workplace. A global admin manages this method, so you need to ensure you have access to your organization's Teams account.

Anyone can answer the call within the group chat. It's a good idea to let others know that you're grabbing the call. The status of the call will be shown within the message.

If your workplace uses the Slack integration, you can receive call links from Envoy.

This method is configured under your notification settings and can be used in addition to SMS and email or as a standalone method.

Instead of sending links to one person per location, your workplace admin can set up a Slack channel for VFD notifications. This sends the call link to multiple people, enabling more flexibility across the workplace. This method is managed by a global admin, so you need to ensure you have access to your organization's Slack instance.

Anyone can answer the call within the group chat. It's a good idea to let others know that you're grabbing the call.

By default, your camera and microphone are off when answering a call. Once you're ready, click on the camera and/or microphone icon at the bottom of the browser to turn them on.

The kiosk will always have the microphone and camera enabled.

It's best to make a test call when VFD is enabled for the first time.

If your caller can't see or hear you, check your browser's access to your microphone and camera. A pop-up should ask for permission for both.

The VFD website should remember the permissions for the next call, but if you answer from an incognito/private browser or clear your cache and cookies, you'll need to re-verify permissions.

You should see a pop-up from Envoy if we cannot reach your microphone or camera.

In Google Chrome, you can check page permissions by clicking the address bar 🎥 icon on the left-hand side.

In Safari, the settings are located on the right-hand side of the address bar. It's a good idea to select Always allow on "vfd.envoy.eu."

The kiosk will display an error screen if microphone and camera access are denied.

To enable, navigate to iPad Settings > Envoy Visitors and toggle these permissions to ON.

If you click an old link, you'll receive a Link expired error screen. Double-check when the call came in and that you clicked the correct link.

If the kiosk or receptionist's device has an unstable connection, the call will be dropped (or fail to connect) and show an error screen. Make sure that your device has a strong internet connection.