Chat
Here you'll learn how to send messages to the whole team and to participants of a specific event.
What is chat?
Chat is the team's free-form conversation. Five kinds of rooms exist:
- Whole team: one room per team where every member can write.
- Event: one room per calendar event, visible only to those who have RSVP'd attending.
- Hunt: a room created automatically when a live hunt starts. If the hunt is linked to an event, everyone who RSVP'd can read and write; otherwise only those who joined the hunt itself. The room stays after the hunt ends so you can talk about it afterwards.
- Channel: a room secretaries and team leads can create, for example for the board or the dog handlers. A channel can be for the whole team or for selected people only.
- Private chat: a chat any member can start with one or more others. Only the people in it can see it — not even team administrators can read private chats.
Use the team room for general questions and news; use an event or hunt room for logistics around the hunt itself (meet time, who brings the dog, gate codes, etc).
Send a message
- Tap Chat on the home screen
- Pick Whole team or an event you're attending
- Type in the text field and tap the orange send button
- To attach a photo: tap the image icon and pick Take photo to capture one directly or Choose from library for an image you already have. Wait for the upload to finish before sending
Messages are shown in chronological order with the newest at the bottom.
Reply to a message
Long-press a message to open the action menu. Pick Reply. The quoted message appears above the text field. Tap the X icon to cancel.
Edit your own message
You can edit your own messages within 15 minutes of posting. Long-press, pick Edit, adjust the text, save. Edited messages are tagged "edited".
Delete a message
You can delete your own messages within 60 minutes. Long-press, pick Delete. Deleted messages display as "[message deleted]" for everyone in the room.
Requires administrator role
Secretaries and team leads can delete any message regardless of age.
Create your own channel
Requires administrator role
Only secretaries and team leads can create and manage channels.
- Tap Chat on the home screen
- Tap New channel (the plus in the top right)
- Type a name for the channel
- Pick Whole team if everyone on the team should be in it, or Specific people if only selected members should be
- If you pick specific people: tick those who should be in it
- Tap Create channel
To rename it later, change who is in it, or delete it: open the channel, tap the room title to open Chat info, and pick Manage channel or Delete channel.
Leave a channel
If you're in a channel for specific people you can leave it yourself. Open the channel, tap the room title, and pick Leave channel. An administrator can add you back later. A whole-team channel can't be left, but you can mute its notifications (see below).
Start a private chat
A private chat is only for you and the people you pick. Nobody else on the team can see it, and not even team administrators can read it.
- Tap Chat on the home screen
- Tap New chat
- Tick one or more people on the team
- If you pick several, you can give the group a name
- Tap Start chat
Starting a chat with the same single person again reopens the chat you already have, so you don't get duplicates.
Whoever started the chat can add and remove people: open the chat, tap the room title, and pick Manage members. Anyone in it can leave with Leave chat. When the last person leaves, the chat is removed.
Mute a room's notifications
For some peace and quiet in a room you can mute its notifications just for yourself. Long-press the room in the list and pick Mute notifications, or open the room and pick the same in Chat info. A muted room shows a crossed-out bell in the list. The others in the room are not affected. Unmute the same way.
Room info
Tap the room title or the info icon in the header to open Chat info. It shows:
- Room kind: team chat, event chat, hunt chat, channel, or private chat
- Event details (event rooms only): title, date, and time
- Participants: everyone with access to the room, with profile picture, team role and, for event rooms, attending status
From here you can also mute or unmute the room's notifications, and in a channel manage or leave it.
Useful for quickly checking who is actually RSVP'd to a hunt without jumping back to the calendar.
Tag teammates and places with @
Type @ in the text field to open a list. Search for:
- a teammate (you can only tag people on the same team)
- a place on the map (passes, towers, parking, cameras, salt licks, and more)
- an area or a line on the map (sub-areas, boundaries, trails)
Tap the name in the list to insert the tag. It appears as an orange button inside the message.
When someone receives the message:
- Tagging a person sends them a "X mentioned you" push notification
- Tapping a place tag opens the map and zooms to that feature
- Tapping a person tag opens their profile
If a place is later deleted, the tag turns grey and is no longer tappable.
Notifications
You get a push notification when someone posts in a room you have access to, unless you're already viewing the same room. You can mute notifications separately for the team room and event rooms under Profile → Notifications, the Chat, whole team and Chat, activity categories.
If you're tagged with @ in a message you also get a "X mentioned you" push notification, even when the room's regular notifications are off. Tagging yourself does not send a notification.
The room list
Rooms appear in a fixed order. The team room is at the top, followed by channels and your private chats. At the bottom comes Activities / Hunts under its own heading. In-progress hunts show at the top there; ended hunts and event chats are grouped by month under a collapsible heading. The current month is open by default. Tap a month heading to expand or collapse it.
Unread
Unread rooms appear with an orange edge and a counter in the list. When a month is collapsed, a summed counter shows next to the month heading. The counter clears when you open the room and scroll to the bottom.
Limits
- Max 4 photos per message
- Max 10 MB per photo (JPG, PNG, HEIC, WebP)
- Max 4000 characters per message
- Search is not in the first release
See also: Notice Board, Calendar, Profile and Settings