Getting to know COMMS.

What is COMMS?

COMMS is an invite-only space for people who work together to share updates, photos and questions. Conversations are organised into teams and smaller groups, so each crew has a place of its own.

It is built for businesses and work teams, including crews spread across plants, branches or locations. Clubs, community groups and families are welcome too. A team chooses the names that make sense to its people.

Getting started

1. Create your personal account with your first name and email.
2. Follow the link in your verification email, then choose your password.
3. Join a team using an invitation, or create a new team from My account.

An account on its own does not give you access to any team. You can wait for an invitation without creating a team yourself. Already have an account? Use it when accepting another invitation.

Teams and groups

A team is the shared workspace. Its groups keep conversations organised by plant, location, branch or another label chosen by the admin. You see the groups you have access to.

When the admin enables multiple-group access, a person can belong to more than one group. Leaders can manage access only to groups they lead, within the permissions set by the admin. New or restored group access starts with messages from midnight on the joining day in the team's timezone, then onwards.

You can also belong to different teams using one personal account. Opening an update from another team takes you into that team's conversation.

Events

When creating a group with the + button, admins can choose Event instead of the team's usual plant or location type. An event has photo and text information blocks, with a conversation underneath.

Admins choose attendees from existing team members: individually, by adding a group's current members, or by selecting everyone in the team. This is a one-time selection. Future group members are not added automatically, and event access does not change anyone's plant memberships.

Team admins retain access. They can appoint existing leaders as organisers to edit event details and information. Organisers can add people within their existing management permissions. Attendees can view the event information and conversation history, and comment. Removing an attendee removes their event access while leaving their other groups unchanged.

Admins, leaders and members

• Team admins manage the team, its settings, groups and membership. They can access all group conversations within that team.
• Group leaders look after the groups assigned to them. Directory access, if enabled, does not grant access to other groups' conversations.
• Members take part in the groups they belong to.

An admin or authorised leader can assign a team title, such as Batcher. Messages can show that title alongside the person's real name. A team admin can remove someone from the team, but cannot delete their personal platform account.

Messages and replies

Use the reply arrow to reply in the current conversation. The arrow with a lock starts a private reply to another person from a shared group. A private reply is a separate conversation between those two participants.

Right-click a message on a computer, or press and hold it on a phone, to open its options:

• Reply keeps your response connected to the original message.
• Reply privately is available on another person's group message when you can start a private conversation with them.
• Copy text copies the message text, where there is text to copy.
• Info shows message details and the people who have seen it.
• Delete is available for your own messages. It removes the content and leaves a small deleted-message marker.

What Seen means

Seen means displayed in an open conversation, not confirmation it was read. Views before this feature was added are not recorded.

No click on the message is required. An impression counts when the message is visible in the open conversation while the app or browser tab is active. Conversation-list previews and background tabs do not count.

Open Info to see a scrollable list of viewers and their first-seen times. Each person appears once, even if they return repeatedly. The sender is not included in the count. Anyone who can access the message can see this list; in a private chat that means only its two participants.

A missing receipt does not prove someone has not read a message: views from before tracking began are unavailable, and a connection problem can delay a receipt. For an important instruction, ask the person to reply and confirm.

Privacy and access

Group messages are visible to people with access to that group, including the team's admins. Private conversations are accessible through the app only to their two participants; admins have no private-chat override.

Messages are not end-to-end encrypted. Server operators can technically access stored content. Invite-only access is not a promise that a recipient cannot copy a message or take a screenshot.

Share invitation links only with the intended person. Ask your admin or leader to revoke an unused invitation if it was sent to the wrong person.

Account and access help

Manage your name and password under My account. If you cannot sign in, use Forgot password with your account email.

If a verification or recovery email has not arrived, check your spam folder and that you entered the right address. If an invitation has expired or been revoked, ask the person who invited you for a new one.

Missing a group or unable to join a conversation? Ask your team admin or group leader to check your membership. Access to another team or group is not automatic.

COMMS works in your browser. You can also add it to your phone's home screen using the browser's install or add-to-home-screen option, where available.

Early access

COMMS is currently free during early access, with no payment details required. Advertising and automatic history deletion are not currently active. Teams will be told before those arrangements change.

This guide will grow as features are added and common questions come in.