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Chat, Channels, and Real-time Messaging

Chat, channels, and messaging

Section titled “Chat, channels, and messaging”

Send direct messages, talk in group chats and channels, follow replies in threads, and find any message again later.

Before you start

Section titled “Before you start”
  • You need to be signed in and a member of at least one community or event. Everything in Connect is scoped to the community or event you have selected at the top of the screen, so switch there first if your conversations look unfamiliar.
  • Regular members can start direct messages, create groups and channels, post, react, reply in threads, and search. Managing a channel’s members, removing people, or deleting a channel is limited to owners, admins, and moderators.
  • If an organizer has paused chat for a community, the message box is unavailable until they turn it back on.

Step by step

Section titled “Step by step”

  1. Open Connect and pick a list. Connect is split into Channels, Direct Messages, Groups, and Favourites, with an Archived list appearing once you have archived something. Each list shows the latest message, unread counts, and who is online.

  2. Start a new conversation. Tap the new chat button and search for someone by name. Selecting one person opens a direct message with them; selecting two or more creates a group named after the people you picked. You can also search the wider directory by name, phone, or email. People outside your community receive an invitation they can accept or decline, rather than being added straight away.

  3. Create a group or channel deliberately. Creating a group lets you set a name and choose members up front. Creating a channel lets you set a name, an optional topic, and whether it is Public (anyone in the community can find and join) or Private (invite only). You can add members while creating it or later from the channel’s member list.

  4. Send and react to messages. Type in the message box and send. You can attach photos and files, add emoji reactions, quote a message to reply to it, forward it elsewhere, share your live location, run polls, and set a reminder to come back to a message. In groups and channels, typing @ suggests members to mention.

  5. Follow a conversation in a thread. Open a message’s actions and choose to reply in a thread. The thread opens with the original message at the top and its replies below, keeping side conversations out of the main flow. Thread replies are text only.

  6. Keep the important things. Pin a message so everyone in the channel can find it in Pinned Messages; star a message so only you can find it in Starred Messages; favourite a whole conversation so it appears in your Favourites list. You can also pin, mute, archive, or leave a conversation from its options.

  7. Search. Search within one conversation to jump straight to a matching message with the term highlighted, or use the main search to look across messages, channels, and people in your current community.

  8. Ask questions during a session. Where a session has Q&A enabled, you can post a question, upvote others’ questions, and filter by open, answered, or dismissed.

Troubleshooting

Section titled “Troubleshooting”

A thread reply is missing from the main conversation. That is expected. Replies posted in a thread stay in the thread; open the parent message to see them. If you want everyone to see your reply, post it in the conversation instead.

Pin, star, and favourite do different things. Pinning is shared with everyone in the conversation. Starring is private to you; swipe a starred message away to unstar it. Favouriting applies to the whole conversation, not a single message, and only affects your own lists.

Search does not find something you remember. Search matches message text, so attachments, polls, and shared locations will not match on their words. Searching inside a conversation only covers that conversation - use the main search to look more widely. If a reply was posted inside a thread, open the thread and scroll rather than relying on search.

Blocking someone. Blocking stops you receiving their messages and calls. In a blocked conversation, the message box is replaced by a note with an option to unblock. Everyone you have blocked appears in Blocked Users, where you can unblock after confirming. The other person is not told they have been blocked.

A group invite never arrived. Invitations to groups and messages from people you have not talked to before land in Message Requests at the top of your lists, not in the conversation itself.

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