Ringback · Dashboard
What you need
- An Android phone (Android 8 or newer) that your business calls ring on, with a SIM that can send texts. iPhones can't send texts automatically, so Ringback can't run on an iPhone; iPhone users have two options: the Mac helper (beta, no extra phone) or a spare Android with its own prepaid line (iPhone relay setup). With a spare Android, everything below happens on that phone.
- That phone should stay charged and on mobile data or Wi-Fi. It works like any app in your pocket; it does not have to be a spare phone.
- Your carrier plan should include unlimited texts (check your plan if you're not sure). Texts go out from that phone's plan, so customers see that phone's number (your normal number when Ringback runs on the phone your business line rings on).
- If your business number is a landline, VoIP or iPhone line, forward unanswered calls to the Android phone (or ring both); Ringback only sees calls that ring on that phone. Codes for each carrier: how to forward unanswered calls.
- On the Booking only plan ($4/month) you don't need a phone at all: skip to Online booking.
iPhone + Mac: the Mac helper (beta)
If your business number rings on an iPhone and you have a Mac signed in to the same Apple Account, Ringback can run on the Mac instead of a spare phone. The Mac already sees your iPhone's calls, and Messages on the Mac can send texts through your iPhone, so missed callers get the text from your iPhone's own number. It's new (October 2026); if anything doesn't work, email dale.weaver@0xpi.com.
- On the iPhone: Settings › Apps › Phone › Calls on Other Devices on, with your Mac switched on in the list; and Settings › Apps › Messages › Text Message Forwarding, with your Mac switched on.
- On the Mac: signed in to the same Apple Account, with FaceTime signed in. Check that your iPhone's recent calls show up on the Mac (Phone or FaceTime app).
- The Mac must stay on, awake and logged in. A desktop Mac or a MacBook kept open and plugged in. If the Mac is off or asleep, missed callers aren't texted (calls older than 2 hours are never texted later), and Ringback emails you if the Mac stops checking in.
- Sign up and pay (step 1 below), then open Phone in your dashboard and tap Get a pairing code.
- On the Mac, open Terminal (Applications › Utilities) and paste the command the Phone page shows, which looks like
curl -fsSL https://ringback.0xpi.com/download/ringback-mac-install.sh | bash -s -- YOURCODE. It installs a small app called Ringback Helper in your Applications folder and starts it when you log in. No password or admin rights needed. - When System Settings opens at Full Disk Access, add Ringback Helper and switch it on. It needs this to see your missed calls. It reads your call list and Messages on the Mac, and sends Ringback only incoming calls and replies from people Ringback texted, never your other messages.
- The first time it texts someone, macOS asks to let Ringback Helper control Messages: click OK.
- Test it: from another phone, call your iPhone and let it ring out. The text should arrive within about a minute and the call should show in your dashboard.
Not working? Check the helper's log at ~/Library/Application Support/Ringback/helper.log. "Cannot read call history" means Full Disk Access is off; quit and reopen Ringback Helper after switching it on. If your iPhone's calls don't appear on the Mac at all, the iPhone settings above are the fix.
1. Sign up and pay
- Go to ringback.0xpi.com/signup, choose Ringback, and enter your business name, email and business phone.
- You'll land on Billing. Choose $17/month or $170/year and approve it on PayPal. The first 7 days are free: cancel before then and you pay nothing. There's no setup fee.
- PayPal sends you straight back. Your status turns active within a minute. If it still says trial after 5 minutes, see "I paid but it still says trial".
- We sign you in by emailed link (no passwords). To get back in later, go to Sign in and enter your email.
2. Install the Android app
- On the Android phone, open Chrome and go to ringback.0xpi.com/download/ringback-agent.apk (the Phone tab in your dashboard has this link too).
- Tap Download, then open the file. Android will warn that Chrome isn't allowed to install apps: tap Settings, turn on Allow from this source, and go back.
- Tap Install. If Play Protect asks, choose Install anyway (the app isn't from the Play Store, so Google hasn't scanned it; it only talks to ringback.0xpi.com).
- Open Ringback. You'll see three numbered buttons.
3. Give permissions and pair the phone
- Tap 1. Allow calls, texts and notifications and press Allow on every prompt. Ringback needs to see missed calls (call log and phone state), send and receive texts, and (Android 13+) show its notification.
- Tap 2. Keep Ringback running (battery) and choose Allow. This stops Android from putting it to sleep.
- The list at the top should now show OK on every line, including BATTERY_UNRESTRICTED. Any -- line means that permission is still missing: tap the button again, or see "A line still shows --".
- On your computer (or the same phone), open your dashboard → Phone → Get a pairing code. The 8-digit code works once, for 30 minutes.
- Leave the Server box as https://ringback.0xpi.com, type the code, and tap 3. Pair this phone.
- You should see "Paired with (your business). Ready. Missed calls will be texted." and the dashboard's Phone tab shows the phone and when it last checked in.
Ringback only texts calls missed after pairing; it never texts people from your old call history.
4. Keep it running (important on Samsung, OnePlus, Xiaomi, Oppo, Huawei)
Many phones freeze background apps to save battery, even after step 2. Missed-call texts usually still go out (Android wakes Ringback for each call), but replies you send from the dashboard and booking confirmations can be delayed until the phone wakes. Do these once:
- All phones: Settings → Apps → Ringback → Battery → Unrestricted (or "Don't optimize").
- OnePlus / Oppo / Realme: also Settings → Apps → Auto launch → Ringback on; and Battery → "Allow background activity".
- Samsung: Settings → Battery → Background usage limits → make sure Ringback is not in "Sleeping apps" or "Deep sleeping apps"; add it to Never sleeping apps.
- Xiaomi / Redmi / POCO: Settings → Apps → Ringback → Autostart on, and Battery saver → No restrictions.
- Huawei / Honor: Settings → Battery → App launch → Ringback → Manage manually, all three switches on.
- Everyone: open the recent-apps screen, press and hold Ringback, and tap Lock so "clear all" doesn't close it. Don't use "battery saver" or "cleaner" apps on this phone.
Ringback also wakes itself every 10 minutes as a safety net. If the phone ever stops checking in for an hour, we email you (see "Phone offline" email).
5. Set your messages and hours
- Settings → Text-back messages: one message for business hours, one for after hours.
{business_name}, {booking_link} and similar fill themselves in; the preview shows exactly what customers get. Keep "Reply STOP to opt out" (it's required by carriers and the law). - Business hours: tick your open days and times. No days ticked = always "open".
- Booking link: your existing booking page, if you have one. Leave it empty and your Ringback booking page is used.
- Your own numbers (never texted): add your cell, your partner's, your office line, so calls from your own team never get a text.
- Do-not-text list: any number that should never be texted (suppliers, family, a difficult ex-customer).
- Alert emails: who gets an email for every missed call and reply.
6. Test it (2 minutes)
- From a different phone that is not on your "own numbers" list, call your business number. Don't answer; let it ring out or decline it.
- Within about 30 seconds the calling phone gets your text-back, from your business number.
- Reply to it from the calling phone, e.g. "need a quote". The reply appears under Leads in your dashboard and in your alert email.
- Open the lead, type an answer under Reply and tap Send from my phone. It's sent from your business number.
- Same caller again within 2 hours? No second text (so nobody gets spammed). That's expected; test again with another phone or wait.
Nothing arrived? Go to "A missed call didn't get a text".
Day to day
- Leads: every missed call becomes a lead. Mark it booked/lost and add the job value; the dashboard shows how many jobs and dollars Ringback recovered.
- Weekly email: Monday summary of missed calls, texts and recovered jobs.
- STOP / START / HELP: handled automatically. Anyone who replies STOP is never texted again (including your manual replies) until they reply START.
- Never texted: answered calls, blocked or "No Caller ID" calls, toll-free numbers, short codes, 911/411-style service numbers, your own numbers and your do-not-text list.
- New phone? Install the app on the new phone and pair it with a fresh code; disconnect the old one under Phone.
- App updates: open the same download link and tap Install; it updates in place and stays paired.
Online booking
- Your booking page is shown under Bookings (e.g. ringback.0xpi.com/b/your-business). Put it on your website, Google Business Profile and Facebook.
- Bookings → Booking setup: add your services and how long each takes, how many crews can work at once, minimum notice, how far ahead people can book, and the gap between jobs. Open times come from Settings → Business hours (Mon–Fri 8–5 until you set them).
- When someone books you get an email straight away. They get a confirmation (a text from your phone on the Ringback plan, or an email) with a cancel link, and a reminder the day before.
- Under Bookings you can mark a job Done or Cancel it (the customer is told).
- On the Booking only plan the page goes live once your $4/month subscription is active.
Troubleshooting
A missed call didn't get a text
Check these in order:
- Dashboard → Leads: is the call there? If yes, open it: the call line says why it wasn't texted (for example "already texted this caller in the last 2 hours"), or the text shows failed with the reason.
- If it's not in Leads, either it was a number Ringback never texts (one of your own numbers, the do-not-text list, someone who replied STOP, a hidden/No Caller ID number, toll-free or short code), or the phone never reported it: continue below.
- Did it ring on the Android phone? Calls answered by another phone, a desk phone, or an answering service never reach Ringback. Calls answered and then hung up count as answered.
- Open the Ringback app. Every line should say OK and the status should say "Ready". Opening the app also restarts it if Android stopped it.
- Dashboard → Phone: when did it last check in? More than ~15 minutes ago means the phone is asleep, offline or the app was killed: do step 4.
- Is your subscription active? (Billing tab). Canceled accounts don't text.
- Can the phone send a normal text from the Messages app? If not, it's the SIM/plan (no signal, out of credit, texting blocked).
Texts arrive late, or my dashboard replies take minutes to send
The phone is being put to sleep. Do every item in step 4 for your phone brand, update the app to the latest version, and lock it in recent apps. Ringback checks in at least every 10 minutes even in deep sleep, and immediately on every call or text.
I got a "phone offline" email
The phone hasn't checked in for an hour, so missed callers are not being texted. Usual causes: phone switched off or flat, no data/Wi-Fi, app force-stopped or "cleaned", or a phone update reset battery settings. Turn the phone on, connect to data, open the Ringback app once, and redo step 4. You'll get a "back online" email when it checks in.
"App not installed" or the download is blocked
- Make sure you opened the link in Chrome and allowed Install unknown apps for Chrome (Settings → Apps → Chrome → Install unknown apps).
- "App not installed as package conflicts": an older copy signed differently is on the phone. Uninstall Ringback, install again, then pair with a new code.
- "Not enough storage": free some space and retry.
- Work phones managed by a company (MDM) may block installs; ask your IT person or use another phone.
A line in the app still shows --
- Tap button 1 again. If Android no longer asks, it remembered "Don't allow": go to Settings → Apps → Ringback → Permissions and set Phone, Call logs, SMS and Notifications to Allow.
- On Android 13+, if "SMS" or "Call logs" is greyed out ("Restricted setting"): Settings → Apps → Ringback → ⋮ (top right) → Allow restricted settings, then grant them.
- BATTERY_UNRESTRICTED --: tap button 2, or Settings → Apps → Ringback → Battery → Unrestricted.
"Pairing failed"
- Code expired or used: codes work once, for 30 minutes. Get a new one under Phone.
- Server box changed: it must be exactly https://ringback.0xpi.com.
- No internet: open a web page on the phone to check.
- Subscription not active yet: pairing needs an active Ringback plan (Booking only plans can't pair a phone).
I paid but it still says trial
PayPal usually confirms within a minute. Refresh the Billing page. If it's still trial after 5 minutes, email us with the email you signed up with; you won't be charged twice, and we'll activate it by hand.
A customer got two texts / my own call got a text
- Two texts from the same call shouldn't happen; one text per caller per 2 hours. If someone called twice more than 2 hours apart, they get one each time.
- Add your own and your team's numbers under Settings → Your own numbers.
Customer replies aren't showing up
- Replies come in on the Android phone's SIM; that phone must be on and paired (see offline).
- If you use Google Messages' "chat features" (RCS), replies from other Android users may arrive as chats that Ringback can't read. Turn off Settings → Chat features in Google Messages on the Ringback phone.
- Replies of only "STOP", "START" or "HELP" are handled automatically and won't appear as normal replies.
Someone replied STOP by mistake
Ask them to text START to your business number. You can't override a STOP yourself; that's the law.
Dual-SIM phones
Ringback texts back from the phone's default SMS SIM. Set your business SIM as the default for messages (Settings → SIM manager / Connections), or put the business SIM in slot 1.
My booking page says it's not available / shows no times
- Check Bookings: "Booking page on" must be ticked, and your plan must be active.
- No times: your business hours, minimum notice or "how far ahead" leave no gaps, or all crews are booked. Widen hours or add crews.
- Times look an hour off: set the right Time zone in Settings.
I can't sign in / didn't get the sign-in email
Check spam/promotions for an email from dale.weaver@0xpi.com. Each link works once and expires after 30 minutes; request a new one if it's older. Still nothing? Email us.
How do I cancel?
Cancel any time in your PayPal account under Payments → Automatic payments → Ringback (during the 7-day trial you're never charged). When the cancellation reaches us, texting stops and your data is kept for 90 days in case you come back. Uninstall the app whenever you like.
Still stuck?
Email dale.weaver@0xpi.com with your business name, your phone model, and a screenshot of the Ringback app screen. We'll get back to you as soon as we can.