The mobile app

The Freesbe app for iPhone and Android keeps you in your channels and DMs when you’re away from your computer. It signs in to the same account and shows the same workspaces, messages and unread counts as the desktop app and the browser.

Note

The mobile app is in testing and isn’t in the App Store or Google Play yet; the download page lists it as Coming soon. This guide shows what it does; What’s new will say when you can download it.

Sign in

Open the app and sign in the same way you do on your computer:

• Scan a QR code signs you in with a code from Freesbe on your computer, with nothing to type. See Sign in with a QR code.
• Continue with Google or Continue with Microsoft opens a sign-in sheet in the app, then brings you back signed in.
• Email and Password, or Email me a sign-in code instead for a code to type in.
• Sign in with a passkey uses your fingerprint, face or phone PIN with a passkey you already have, such as one saved in iCloud Keychain or Google Password Manager. See Passkeys.

If your workspace requires single sign-on, the app sends you through your company’s sign-in page. If it requires a second step, the app asks for it right after you sign in, with a passkey, your authenticator app or an emailed code, just as on the web. The same rules apply on every device.

New to Freesbe? Tap New to Freesbe? Create an account, or open the invite link a teammate sent you. See Create an account.

Sign in with a QR code

If you’re signed in to Freesbe on your computer, you can sign the app in without typing your email or password:

1. On your computer, click your name at the bottom of the sidebar and choose Sign in on your phone. You’ll also find it in Preferences → My account → Sign-in.
2. In the app on your phone, tap Scan a QR code and allow the camera.
3. Point your phone at the code on your computer’s screen. The app opens your workspace.

You can also scan the code with your phone’s camera app, which opens it in Freesbe.

Each code works once and stops working after two minutes, or as soon as you close the dialog. Your phone signs in the same way your computer did, so it already counts as verified for workspaces that require a second step. Your computer confirms when your phone is signed in, and the phone appears in Your sessions.

Caution

Only scan a code you opened yourself, and don’t share a photo of one: for two minutes, anyone who scans it is signed in as you.

Create an account

You can start Freesbe for your team from your phone, with no computer needed. On the sign-in screen, tap New to Freesbe? Create an account:

1. Tap Continue with Google or Continue with Microsoft, or enter your name, email and a password. Tick I agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy; tap either name to read it. A quick check that you’re a person runs under the box, then tap Create account.

2. If you used a password, enter the 6-digit code Freesbe emailed you. Google and Microsoft accounts are confirmed already. If your company already has a workspace that takes people from your email domain, it shows under Join your team: tap Join and you’re in.

3. Name your workspace and choose where its data is stored. The region closest to your phone’s time zone is already picked. See Data residency.

4. Three short steps follow, and you can skip any of them:

   • Add your logo from your photos.
   • Invite your team: type their email addresses, or tap Share an invite link to send a link by text message, WhatsApp or any app on your phone.
   • Get Freesbe on your computer: Send me the download link shares the download page so you can open it on your computer later.

Your first workspace gets the same free 14-day trial of Business as on the web, with no credit card needed. To make another workspace later, tap the workspace name at the top of Home and choose Create a workspace.

Join with an invite link

Open the invite link a teammate sent you on your phone. With the app installed, the link opens the app on the invite: who invited you and to which workspace. Create your account right there, continue with Google or Microsoft, or tap Already have an account? Sign in to accept. If you’re already signed in, tap Join.

Home

At the top of Home, a row of tiles shows what needs you, so you can see what’s going on without opening every conversation. Swipe it sideways for more. A coral number means something’s waiting there:

• Catch up: conversations with unread messages. See Catch up.
• Threads: new replies in threads you started or replied in. See Threads.
• Huddles: huddles going on right now in your channels and DMs. See Huddles going on now.
• Meetings: meetings that are on now or about to start. It opens the Meetings tab.
• To-dos: your to-dos due today or earlier. See To-dos.
• Later: reminders that went off. See Later.
• Drafts & sent: messages you started and didn’t send, and scheduled ones, in grey. See Drafts.

Under the tiles, Home lists your channels and direct messages, like the sidebar on your computer:

• Bold names have unread messages, and a coral badge counts mentions and DMs.
• 3 in huddle next to a channel means people are talking in it right now.
• Tap the search bar to search the workspace.
• Tap the pencil to start a new direct message.
• Tap Browse channels under your channels to find and join others, or create one. See Browse and create channels.
• Tap People under your direct messages to find anyone in the workspace. See People and profiles.
• Tap the workspace name to switch workspaces.

Pull down on Home or Activity to refresh it.

Catch up

Catch up goes through your unread conversations one at a time, DMs and the ones that mention you first. Each shows its newest unread messages:

• Mark read marks the conversation read and moves on to the next.
• Reply opens the conversation so you can answer; when you come back, Catch up is on the next one.
• Skip leaves it unread for now.

Muted conversations aren’t included. When you’ve been through them all, you’re caught up.

Threads

Threads lists the threads you started or replied in that have replies, newest first, with the latest reply in each. Threads with replies since you last looked are outlined, with how many are new. Tap one to open the thread. Opening Threads clears the count on its tile; the phone remembers when you last looked, so your computer keeps its own count.

Huddles going on now

Huddles shows the huddles going on in your channels and DMs, who’s in each and how long ago it started. Tap Join to jump in, or the conversation’s name to read it first. See Huddles.

Conversations and threads

Tap a channel or DM to open it. Messages, reactions, mentions, code and links look the same as on your computer, and the conversation is marked read as you open it.

Type in the box at the bottom and tap the send button. Type @ to mention someone: pick them from the list that appears. If a message can’t be sent, for example because you lost signal, it stays in the conversation with Try again.

Bulleted and numbered lists, underlines and the rest of the formatting show as they do on your computer. To write a list, start a line with - or 1. : the dash becomes a bullet, each new line starts the next item, and a new line on an empty item ends the list. A list you paste from another app keeps its bullets and numbers.

Tap 3 replies under a message to open its thread, and reply at the bottom.

Conversation details

Tap the name at the top of a conversation to see its details, the same ones as the details panel on your computer:

• The channel’s Topic. Tap it to change it.
• Mute this channel keeps it quiet: no sounds, no notifications, no badge.
• Notify me about picks what notifies you here: Every message, Mentions only, Nothing, or your default.
• Pinned lists the messages pinned in the conversation, newest first. Tap one to go to it; press and hold it to unpin it.
• Copy link copies a link to the conversation.
• Members (or People in a DM) lists who’s in it. Tap someone to open their profile, and tap Add people to add more. People who run the channel can press and hold someone to remove them.
• Leave channel at the bottom.

Browse and create channels

Tap Browse channels on Home to see every channel you can join, with how many people are in it and its topic. Search by name or topic, and tap Join to join one and open it. Channels you’re already in say Joined.

To make a new channel, tap + at the top, give it a name and, if you like, a topic, and choose Public (anyone in the workspace can find and join it) or Private (only people you add can see it). Tap Create. Guests can’t create channels.

Saved on your phone

Your phone keeps the newest messages of the conversations you opened lately, so they open right away, even before the app has reconnected or when you have no signal, and catch up a moment later. Unread conversations and the ones you used most recently load as soon as the app opens, so they’re ready before you tap them.

What’s saved is encrypted with a key that only your account can get from Freesbe, kept in your phone’s secure storage. It’s deleted when you sign out, and can no longer be read once you leave the workspace or are removed from it. In a workspace that asks for a second factor each time Freesbe opens, nothing saved shows until you’ve confirmed it’s you. On Android, nothing Freesbe keeps on your phone, drafts included, goes into your Google backups.

Drafts

Anything you type and don’t send stays as a draft for that conversation or thread, even after you switch conversations or close the app. Drafts are kept for your account, so one you start on the phone is waiting on your computer too, and the other way round. Conversations with a draft show a pencil in your lists.

You → Drafts & sent lists them all on its Drafts tab, newest first. Tap one to finish it in its conversation, or use Send, Schedule or Delete right there. See Drafts for more.

Alerts and cards from other apps

Messages that other apps post through webhooks, such as monitoring alerts, deploy notices and stock warnings, show the same way as on your computer: headings, facts, coloured alert boxes, pictures and buttons. Tap a button or a link to open it.

Read receipts

When your workspace shows read receipts, small pictures under a message show who has read up to it, and your newest message says Seen by 1 of 2. Tap it to see who. To stop sharing them, if your admins let you, turn Read receipts off on the You tab. Off works both ways: you won’t see who read yours either.

React, edit and delete

Press and hold a message to see what you can do with it. It’s the same list as the right-click menu on your computer:

• Tap an emoji at the top to react. The menu stays open, so you can tap several; the ones you’ve left are highlighted, and tapping one again takes it away. Tap outside the menu when you’re done. You can also tap a reaction under a message to add yours, or tap it again to take yours away.
• For any other emoji, tap the smiley with the + at the end of the row. Search by name (try tea or rocket) or scroll, and tap as many as you like, then tap Done. The arrow at the top takes you back to the menu. Your workspace’s own emoji come first, and show as their pictures in messages and reactions.
• Reply in thread, Copy text and Copy link. The link opens the message in the app or a browser, the same as Copy link on your computer.
• Quote in reply puts the message in the box at the bottom as a quote, after anything you’d already typed, ready for your answer.
• Save for later and Remind me about this (in 20 minutes, in an hour, in 3 hours, later today, tomorrow or Monday) add it to your Later list, the same one as on your computer. See Later below.
• Pin to this conversation, Forward message (pick the conversation, then tap Forward) and Mark unread, which keeps the conversation bold until you leave it and come back.
• Add to to-dos makes a to-do from the message. See To-dos below.
• Translate shows the message in your language under the original, when your workspace has AI turned on. Tap Hide to put it away.
• On your own messages, Edit message and Delete message, as your workspace’s message settings allow. Workspace owners and admins can delete anyone’s message in a channel, which leaves Message deleted by an admin in its place. See Deleting someone else’s message.

Press and hold other things for their own menus:

• A conversation in your lists: Mark as read, Mute channel (or Unmute), Copy link and Leave channel.
• Someone’s name or picture on a message: View profile, Send a message, Start a huddle and Copy email address. Tap a name or picture to go straight to the profile.

Selecting text inside a message works the way it always does on your phone.

When you edit, the message moves into the box at the bottom. Change it and tap the check mark to save, or tap Cancel. Edited messages show (edited).

Send photos, files and screenshots

Tap + next to the message box and choose:

• Photos and videos to pick from your gallery, several at once.
• Take a photo to use the camera.
• File to pick any file on your phone, such as a PDF.
• Paste image to send the picture you just copied, such as a screenshot.

When you’ve copied a screenshot or another picture, a Paste image button also appears above the message box when you tap into it. Each file shows above the box while it uploads; tap the X to take one out. Add a message if you like, or send the files on their own, up to 10 at a time.

Pictures show in the conversation. Tap a picture or a file to open it in an app on your phone. To send several photos at once, tap Photos and videos and select up to 10 of them in the picker. Several pictures in one message show as a gallery; tap +N on the last tile to see them all.

Schedule a message

To send a message later, write it, then press and hold Send. Pick later today, tomorrow morning, Monday morning, or Custom time… to choose a day in the next two weeks and a time on the half hour. It works in channels, DMs and threads, with files too.

A note above the message box shows when a conversation has a message waiting. Tap it, or You → Drafts & sent → Scheduled, to see them all. Each one can be sent now, rescheduled or deleted. To change the words, use the web or desktop app.

The Sent tab of You → Drafts & sent lists your own messages and replies, newest first. Tap one to go back to its conversation or thread.

Huddles

Talk with people in a channel or DM from your phone, the same huddles as on your computer.

• Join a huddle: when people are talking in a conversation, a bar at the top shows who’s in it. Tap Join.
• Start a huddle: tap the headphones at the top right of a channel or DM. In a DM, the other person’s devices ring.

The app asks to use your microphone the first time you join a huddle or a meeting. If you don’t allow it, you can still listen, and the microphone button stays crossed out. Tap it to be asked again. On Android, if you picked Don’t allow more than once, the app offers Open Settings instead: turn on Permissions → Microphone for Freesbe there, come back and tap the microphone button.

During a huddle

The call screen shows everyone in the huddle, their cameras and shared screens. The buttons at the bottom:

• Mute / Unmute your microphone. A crossed-out microphone next to a name means that person is muted.
• Video turns your camera on and off, and Flip switches between the front and back camera.
• Share screen (Android) shares your whole screen. Your phone asks you to confirm with Start now, and shows that it’s sharing until you tap Stop sharing.
• Speaker picks where you hear the call (Android): the loudspeaker, the phone’s earpiece, wired headphones or a Bluetooth headset. When headphones or a headset are connected, the huddle uses them.
• Leave hangs up.

While you’re alone in a huddle, waiting music plays until someone joins (Android). It plays where you hear the call and never goes into it. Tap the music button next to Waiting for others to join… to pick Lo-fi, Drift, Sunny, Classic, Bossa or Off. Your phone remembers your pick, separately from your computer.

Tap the arrow at the top left to go back to your messages while you keep talking. A green bubble with the conversation’s name takes you back to the call. On Android, a In a huddle notification stays while you’re in the call, so you can switch to another app and keep talking; tap it to come back to Freesbe.

Answer a call

When someone calls you in a DM while the app is open, a card shows who’s calling: tap Answer or Decline. Your phone rings and vibrates until you do. When the app is closed, the call comes as a notification: tap it to open the conversation and join the call.

Declining on your phone stops the call ringing on your other devices too. In Quiet mode, calls don’t ring.

A call notification only rings while the call is still ringing. If your phone was offline or asleep and gets back online after that, you get the Missed huddle notification instead of a late ring.

Missed calls

If you don’t pick up, the DM shows Missed huddle from … with Call back, and it counts as unread. When the app is closed, the ringing notification gives way to Missed huddle with Call back (it opens the DM and calls them) and Message. Missed calls are in Activity too. See Missed calls.

Meetings

The Meetings tab lists the meetings you organize or are invited to, today’s first and then by day. A meeting that’s on, or starts within 15 minutes, shows who’s already in the call and anyone waiting to join.

• Join opens the meeting. Start now starts a meeting straight away, like on your computer, and Join with a code takes the code from someone’s meeting link.
• The share button next to Join sends the meeting’s link to anyone, by text, email or another app.
• Someone waiting in the lobby shows on the meeting with Deny and Admit, so you can let them in without joining.

To schedule or edit a meeting, use the desktop app or a browser.

Join a meeting

Tap Join on the Meetings tab, or open a meeting link (meet.freesbe.net/…) on your phone. On Android the link asks whether to Open in the Freesbe app or Continue in the browser. Before you go in, turn your microphone and camera on or off. People in the workspace go straight in with Join now; guests tap Ask to join and wait until someone lets them in.

In the call you have the same buttons as in a huddle: Mute, Video and Flip, Share screen (Android), Speaker and Leave. Everyone’s cameras and shared screens show above the people in the call.

When someone asks to join, a card at the top says who, with Deny and Admit.

Tap the arrow at the top left to go back to your messages while you keep talking. A green bubble with the meeting’s name takes you back to the call. Starting a huddle leaves the meeting, and joining a meeting leaves a huddle.

Someone’s waiting to join

When a guest waits in the lobby of a meeting you host and nobody who can let them in is in the call, a card shows on any screen of the app, with a knock and a buzz. Tap Admit or Deny, or tap the card to open the meeting. After a couple of minutes you also get a notification. See Waiting room alerts.

Move a call to your phone

Need to leave your desk during a huddle or meeting? When you’re in a call in the desktop app or a browser, the app shows a bar with You’re in this huddle in the desktop app and Join here. Tap it and the call moves to your phone, with no drop for the others. Meetings show the same Join here in the Meetings tab. To move back, use Join here on your computer. See Huddles.

Direct messages

The DMs tab lists your recent direct messages, with a badge for unread ones. Search by name or email to find anyone in the workspace, and tap them to message them.

Activity

Activity collects what’s meant for you: mentions of you (including @channel and @here), huddles you missed and replies in threads you started or replied in, newest first. Tap one to open the conversation or thread it’s in.

To-dos

Tap You → To-dos to see the same private to-do list you have on your computer. Only you see it. The number next to To-dos counts the ones due today or overdue.

• Type in the box at the top and tap Add to add one.
• Tap the circle to mark a to-do as done. Show done lists the ones you’ve finished.
• Tap a to-do to give it a due date (Today, Tomorrow, End of this week or Next week), take the date away, or delete it.
• A to-do made from a message has a From a message in … link. Tap it to open that conversation.

To change a to-do or add notes to it, tap it and tap Edit to-do and notes (or Edit or add notes). The title is on top and the notes underneath; tap Save when you’re done. Notes take message formatting, such as *bold*, _italic_ and lines starting with • for a list, and show under the to-do’s title in the list.

When your workspace has AI, the editor also has Help me write, Plan it and, for a to-do made from a message, Sum up the conversation. See Help with your to-dos.

To turn a message into a to-do, press and hold it and tap Add to to-dos. The to-do takes the message’s text. On Android a short note says it was added. On iPhone you can tap View to open the list.

Later

You → Later has the messages you saved for later and the ones you asked to be reminded about, the same Later list as on your computer. The number next to Later counts reminders that have gone off.

• In progress lists reminders that went off first, then upcoming ones, then the rest. A reminder that went off has a coral border.
• Tap a message to open it in its conversation or thread.
• Press and hold one for Mark as done, Remind me about this (pick a new time), Remove reminder and Remove from Later.
• Completed lists the ones you marked as done. Press and hold one to move it back.

When a reminder goes off and you aren’t using Freesbe elsewhere, your phone gets a notification.

Search

Tap the search bar on Home and type at least two letters. Results show the channel or person, who wrote it and when. Tap a result to open the conversation or thread it’s in. Part of a word is enough, the same as on the computer: see What counts as a match.

Your status

On the You tab, tap Set a status to tell people what you’re up to. Pick a suggestion such as Heads down, or tap the smiley to choose an emoji and type a few words. Under Clear after, choose when it goes away by itself: in 30 minutes, 1 or 4 hours, at the end of today or this week, or never. Tap Save. Your status shows next to your name on every device, the same as one you set on your computer. To take it off, open it again and tap Clear status.

Turn on Away to show as away even while you have Freesbe open. Turn it off to show as active again.

People and profiles

Tap someone’s name or picture on a message, or anyone under Home → People, to see their profile: their picture, title, status, whether they’re active, their local time and how far it is from yours, their email, and the workspace’s profile fields such as phone, department and manager. Tap Message or Huddle to talk to them, a phone number to call it, or their manager to open theirs.

People lists everyone in the workspace. Search by name, title, department or email.

On your own profile, tap Edit profile to change your name, title and the profile fields you fill in yourself, or Set a status. Change your photo, and fields like dates and your manager, in Preferences on your computer. Tap your name on the You tab to open your profile.

Notifications

The app asks to send notifications after you sign in. Allow it to get a notification on your phone for:

• Messages in your DMs and group DMs.
• Mentions of you.
• Replies in threads you started or replied in.
• Channels you’ve set to Every message.
• A guest who has been waiting a couple of minutes in the lobby of a meeting you host. Tap it to open the meeting. See Waiting room alerts.

These follow the same rules as desktop notifications, including muted channels and each channel’s own setting. A huddle call to you rings your phone too: see Answer a call.

Your phone only gets notifications while you aren’t using Freesbe somewhere else. While you’re active in the desktop app or a browser, those alert you instead; when you step away from your computer, your phone takes over.

Tap a notification to open the message, or its thread. Press and hold it (or swipe it down) for two more choices that don’t open the app:

• Reply: type an answer and tap Send. It goes to the conversation, or to the thread when the notification was about a thread.
• Mark as read: marks the conversation read up to that message, on every device.

On iPhone, the number on Freesbe’s icon counts your unread direct messages and mentions, and goes up with each notification while the app is closed. Android shows Freesbe’s notifications on its icon the way it does for every app.

Links to Freesbe conversations and messages, such as ones a teammate pasted in an email, open straight in the app.

Alerts and other app messages show their title first; on Android, expand the notification to see details like the host and severity. See What a notification says.

While you have the app open, a new message that would notify you plays your phone’s notification sound instead, with a short buzz, and a huddle call rings with your phone’s ringtone. Both follow your phone’s volume and silent mode.

On Android, each conversation and thread gets one notification, which shows its newest messages and how many came. It rings for the first new message, and stays quiet as more arrive in the same burst. Read the conversation anywhere, on your phone, your computer or in a browser, and its notification goes away. If your phone was offline for a while, what you missed comes in quietly when it’s back, instead of ringing once for every message.

On Android, Freesbe’s notifications come in three kinds: Messages, Earlier and follow-up messages (the quiet ones) and Calls. To give one a different sound, or turn it off, tap Notifications on the You tab and pick the kind.

Quiet mode

On the You tab, turn on Quiet mode and choose how long to stop notifications, on every device: 30 minutes, 1 or 2 hours, or until 9 tomorrow morning. Turn it off to get them again straight away. Notifications on the same tab opens your phone’s settings for Freesbe, where you can turn them off or change how they show.

Passkeys

Sign in faster with a passkey: tap Add a passkey on the You tab and confirm with your fingerprint, face or phone PIN. Your phone saves it in iCloud Keychain or Google Password Manager, so it also works on your other devices signed in to the same account. Next time, tap Sign in with a passkey on the sign-in screen.

Passkeys you add on your phone are listed with your others in Preferences → My account → Sign-in → Passkeys. See Sign-in and security.

Approve sign-ins

Your phone can give the second step when you sign in on a computer. On the You tab, turn on Approve sign-ins and confirm with your fingerprint or face. When a computer asks you to verify it’s you, a notification asks Is this you signing in? with where the sign-in is from. Tap the number your computer shows and confirm. Tap Deny if it wasn’t you.

See Approve sign-ins on your phone.

More than one workspace

Tap the workspace name on Home, or Workspaces on the You tab, and pick another workspace. The app opens the one you used last next time.

Text size

Messages are drawn a little bigger on phones than on a computer, to be easy to read. To make them bigger or smaller, tap You → Text size and pick Small, Default, Large or Extra large. It changes messages, names and the message box right away, on this phone only. Your phone’s own text size setting still applies on top.

Join and leave sounds

On Android, huddles and meetings play a soft chime when someone joins and a quieter one when someone leaves, like on your computer, in calls of up to 8 people. It plays with the call, on the loudspeaker, earpiece or headset you’re using. To turn it off on this phone, switch off You → Join and leave sounds.

Dark mode and your language

The app follows your phone’s light or dark setting, and your phone’s language. In Hebrew and Arabic it’s laid out right to left. See Language for the languages Freesbe speaks.

What’s new

The first time you open the app after an update, a card slides up with what changed since you last looked. You → What’s new shows the latest changes any time. See What’s new after an update.

Get help from support

A company that uses Freesbe can help you in a support session: open the link they sent on your phone, or tap Got a code from support? Join with a code on the sign-in screen. You don’t need an account. On Android you can share your screen, and let them control the phone once you allow it. See On an Android phone.

Sign out

Tap Sign out on the You tab. Your phone stops getting notifications at once.

You can also sign the app out from your computer: it’s listed as Freesbe for iOS or Freesbe for Android in Your sessions. Signing it out there signs out the app and stops its notifications too.