What your rented number can do
A number you rent from WA.cr answers calls in one of two ways — with a call menu, or with an AI voice agent. Before you pick, it forwards WhatsApp's verification call to your phone.
Every number you rent from WA.cr answers a call in one of two ways — and you choose which. A call menu, or an AI voice agent. Only one is on at a time, and switching is reversible: nothing you built is deleted when you change your mind.
Before you choose, a new number does one narrow job: it forwards WhatsApp's verification call to your phone. That is a setup aid, not a calling service, and it stops after five answered calls.
Steps
- Open Channels and pick the line.
- Find How this line answers.
- Choose Call menu or AI voice agent.
- The change applies from the next call — there is nothing at the phone company to wait for.
- Switching back restores exactly what was there: the menu and the agent stay saved.
The two ways to answer
- Call menu — callers hear your menu: "Press 1 for sales, 2 for support." You build it once on the Auto Flow canvas, and one menu can answer several numbers. See Build a call menu.
- AI voice agent — an agent speaks with the caller for the whole call and hands you back what it gathered. See Put an AI voice agent on a number.
How to choose
If your team answers calls, build a Call menu so callers reach the right people. If you want calls answered for you without anyone picking up, an AI voice agent takes the whole conversation.
If you rented the number only to connect WhatsApp, you don't have to choose yet — leave it as it is until the verification call has come through. See Receiving your WhatsApp verification call.
A number answers the same way all day — it can't yet answer one way in office hours and another way at night.
Choosing isn't the same as setting up
A number switched to Call menu before any menu is attached — or to AI voice agent before an agent is connected — answers callers with a short, polite apology and ends the call. That's deliberate: dead air on a ringing phone is the worst thing a caller can hear.
The apology never says what went wrong, and never gives away anything about your numbers. Every refusal sounds the same from the outside.
| What's missing | What the caller hears |
|---|---|
| On Call menu, but no menu is attached | the short apology |
| On AI voice agent, but no agent is connected | the short apology |
| Still on verification forwarding, but the allowance is used up | the short apology |
| The line is paused or removed | the short apology |
| Voice calling is off for the workspace (menu and agent only) | the short apology |
The console tells you before you switch: picking a way of answering that isn't set up yet asks you to confirm first, and shows you what to finish.
What switching doesn't change
Call history, recordings, the rental and its billing all stay exactly where they were. Switching between the two is a decision, not a rebuild.
Verification forwarding keeps working even if voice calling is off for your workspace — it belongs to the number's rental. Both ways of answering are voice features and need voice calling on your plan.
Numbers you brought to WA.cr yourself, and some numbers on our older forwarding set-up, answer the way they were set up and don't carry this switch.
See what your number has been doing
Every call — answered, missed, forwarded or taken by an agent — appears under Voice → Call logs, newest first. Each line's own screen also shows its recent calls, and a number's card links straight to its filtered log.
If it doesn't work
- Callers get the apology — check that the way of answering you picked is actually set up: a menu attached, or an agent connected, on the line's screen.
- You can't see the switch — changing how a line answers needs channel permissions; ask an owner or admin.
- Call menu or AI voice agent won't switch on — they need voice calling and a voice line on your plan. Talk to us.