How to Use Channels in the NextCrew App

Your agency can set up a channel — a group conversation for a job, an event, or a team you work with. Everyone in it can read it and reply to it.

What a channel is

A channel is a conversation with several people in it. Your agency creates it and adds you. Everyone in the channel sees the same messages and can reply, so it is the place to ask a question that other people on the same job would want the answer to as well.

A channel is usually set up for one of two reasons:

• For a job or an order — everyone confirmed to work it is added automatically.
• For a group your agency wants to talk to — a venue team, a regular crew, a set of supervisors.

Where to find it

Open the menu — the button at the top left — and tap Channels. It sits directly under Messages.

The list shows every channel you are in. Tap one to open it.

Reading and replying

A channel looks like any other message thread. Your own messages are on the right; everyone else’s are on the left, with their picture beside them.

To reply, tap Write a message at the bottom, type, and tap Send. Everyone in the channel will see it.

Sending a photo or a file

Tap the paperclip to the left of the message box, choose your photo or file, and send it. Everyone in the channel can open it.

This is the quickest way to show somebody where you are parked, what a sign says, or that something on site is not as expected.

What you will be told about

When somebody posts in a channel you are in, you get:

• a notification on your phone, and
• an email.

There is no way to leave a channel or mute it at the moment. If you are in a channel that is not relevant to you, tell your coordinator and they can take you out or close it.

If something looks wrong

I cannot see Channels in the menu

Your app needs updating. Channels appears from app version 4.36. Anything older and the menu item is not there at all.

Update NextCrew from the App Store or Google Play, then open the menu again. You can check which version you have at the bottom of the menu.

Updates do not reach everybody on the same day, so a colleague may have it before you do.

A channel I was in has gone

Two things cause this, and neither is a fault:

• You came off the job. A channel set up for a job only holds the people confirmed to work it. If you are unconfirmed or replaced, you come out of the channel. If you are confirmed again later, you go back in and the messages are still there.
• Your agency closed it. Once a channel is deleted it is gone for everybody, along with everything in it.

I cannot see older messages

You see messages from the point you were added onwards. Anything posted before that is not visible to you.

If you have joined a job late and it sounds like you have missed something, just ask in the channel — somebody will repeat it.

Questions people ask

Q: Can I start a channel myself?

A: No. Your agency creates channels and adds people to them.

Q: Who can see what I write in a channel?

A: Everybody in it, including your agency. Use Messages if you want to say something privately.

Q: Will I be charged for messages?

A: No. Channel messages go through the app and your email, not as text messages.

Q: Can I leave a channel?

A: Not at the moment. Ask your coordinator to take you out.

Q: Can I turn the notifications off for one channel?

A: Not at the moment. Turning off notifications for the whole app would also stop your job alerts, so it is worth speaking to your coordinator first.

Q: Why did somebody else see a message I cannot see?

A: They were in the channel before you were added. You only see messages from when you joined.

Q: Can I send a photo?

A: Yes. Tap the paperclip next to the message box.

Q: I replied and nobody answered. What now?

A: Everybody in the channel can see it, but nobody is required to be watching. If it is urgent, contact your coordinator directly through Messages or by phone.