Your AI Receptionist helps you handle calls, texts, and draft follow-up emails automatically, so you never miss a client, even when you're away.
This guide walks you through what your AI Receptionist does, how to activate it, and how to customize it to fit your workflow.
🧭 What your AI Receptionist does
Your AI Receptionist acts as a smart assistant that:
Answers missed calls and collects important details
Sends and replies to text messages when you're busy
Drafts follow-up emails you can review and send later
Schedules appointments by gathering caller preferences, checking calendar availability, and sending confirmation emails.
You can personalize what your AI Receptionist says, how it sounds, and what information it collects, directly from the Beside app.
👁️ AI Receptionist vs Beside Voicemail
Both the AI Receptionist and your Beside Voicemail help manage missed calls, but they work differently and can complement each other.
The AI Receptionist learns from your Knowledge and Preferred Name, so it can respond naturally and in line with your tone for selected callers. It holds real-time, smart conversations and can ask questions or collect details.
Beside Voicemail acts as a fallback when the AI Receptionist is turned off or unavailable. It plays your pre-recorded greeting (default or custom) and records an audio message after the beep.
⚙️ How to activate your AI Receptionist
Open the Beside app on your phone.
Go to the Settings tab.
Tap on AI Receptionist*
*If you're on a Business plan with multiple lines, first tap the inbox (phone line) you want to edit.
Navigate between the 📞 Calls, 💬 Texts, 📧 Emails tabs, then choose what you want your AI to handle by toggling ON:
Answer missed calls
Reply to texts
Draft emails
That's it! Your AI is now live and ready to handle incoming calls, messages or emails according to your settings.
💡 Tip: You can always deactivate any channel temporarily, just toggle Deactivate at the bottom of each tab.
✅ Onboarding Checklist (iOS)
When you first sign up, Beside shows you an Onboarding Checklist - a guided set of steps designed to help you get fully set up and experience the full value of the app during your trial.
The checklist includes the following steps:
Forward your number - set up call forwarding from your primary number to Beside, so your AI Receptionist can handle calls from the number your contacts already use.
Customize your AI Receptionist - add your name, business details, and a personalized greeting so the AI sounds like it's actually representing you.
Set up permissions - grant microphone, notification, and contacts access so Beside can work properly in the background.
Connect a calendar - link your Google Calendar so your AI Receptionist can check your availability and book appointments on your behalf.
Test your AI Receptionist - use the "Try Receptionist" button to simulate a real incoming call and hear your AI in action before going live.
ℹ️ The Onboarding Checklist is currently available on iOS only. Each step can be completed independently - you don't need to follow them in order, and you can always return to the checklist to complete any remaining steps.