Messaging overview

Pilla provides multiple ways to communicate with your team. Whether you need a private conversation, a team-wide announcement or a discussion about a specific shift, there is a messaging option for every situation.

What is messaging in Pilla?

Messaging lets you communicate with colleagues directly within the app. All messages are real-time, so you can have conversations just like any other messaging app.

Messages can include:

• Text content (up to 1,000 characters)
• Image attachments (up to 5 per message, from camera or gallery)
• Document attachments (up to 10 per message)
• @mentions to notify specific people or @everyone
• Reactions (emoji)
• Replies to a specific message

Communication types

Pilla has four main communication types:

The Chats screen

The Chats screen is your central hub for all messaging in Pilla. It lists your conversations and team channels in one place.

Opening the Chats screen

Mobile

1. Tap the menu icon
2. Select Chats

The screen opens with the AppBar title Chats. A back arrow (chevron left) sits on the left and a blue + button sits on the right.

Web

The Chats screen is accessed from the main navigation. Clicking a conversation opens a side sheet.

Understanding the conversation list

Each row in the Chats list shows:

• Avatar -- a profile photo for DMs, the group image for groups, or the team photo/initials for team channels
• Name -- the other person's name (DMs), the group name (groups) or the team name (team channels)
• Last message preview -- a single-line snippet of the most recent message, or "No messages yet" if the conversation is empty
• Unread badge -- a numbered badge if you have unread messages

If the current user has the allow_mute_chats permission, a bell icon appears on the right of each row. Tap it to toggle mute (the icon switches between a bell and a bell-off icon).

Conversations are sorted by most recent activity, so your latest chats appear at the top.

Filtering conversations

At the top of the Chats screen, horizontal pill buttons let you filter the list:

• All -- shows every conversation (default)
• Teams -- shows only team channels
• Groups -- shows only group conversations
• DMs -- shows only direct messages

Tap a pill to switch views. The active pill is highlighted.

When a filter returns no results, a message reads "No {filter name} found" (e.g. "No teams found").

Pull to refresh

On mobile, pull the list down to refresh conversations and unread counts.

Starting conversations

From the Chats screen (mobile)

1. Open Chats
2. Tap the blue + button in the header
3. The New conversation screen opens (AppBar title: "New conversation")
4. A search box at the top lets you filter the user list
5. Each user row shows an avatar, their name, and a circle checkbox. Your own row appears with "(You)" appended and its checkbox is pre-selected and disabled
6. Tap users to toggle selection

For a direct message (1 other person selected):

• The header shows a Create button on the right
• Tap Create to open the conversation
• If an existing DM already exists between you and that person, Pilla opens it instead of creating a duplicate

For a group (2 or more other people selected):

• The header shows a Next button on the right
• Tap Next to continue to the Group info screen (see below)

From the Chats screen (web)

On the web, the Chats panel works similarly. Clicking a conversation opens a side sheet (ChatSheet) showing the conversation header, messages, and an input bar at the bottom.

Direct messages

Direct messages are private 1:1 conversations between you and one other person. Only you and the recipient can see these messages.

When you open a DM, the header shows the other person's name as the title and "Messaging {name}" as the subtitle.

If a conversation is blocked, the input bar is replaced with a message reading "You can't send messages in this conversation."

Group conversations

Group conversations let you message multiple people at once. Unlike team channels, groups contain only the specific people you choose.

Creating a group (mobile)

1. Open Chats and tap the blue + button
2. Select 2 or more other people (your own row is already selected)
3. Tap Next in the header
4. The Group info screen opens (AppBar title: "Group info")
5. At the top, an image button (shows a gallery icon until a photo is selected) sits to the left of a Group name field (required, placeholder: "Kitchen Team")
6. Below that, the selected participants are listed with avatar, name, and an X button to remove them. You cannot remove yourself
7. Tap the image button to pick a group photo from your gallery (required)
8. Enter a group name
9. Tap Create in the header

The Create button is only enabled when a group name, group image and at least 2 participants are present.

Creating a group (web)

On the web, groups are created through the same new conversation flow.

Editing a group (mobile)

When you open a group conversation, the header shows a pencil/edit icon (SquarePen) on the right. Tapping it opens the Edit group screen (AppBar title: "Edit group").

From here you can:

• Change the group photo -- tap the image button on the left and pick a new image from your gallery
• Change the group name -- edit the text in the Group name field (required, placeholder: "Kitchen Team")
• Change members -- toggle checkboxes next to user names. Each user shows their avatar, name, and a circle checkbox. A search box filters the list

The header shows a Save button that is only enabled when you have made changes and the group still has a name and at least 2 members.

Team channels

Every team in Pilla has an automatic channel where all team members can communicate.

What are team channels?

• An automatic conversation for each team
• Includes all members of that team
• Cannot be created or deleted manually
• Named after the team

When you join a team, you are automatically added to its channel.

Accessing team channels

1. Open Chats
2. Tap the Teams filter pill
3. Team channels appear in the list showing the team's photo or initials as the avatar
4. Tap one to open it

On mobile, tapping a team channel opens the ThreaderScreen with entityType "team". The header shows the team name as the title and "All team messages" as the subtitle.

The empty state reads: "No messages in this team channel yet".

Team channel vs group

Tips

• Use the filter pills at the top of Chats to find specific conversation types quickly
• Mute conversations you don't need notifications for (if your account has the mute permission)
• Use team channels for announcements and groups for project-specific discussions
• Name groups clearly so members know the purpose