Messages

Messages overview#

The Messages page is where you talk to your clients in real time. Every client you coach can have a private, direct conversation with you, and the workspace owner can also create group chats with several clients and coaches. From here you can:

• Start a direct conversation with any client you coach
• Create group chats with clients and coaches (workspace owner)
• Send text, photos, videos, PDF and DOCX files, voice notes, GIFs and emoji
• React to any message with an emoji
• See at a glance which conversations have unread messages

The page has two panels:

• Conversation list (left): every conversation you are part of, with the most recent activity at the top. The Search... box and the + button sit above it.
• Conversation view (right): the open conversation, with its messages, the message box at the bottom and a header with the client’s or the group’s name.

On a narrow screen the two panels take turns: the list shows first, and opening a conversation replaces it. Click the back arrow in the conversation header to return to the list. Until you pick a conversation, the right panel shows Choose a conversation.

The Messages entry in the sidebar carries a badge with the number of messages you have not read yet, so you notice new messages from any page of the app.

Starting a conversation with a client#

Each client has one direct conversation with each of their coaches. Opening it again, from Messages or from the client’s profile, always brings you back to the same conversation with its full history.

1. 1Open Messages in the sidebar
2. 2Click the + button next to the Search... box at the top of the conversation list
3. 3Select New chat
4. 4In the Start Chat window, type a name or email into Search for a client
5. 5Click the client. The conversation opens straight away, ready for your first message

A direct conversation always pairs one coach with one client. To bring several people into one conversation, including other coaches, the workspace owner creates a group chat.

Creating a group chat#

Group chats put several clients and coaches in one conversation: a coaching cohort, a challenge group, or you, a client and the coach who works with them. Only the workspace owner can create group chats.

1. 1Open Messages in the sidebar
2. 2Click the + button and select New group
3. 3Enter a Group name, for example “Strength group”
4. 4Use Search for clients and coaches to find people, and click each person you want to add. Coaches carry a Coach badge, and a check mark shows who is selected
5. 5Check the count under the list (for example “3 selected”) and click Create group

The group opens right away and appears in the conversation list of every member. Create group stays disabled until the group has a name and at least one member. As its creator, you are in the group automatically.

Managing a group

The coach who created a group renames it and decides who is in it, from the conversation header.

1. 1Open the group conversation
2. 2Click Manage group in the conversation header
3. 3To rename the group, edit Group name and click Rename
4. 4To remove someone, click the remove (×) button next to their name under Members
5. 5To add people, search under Add members, click the people to select them and click Add selected
6. 6Click Done to close the window

Sending messages and attachments#

Type in the Message... box at the bottom of the conversation. Press Enter to send, or Shift+Enter to start a new line. While the box is empty it shows buttons for voice notes, attachments and GIFs; as soon as you type, they give way to a Send button.

You can pick several photos, videos or files at once; they arrive together as one message, with up to 20 files per message. In the conversation, photos open full screen when clicked, videos play in place and files download when clicked.

Replying to a message

Right-click a message (on a phone, press and hold it, or slide it to the left until the reply mark shows and let go) and choose Reply. The message box shows Reply to and who you are answering; write your reply and press Send, or close the bar to send an ordinary message instead. Your reply shows the message it answers at the top of its bubble; clicking that quote jumps to the original.

Changing or deleting a message you sent

Right-click one of your messages (on a phone, press and hold it) to open its menu. Edit Message puts the text, or the caption under photos, a video, a voice note or files, back in the message box: change it and press Send, or close the Edit Message bar to keep it as it was. An edited message shows edited under it. A GIF has no text to edit.

Delete Message removes the message for everyone in the conversation, after you confirm. Copy Message copies its text. Only your own messages can be edited or deleted.

Pinning a message

Right-click a message (on a phone, press and hold it) and choose Pin Message to keep it at the top of the conversation for everyone in it. Anyone in the conversation can pin any message, and a conversation can hold several pins. A pinned message shows Pinned by You, or the name of whoever pinned it, above its bubble.

The Pinned message bar at the top of the conversation shows the latest pin: click it to jump to that message, even one far back in the conversation. With more than one pin the bar says how many there are, and the list button beside it shows them all, newest first; click one to jump to it. To take a pin down, open the message’s menu again and choose Unpin Message. Deleting a pinned message removes its pin too.

Recording a voice note

1. 1Click the microphone in the message box. The first time, your browser asks for access to your microphone: allow it
2. 2Speak. A timer and a live waveform show that you are recording
3. 3Click pause to stop for a moment, and play to carry on
4. 4Click the check mark to send the voice note, or the trash can to discard it

Reacting to messages#

React to any message with one of six quick emoji, 👍 ❤️ 😂 😮 😢 🔥, or with any other emoji through the + at the end of that row.

• In the web app, hover over a message, click the three-dot button that appears beside it, and pick an emoji. + opens the full emoji panel beside the message, with search
• In the client app, clients press and hold a message to open the same row of emoji. + opens a sheet with more emoji: smileys, gestures, hearts, celebration, sport and food

Reactions show under the message with a count. Click a reaction under a message to add yours or to take it back. Each person has one reaction per message: picking a different emoji replaces yours, and picking the same one again removes it.

The conversation list#

Each row in the conversation list tells you what is happening in that conversation:

Conversations are sorted by their latest message, so the most recent activity is always on top. Opening a conversation marks it as read, and both the dot and the sidebar badge update straight away.

Searching conversations

Type in the Search... box above the list to filter it. The search matches the conversation name and the text of the last message, so you can find a client by name or a conversation by what was said last. Clear the box to see every conversation again.

Inside a conversation#

• Messages are grouped under time labels, such as “Today” or “Yesterday” followed by the time
• Scroll up to load earlier messages; the whole history stays in the conversation
• When you have scrolled up and new messages arrive, a 1 new message (or 3 new messages) button appears; click it, or Jump to latest, to go back to the bottom
• In group chats, each message shows the sender’s photo and name

Opening the client’s profile from a chat

1. 1Open a direct conversation with a client
2. 2Click the client’s name in the conversation header

Fitora opens the client’s profile, so you can check their training, nutrition or latest check-in before you reply. The chat icon in the profile header takes you back to the conversation. See Clients.

What your client sees#

Clients message you from the Fitora app on iPhone or Android. The chat icon in the top bar of their Home screen opens Chats, and its badge shows how many conversations have unread messages.

• Each row in Chats shows the coach’s name and photo (or the group’s name), the last message or Nothing yet..., the time, and a dot when something is unread
• Pulling down refreshes the list
• Inside a conversation, clients send text, photos, videos, files, voice notes and GIFs, and react to messages, just as you do

Starting the first conversation

When a client has no conversations yet, Chats greets them with Send a message to your coach! and a New Chat button:

• With one coach, New Chat opens the conversation with that coach straight away
• With more than one coach, the app asks Who do you want to message? and lists their coaches to choose from

A conversation you open from Messages appears in the client’s Chats right away, even before the first message, so you can always make the first move. Clients take part in the group chats they are added to, which show in Chats under the group’s name; creating and managing groups stays with the owner.

Message notifications#

Every new message sends a push notification to the other people in the conversation.

• Clients get notifications on their phone. The app asks for permission after they sign in, and tapping a notification opens the conversation.
• Coaches get notifications in the browser. Click the bell at the top of the web app, click Turn on next to “Get notified when you’re away from Fitora.”, and allow notifications when the browser asks.

A notification reads “New message from” and the sender’s first name, with the message text below it, or a short line such as “You received a new image message.” for media. Message notifications are not added to the list under the bell; the unread dot and the Messages badge keep track of them instead.

Team member access#

If your workspace has more than one coach, what each coach can do in Messages depends on their role: