Talk to Piste
iMessage
Connect your number with a one-time PISTE- code, then text Piste from your iPhone. What works over iMessage, what needs the web, and how to disconnect.
You can text Piste from your iPhone once you've connected your number. The workspace owner connects it by sending Piste one text with a one-time code, and from then on the same Piste answers your texts, with replies written for a phone.
How do I connect iMessage?
You connect from the onboarding step "Where should Piste reach you?", or from the iMessage card under Channels on the Connections page, which you open from the links at the foot of the sidebar in the web app. Only the workspace owner can connect a number.
Press Connect iMessage
Piste writes a text for you to send, with a one-time code in it, such as "Hey Piste, it's Gus from Acme (PISTE-7K2M9QXD)". The card reads "Send this text to connect. It's already written for you."
Press Open Messages
On an iPhone, iPad or Mac, Messages opens with the text already typed in; on an Android phone, your texting app does. You can also copy the text with Copy text and send it yourself to the number shown. On a computer without Messages, the card shows the code alone: text it from your iPhone to the number shown.
Send the text within 15 minutes
The card says "Waiting for your text." and checks every few seconds. When your text arrives, the card turns to connected and shows your number.
Read Piste's reply
Piste replies "You're connected to" your workspace's name, then sends a picture and its contact card, with a line asking you to save it. Then comes its first message: something true about your store, and one next step, such as a short brief by text each morning.
Cancel stops waiting. Start again gives you a new text with a new code.
The code
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Format | PISTE- followed by 8 letters and digits |
| Lasts | 15 minutes |
| Works | Once |
| A new code | Replaces any earlier one you haven't used |
Your number can be a phone number or the email address your Apple ID uses for iMessage.
If something goes wrong, Piste texts back:
| Piste says | What it means |
|---|---|
| "That code didn't work. It may have expired, so start again in Piste and send the new text." | The code expired or was already used. Press Start again on the iMessage card, or Connect iMessage if the card says the code expired. |
| "This number is already connected to another Piste workspace. Disconnect it there first, then connect it again from here." | A number belongs to one Piste workspace at a time. |
| "I don't know this number yet. To use Piste over iMessage, sign up at https://app.usepiste.com/sign-up and connect iMessage there." | A text came from a number nobody has connected. Piste does nothing else with it. |
What number do I text?
The number is shown on the onboarding screen while you connect, and afterwards on the iMessage card on the Connections page, under "Text Piste at", with a Copy number button.
Press Send contact card on the same card to have Piste send you its contact card again. Save it, so Piste's name and photo show in Messages.
What works over iMessage?
| Works | Doesn't work over iMessage |
|---|---|
| Questions about your store, answered in a few short lines | Approvals: you get a link to approve on the web |
| Questions Piste asks you, answered by replying | Proposal cards and their buttons |
| Automation results, texted to you | Charts, which appear in Slack and the web chat |
| Notices, such as an automation waiting for you | Group chats |
| Setting quiet hours and other things you'd ask in a conversation | Slack's shortcuts, listening and channels |
Piste writes its texts like a colleague texting: the answer first, a few short lines, no tables or headings, and the one or two numbers that matter. When Piste asks you to choose, it numbers the options and ends "Reply with your answer."
If you send a second text while Piste is still answering, it waits its turn.
Your iMessage conversation also appears in your chats in Piste on the web, as a chat called "iMessage".
Approvals
iMessage has no buttons, so nothing can be approved by text. When Piste needs a go-ahead, it texts: "This needs an approval before I go on. Your workspace owner can approve it in Piste:" followed by a link to the conversation in Piste on the web, where you press the button. See Approvals.
Automation results
An automation can deliver its results to you by text. Each text has the automation's name, its result and a link to the run in Piste.
When a run proposes changes, its text ends with how many are waiting and a link to Needs you, where you decide them: "2 changes are waiting for your decision in Needs you:". See Web app for Needs you.
Your quiet hours apply to these texts: outside your working hours, they wait.
Who can use Piste over iMessage?
Only the workspace owner. Only the owner can connect a number, so the person texting Piste is always the owner. Teammates can use Piste in Slack instead.
A number belongs to one Piste workspace at a time.
How do I disconnect iMessage?
On the Connections page, press Disconnect on the iMessage card, then confirm in the "Disconnect iMessage?" dialog. Texts from your number stop reaching Piste, and any unused code is removed. Your past conversations stay in your chats in Piste.
Related
- Slack: Piste for your whole team, with cards and channels.
- Web app: chats, Needs you and the Connections page.
- Approvals: what Piste asks first, and who decides.