Messaging
The Spok Mobile application allows you to send and receive messages to other users on Spok Mobile or Care Connect Web. Spok Mobile uses the contact information from your site’s directory to enable you to send text messages, videos, pictures, and PDF documents to other users and their devices.
For example, if you would like to quickly send a picture of a patient’s medical record, sending a picture of that information through the Spok Mobile application ensures that the information remains private and is sent securely, keeping confidential information private.
Sending videos, photos, and documents is helpful if you want to communicate information like test results or x-rays. Files with the following format can be sent and received in Spok Mobile messages:
- .jpg / .jpeg
- .png
- .gif
- .mp4
- .ini
As an added security feature, the Spok Mobile application prevents users from copying received pictures, saving received pictures, or setting received pictures as the default image for a device background or device lock screen. This ensures that confidential, private pictures cannot be shared or viewed outside of the secure Spok Mobile application.
The Spok Mobile application limits the size and the number of attachments that can be included per message. Up to 10 attachments can be added to a single message, and the maximum combined size for all of the attachments on a single message is 500 MB.
In addition, some cellular providers limit the size of messages, which can restrict the number and size of the pictures that are included in Spok Mobile messages. For more detailed information on the size limits that your provider has, please contact your cellular provider for additional clarification information.
Viewing Your Chats and Messages
The Messages inbox displays all of your chats and messages. The inbox is opened by default when you log into Spok Mobile, and can also be accessed by pressing the drawer icon 
and selecting Messages.
When a new individual chat or a new group chat is created, the chat will be added to each chat member's inbox. Messages that are sent to the chat will be delivered to all members of the chat. The incoming messages display as standard, chat-style messages where all messages are included in one message thread.
When you receive a message, the chat containing the new, unread message will display in bold to indicate that the message has not been read. The chat will also be highlighted in red, turquoise, or blue to indicate the priority of the most recent unread message.
Each chat displays the first part of the text of the most recent message, the time that message was sent, and the site that the chat is from. Individual chats also display the user's icon and name, while group chats display the group icon and the name of the group:
Messages that were originally received on an earlier Spok Mobile version may have some differences in appearance after they are synced to the new inbox, such as displaying a user's contact method instead of their name (e.g., their email address).
To view a chat, simply select the chat in the Messages inbox. Within a chat, you can easily view the details of each message's status:
Your chats and messages are unified across all of your devices. If you are signed into multiple devices, new chats and messages will be received and displayed on each device simultaneously.
Message Notifications
When the Spok Mobile app is running on your device, it will let you know when you have an incoming message. When a new message is received on your device, the alert tone is activated to notify you that you have a new message. When the message is opened, you can view the message text, the message status, the time the message was sent, and other information in the Message screen.
Notifications are sent to your most recently registered or logged-in device. To resume receiving notifications on your Apple device after logging into another device, use the registration option in the Settings screen.
Customize Your iOS Notification Settings
Your iOS device will allow you to customize the notifications you see from individual apps, including whether or not you see notifications on the lock screen. Visit the Settings > Notifications menu, and tap Spok Mobile in the Notification Style list to view the available options. You can also personalize the order in which your notifications display using your iOS device's Settings > Notifications menu. It is recommended that you prioritize your Spok Mobile notifications by setting your device's Sort Order to Manual and dragging Spok Mobile to the top of the list. This will help ensure you see the critical Spok Mobile messages you need. See Apple's help documentation for detailed instructions for your device.
Message Priority Indicators
Chats include visual indicators which show the priority of the first message in the chat, as well as the priority of the most recent unread message.
If the first message in the chat is High priority or Low priority, then the chat will display 
or 
in the bottom-left corner. This helps to distinguish conversations which are urgent from conversations which are less time-sensitive.
Likewise, chats with unread messages will be highlighted to indicate the priority of the most recent unread message:
| If the most recent unread message is... | ... then the chat will be highlighted in: |
| High priority | Red |
| Medium priority | Turquoise |
| Low priority | Blue |
Both of these indicators can be present simultaneously. For example, the following image shows a chat where the first message was high priority (indicated by the high priority tag in the bottom-left corner), but where the most recent unread message is low priority (indicated by the chat being highlighted in blue):
Message Delivery Notifications
Message delivery notifications provide detailed information about the delivery status of messages in your chats. When enabled, message delivery notifications appear below each message in a chat, as shown in the image below:
The following table describes the message delivery notifications that can display:
|
Delivery Notification |
What it Means |
|
Read |
The message has been read by the recipient(s) in the chat. NOTE: In a group chat, this will appear with a number indicating how many recipients have read the message (e.g., "Read 2" if two recipients have read it). |
|
Delivered |
A message that you sent has been delivered to the recipient(s) in the chat. |
| Failed | A message that you sent has encountered an error, and was not delivered to the recipient(s). |
|
Sending... |
A message that you sent is in the process of being delivered. |
By default, message delivery notifications do not automatically display when a message is read or delivered. To enable these delivery notifications, select Read and/or Delivered in the Message Delivery Notifications section of the Settings page. See Settings for more information.
Each message in the chat also displays a timestamp in the form: mm/dd/yy, hh:mm AM/PM (for example, 01/04/25, 12:45 PM). This indicates when the message was first sent.
Chats in your inbox will also display a timestamp showing when the last message in the chat was received.
Viewing Chat Members
You can use the View members feature to view a full list of the members of a chat:
- Open a chat in your inbox.
- Press the More actions
icon in the upper-right corner of the chat, then select View members. A pop-up will display with a list of chat members:
Chat members who are available will have a green circle at the bottom-left corner of their name, while unavailable chat members will have a gray circle.
Viewing Message Info
You can also use the Message info feature to view more information about a message, including which users have read the message:
- Open a chat in your inbox.
- Press and hold down on the message whose info you would like to view. A dialog displays:
- Select Message info. The message info pop-up will display:
Creating New Chats and Messages
This section describes how to create a new individual or group chat, how to send messages to an existing chat, how to add an attachment to a message, and how to forward a message to a new or existing chat.
Starting a New Chat
To start a new individual or group chat:
- Navigate to the Messages inbox.
- Press the Compose Message icon
in the upper-right corner of the inbox. The Start a new chat screen will display:
- Enter text into the Search field to search your site's directory. Any matching recipients will automatically display.
NOTE: Recipients can match your search based on their name, or on other information in your site's directory (such as their on-call schedule or directory group). Deployments that use Smart Suite can now also match the role and name of the on-call user for each on-call schedule. In general, the information that is available to match in the search field will depend on how your site's directory is stored and configured. For example, in the sample image above, both name and department information are available to search on, so you could find Amanda Bracken in the Cardiology department by entering either "amanda" or "cardiology". - Select the recipient(s) you wish to add to the chat. You can select one recipient to create an individual chat, or more than one recipient to create a group chat. Up to 50 recipients can be selected.
NOTE: You cannot start a new individual chat with a recipient who is currently unavailable. However, you can start a group chat with one or more unavailable recipients. Note also that empty on-call schedules or directory groups will be flagged as unavailable. - Press Start Chat. If you have selected exactly 1 recipient, a new individual chat will be created. Otherwise, follow the steps below to finish creating a new group chat:
- After pressing Start Chat with 2 or more recipients selected, the Add chat picture and name (optional) screen will display.
- (Optional) Enter a name for the chat into the Chat name field. The chat name can be up to 25 characters long.
NOTE: The chat name you enter will be visible to all members of the chat. - (Optional) Upload a picture for the chat by pressing the Upload Picture button, or by dragging a picture onto the picture
icon . The chat picture may be any JPG or PNG file up to 2 MB. For best results, the image should be a square image that is at least 200 x 200 pixels large. For more information on adding pictures, see the Adding an attachment section below. - Press Start Chat to create a new group chat.
- The new individual or group chat will be created and added to each chat member's inbox.
After creating a chat, select the chat in your inbox to send your first message to the users in the chat. See Sending a message below for more information.
Sending a Message
Messages can be sent to any chat in your inbox. Once a message has been sent, it will be delivered to each member of the chat. Chats with new messages display as bold in each chat member's inbox to indicate that a new message has been received.
To send a new message:
- Navigate to the Messages inbox.
- Press a chat to select it. Note that the chat must be either an individual chat with an available recipient, or a group chat. Messages cannot be sent to individual chats when the recipient is unavailable.
- Enter a message into the text field at the bottom of the screen:
- (Optional) Press the Priority drop-down to select a priority for your message. The available options are High, Medium, or Low. By default, the message priority is set to Medium.
- (Optional) Press the Attachment icon
to add an attachment. See Adding an attachment below for more information. - Press the Send Message icon
to send your message.
Adding an Attachment
You can add an attachment to your message by pressing the Attachment icon . Up to 10 attachments can be added to a single message, and the maximum combined size for all of the attachments on a single message is 500 MB. Attachments can be images (.jpg / .jpeg, .png, .gif), videos (.mp4), and documents (.pdf).
To add an attachment:
- Press the Attachment icon . The following dialog will display:
- Choose your attachment method:
- Press Capture Image to use your device to take a photo. Your device's standard camera app will open. Use it to take a picture. The picture will then be added to your message as an attachment.
- Press Capture Video to use your device to record a video. Your device's standard camera app will open. Use it to record a video. The video will then be added to your message as an attachment.
- Press Select from Galley to select a photo or video from the Gallery app. The Gallery app will open. Navigate to the photo or video you wish to attach, then select the file. The file will be attached to your message.
- Press Select from Files to select an existing file from your device. Your device's standard file selector app will open. Navigate to the folder containing the file you wish to attach, then select the file. The file will be attached to your message.
- Press the Send Message icon
to send the attachment.
Forwarding a Message
Messages can be forwarded to other users, including both message text and message attachments. Forwarding messages allows you to quickly and easily send an exact copy of these items to another user.
To forward a message:
- Access the chat which contains the message that you would like to forward.
- Press and hold down on the message text or attachment that you would like to forward. The following dialog will display:
- Select Forward.
- Select To existing chat to forward the message to an existing chat, or To new chat to forward the message to a new chat.
- Press the Forward button. Then:
- If you selected to forward the message to an existing chat: Use the Select a chat to forward a message screen to select the existing chat that you would like to forward the message to. You can enter text into the Search field to filter the list of existing chats, or press a chat to select it. Once a chat has been selected, press the Forward Message button to forward the message to the selected chat.
- If you selected to forward the message to a new chat: Use the Start a new chat screen to create a new chat. For more information, see the Starting a New Chat section above.
- Once you are done, the chat that you forwarded the message to will open, with the forwarded message added as an attachment on your next message:
- (Optional) Change the message priority, enter message text, or add additional attachments.
- Press the Send Message icon
to send the forwarded message.
Alert Messages
Depending on your site's settings, you may see an Alert Message when you receive a message from a non-Spok Mobile/Care Connect Web user (e.g., a message from a console). The options for replying to alert messages will vary based by site, but may include accept and decline buttons and/or a line for entering a reply. The following image shows a sample alert message:
Users can respond to an alert message with some or all of the following response options:
- Accept: When the Accept button is available, press the button to indicate that you received the message and you accept the message’s content. This will send an "Accepted" response to the sender, notifying them that you accepted the message.
- Decline: When the Decline button is available, press the button to indicate that you received the message, but you do not accept the message’s content. This will send a "Decline" response to the sender, notifying them that you declined the message.
- Reply: When the Type a message field is available, type a message as usual then hit the Send message icon to reply. This will send your message to the sender.