Call Activity
TL;DR — When your organization has Twilio enabled, you can place a real phone call to any contact with a phone number from their detail page — your browser handles the audio. Calls are logged automatically with duration; recordings (when enabled) are stored and replayable. The Calls page in the sidebar is the chronological history of every call placed.
Before you start
- Requires: Admin or Campaign Manager role.
- The Twilio Phone Calls feature must be enabled on your organization. If your org isn't connected, the Phone Call button is hidden on contact pages and the Calls page shows only manually-logged call notes.
- Browser microphone permission is required the first time you place a call.
Place a call from a contact
You can place a call from two places:
- Contact detail page — open the contact (from the Contacts list or by clicking a row on the Calls page). The Phone Call button is in the profile card on the left sidebar (only shown when the contact has a phone number).
- Application detail page — see the next section.
Once you click:
- The button shows a connecting spinner while the Twilio session warms up.
- A floating call overlay appears at the bottom-right of the screen (see Call controls below). It stays visible across the app — you can navigate between pages without dropping the call.
- Speak through your computer's microphone — the candidate's phone rings and they answer normally on their device.
- Click Hang up when you're done.
A call activity is automatically logged on the contact's timeline (and the application's, if you placed it from there) with the duration. The Calls page picks it up immediately.
Place a call from an application
When you're already reviewing an application, you don't need to go to the contact page to call. Open any application and look at the Quick Actions bar just under the candidate header — alongside WhatsApp, Add Note, Add Task, and Upload Document, there's a Phone Call button that dials the candidate's phone number directly.
The Phone Call button only shows when:
- The candidate has a phone number on file (otherwise the button is hidden).
- Your organization has the Twilio Phone Calls feature enabled.
Calls placed from the application use the same floating overlay and the same Twilio session as calls from the contact page. The activity is logged on both the contact's timeline and the application's timeline, so you can review the call from either side later.
Recording consent
If your organization has call recording enabled, the call overlay shows an amber consent banner before recording can start:
- The banner explains the recording policy: "Recording requires explicit consent from all parties. Please inform the other person that this call may be recorded before starting."
- A checkbox below: "I have informed the other party that this call may be recorded and received their consent."
- The Confirm Consent button is disabled until the checkbox is ticked.
The acknowledgement is stored against your user account for audit purposes. Once confirmed, recording starts and the banner is replaced by the active recording controls (see below).
If recording is not enabled at the org level, no banner is shown and the call goes through without being recorded.
Whether to inform the contact that the call is being recorded depends on your local laws. Brightstep stores the recording but does not announce it to the contact. Configure a notice on your end if your jurisdiction requires it.
Call controls
While a call is active, a floating call overlay stays at the bottom-right of the screen so you can keep working in the app. It shows:
- A green phone icon, the contact's name, and their phone number.
- A timer counting up since connection (e.g. 3:18).
- A Recording row — a pulsing red dot with the Recording label and a Stop Recording button (when an active recording is in progress).
- The Hang Up button — ends the call cleanly. The Twilio session closes and the activity is logged.
The overlay stays visible no matter which page you navigate to — you can keep reading notes, opening the application detail, or moving between contacts without dropping the call. Closing the browser tab also ends the call, but the cleanest exit is Hang Up.
Open the Calls page
From the sidebar, click Calls (under the Campaigns or Communication section, depending on your org's nav). The page lists every call activity in your organization, newest first, in a table:
- Contact — avatar + name, clickable to open the contact detail.
- Phone — the number that was dialled.
- Duration — how long the call lasted (
m:ss). Empty when the call was a missed connect. - Date — relative timestamp (Today 3:42 PM, Yesterday 10:15 AM, or absolute for older calls).
Reading a call row
Each row is one call event. Clicking the contact name opens the contact detail with backTo=calls so the back link returns you to this page on the same filtered view and page number.
A call without a duration usually means the call was placed but didn't establish — the contact didn't answer, or the line dropped before two-way audio.
Filters
The filter bar above the table has:
- Search — free-text across contact name, email, and phone (300ms debounce).
- Date range — calendar popover for picking a start and end date. Click a single date to start; click another to close the range.
Active filters appear as chips below the bar with X icons to remove individual filters.
Listening to recordings
For calls that were recorded:
- Click the contact row to open the contact detail.
- Open the Timeline tab.
- Find the call activity item in the feed and click Play recording.
- An audio player opens with playback controls and the call duration. Recordings are stored encrypted and stream when you press play.
If the call has no recording, the Play button is replaced by a "No recording for this call" note.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Phone Call button missing on contact sidebar | Contact has no phone number, or Twilio isn't enabled for your org | Add a phone number with the country code; ask an admin to enable Twilio |
| Browser asks for microphone permission and call doesn't connect | The page needs mic access to send audio to the contact | Allow microphone in the browser prompt and click Phone Call again |
| Connecting spinner never finishes | Twilio token couldn't be issued, or your network blocks WebRTC | Refresh the page; on locked-down networks, check with IT for WebRTC and Twilio voice domain access |
| Call shows on Calls with no duration | The contact didn't answer, or the connection dropped before audio established | Try again; check the contact's phone number is correct |
| Recording missing for a call I expected to be recorded | Call recording isn't enabled at the org level, or the call was too short to upload | Confirm recording is enabled in org settings; very short calls may not produce a usable file |
| Calls page is empty even though I made calls | Active filters return nothing | Clear date and search filters to see all activity |
| Hang Up button doesn't respond | Network glitch — the Twilio websocket dropped | Refresh the page; the call has ended on the carrier side either way |