Owner assistant
Call your own StrandCalls number from a phone it recognizes, enter your voice PIN, and the receptionist stops being a receptionist and becomes your assistant. No app, no typing — useful precisely when your hands are full.
Turning it on
Section titled “Turning it on”In Settings → AI Receptionist:
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Set a voice PIN — 4 to 8 digits. Obvious PINs are refused: all the same digit,
1234,4321,0000,12345678. Your existing PIN is never displayed; entering a new one replaces it. -
Add recognized phones. Your business phone number from the Business Profile is always recognized — this list is for up to three more, like a second cell or your partner’s phone.
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Enable the owner assistant. You can’t enable it before a PIN is set.
What you can ask
Section titled “What you can ask”Catch up
- “What happened today?” — recent calls, messages taken, and urgent dispatches.
- “Any urgent callbacks?”
- “How many jobs did we book this week?” — counts for today, this week, or this month.
Look at the schedule
- “What’s on for tomorrow?”
- “When’s my next job?” — a day or a week at a time, with blocked time included.
Change the schedule
- “Block Friday afternoon.” (You’ll be asked for a reason; it stays private.)
- “Cancel my two o’clock and text the customer.”
- “Move the Johnson job to Thursday morning.” If the new time collides with something, you’re told and offered another.
Leave yourself a note for later
- “Put a note on that customer — gate code 4455.” The receptionist reads caller notes on their next call, so this is how you stop re-explaining the same thing.
Mark yourself out
- “I’m out until Monday — tell people I’m booking new work for next week.”
That last one does two things at once: it blocks the day for booking, and it gives the receptionist a customer-safe sentence to say when callers ask where you are. It runs to a date you name, up to a week out, and the AI reads the note back to you before saving it — that wording is going to callers, so it’s worth hearing.
Changes made by voice are the same changes you’d make in the dashboard — they apply immediately and the customer-facing texts go out as normal, unless you say not to.
If the PIN goes wrong
Section titled “If the PIN goes wrong”Three wrong attempts ends the call: the assistant says goodbye and hangs up, and a correct PIN spoken after that won’t be accepted on that call. Redialling works — but only up to 10 attempts an hour across all calls, after which owner verification is locked for a while.
It’s a deliberately unforgiving gate. Anyone who reaches it can cancel your jobs.
Testing your setup
Section titled “Testing your setup”When you’re testing the receptionist, call from a phone that is neither your business number nor on the recognized list. Otherwise you’ll be offered the PIN prompt and never hear the customer experience you’re trying to check.
Privacy of your own calls
Section titled “Privacy of your own calls”Owner calls are treated as yours, not as leads. They don’t create a caller profile, they aren’t scored for safety, and they don’t trigger the per-call email that customer calls do. A number you’ve blocked still reaches owner mode if it’s one of your recognized phones, so you can’t lock yourself out by blocking a caller.
Not metered
Section titled “Not metered”Owner assistant calls are never metered on any plan. Calling your own business should not feel like a taxi meter.