# Messaging your team

Message your coworkers in the Chat tab of the Mays app — start a conversation, find an old message, see who has read yours and mute a busy chat.

For: Admins, Managers, Employees · On: iOS, Android · [Help Center](https://www.mays.app/help) › [Team chat](https://www.mays.app/help/team-chat) · Last updated October 8, 2026 · Mays Team

Message your coworkers from the **Chat** tab of the Mays app: one-to-one or in a group, with photos, voice notes and more. Chat is in the iPhone and Android apps only, not on the web.

## Your conversations

Tap **Chat** at the bottom of the app. The **Messages** screen lists your conversations, newest first. Each row shows:

- the person's or group's name;
- the last message;
- when it was sent;
- a green number for messages you haven't read yet.

The red number on the **Chat** tab adds up all your unread messages.

![The Messages screen: the Search messages box and three conversations — Owen South with Found it, thanks!, the South team group with Owen: Got it, and Sam South with Thank you! I have updated the schedule — each with the time and a green unread count, and the Chat tab showing 6](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__team-chat-basics__01-messages.fa7a159353.png)

Tap a conversation to open it.

## Start a conversation

1. On **Messages**, tap **+** at the top. The screen is called **New Message** on iPhone and **New Conversation** on Android.
2. Tap the person you want to message. People are grouped by location, with their role under their name. **Search contacts** helps in a long list.

If you've messaged that person before, your earlier conversation opens. Otherwise a new one starts.

![The New Message screen with AI Assistant — Start a new AI chat, New Group, and the contacts listed under North (Ava Admin, admin; Emma North, employee) and South (Owen South, employee; Sam South, manager)](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__team-chat-basics__03-new-message.59fc578a08.png)

**Who's on the list?** The people who work at your locations. Admins can message everyone in the organization.

The same screen has:

- **AI Assistant**, which starts a chat with Mays's AI. It answers from your company's Knowledge Base and uses the location's [AI credits](https://www.mays.app/help/account-billing/ai-credits). See [The AI Assistant in chat](https://www.mays.app/help/ai-automation/ai-assistant-in-chat).
- **New Group**, which starts a group chat with several people. See [Group chats](https://www.mays.app/help/team-chat/group-chats).

## Send a message

Type in the box at the bottom (**Type a message...** on iPhone, **Message** on Android) and tap send.

The buttons around the box add more:

- **+** opens photos, video, camera, documents, your location, a task or a Knowledge Base article.
- The smiley face adds a GIF or sticker, if it's available in your app.
- The camera button takes a photo.
- The microphone button records a voice note.

See [Photos, files and sharing in chat](https://www.mays.app/help/team-chat/photos-files-and-sharing).

To reply to one message, swipe it.

**Did they read it?** The ticks next to the time on your own messages tell you:

| Ticks | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| A clock (iPhone) or an hourglass (Android) | Still sending. |
| ✓ grey | Sent. |
| ✓✓ grey | Delivered to everyone in the conversation. |
| ✓✓ blue | Read by everyone in the conversation. |
| A red warning sign | Not sent. Tap **Retry** or **Delete** under it. |

![A conversation with Sam South: Sam asks Hi Olivia, can you come in at 2 today instead of 3? The lunch rush is running long, the reply Sure, I can be there at 2 with two blue ticks, Sam's Thank you! I have updated the schedule, and the message box with the plus, smiley, camera and microphone buttons](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__team-chat-basics__02-conversation.e6c5655e1c.png)

Your phone needs an internet connection to send messages.

## Find an old message

Type at least two letters into **Search messages** at the top of **Messages**. You get two kinds of result:

- **People** you already have a conversation with.
- **Messages** whose text matches. You get the 20 most recent, with who sent each one.

Tap a result to open it. Photos, voice notes and files aren't searched, only the text of messages.

## Mute a busy conversation

1. Open the conversation.
2. Tap **•••** (iPhone) or **⋮** (Android) at the top right.
3. Choose **Mute 1 hour**, **Mute 8 hours**, **Mute 24 hours**, **Mute 1 week** or **Mute forever**.

A muted conversation shows a speaker with a line through it, and it doesn't send you notifications. To hear from it again, choose **Unmute** from the same menu.

![The conversation menu open with Mute 1 hour, Mute 8 hours, Mute 24 hours, Mute 1 week, Mute forever and Unmute](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__team-chat-basics__04-mute-menu.ff0ece0afd.png)

On Android, if a mute or unmute doesn't go through (for example, with no signal), the speaker icon goes back to how it was and you see *Couldn't mute this chat. Try again.* or *Couldn't unmute this chat. Try again.* Nothing changed, so try again.

## Good to know

- **There are no broadcast channels.** To reach a whole team, create a group with **New Group**.
- **Some messages come from Mays itself.** For example, a manager may get a message from the AI Assistant about a task's photo.
- **Deleting a one-to-one conversation deletes it for both of you.** Open the chat, tap the name at the top, then **Delete Conversation**. It comes back if either of you writes again. In a group, only managers and admins can delete the conversation.
- **Edit or delete a message** by pressing and holding it. You can only change or remove your own messages. See [Replies, reactions and other message actions](https://www.mays.app/help/team-chat/message-actions).
- **Shared kiosk tablets don't have Chat.** Messages are personal, so use your own phone.

## Related articles

- Team chat: [Group chats](https://www.mays.app/help/team-chat/group-chats) — Chat with several coworkers at once. Anyone can start a group, its admins decide who's in it, and managers and admins can rename or delete it.
- Team chat: [Replies, reactions and other message actions](https://www.mays.app/help/team-chat/message-actions) — Press and hold a message to react, reply, forward, copy, edit or delete it, see who read it, or turn it into a task. What each action does in the Mays app.
- Team chat: [Photos, files and sharing in chat](https://www.mays.app/help/team-chat/photos-files-and-sharing) — Send photos, videos, voice notes, files, your location, GIFs, tasks and Knowledge Base articles in chat, and share photos, text and links into Mays from other apps.
- Mobile apps: [A tour of the app](https://www.mays.app/help/mobile-apps/mobile-app-tour) — What's where in the Mays app — the Tasks, History, Knowledge, Chat and Schedule tabs, your profile, the notification bell, the extras managers get, and how a shared kiosk tablet differs.
- Mobile apps: [Notifications](https://www.mays.app/help/mobile-apps/push-notifications) — Mays notifies you in the app about shifts, tasks, approvals and chat. See them all under the bell, choose which ones reach your phone, and fix notifications that don't arrive.
- Mobile apps: [Installing the Mays apps](https://www.mays.app/help/mobile-apps/install-the-apps) — Get the Mays app on iPhone, iPad or Android — where to download it, which phones it runs on, what it asks permission for, and how to sign in the first time.
- Knowledge & training: [Your knowledge base](https://www.mays.app/help/knowledge-training/knowledge-base-basics) — Keep your SOPs, recipes and policies in one place. Admins and managers build folders of articles and documents on the web; the whole team reads and searches them in the app.
- Account & billing: [AI credits](https://www.mays.app/help/account-billing/ai-credits) — Mays's AI features use AI credits from each location's balance. What uses them, how many your plan adds every month, how to check a balance and how to buy more.
- AI & automation: [The AI Assistant in chat](https://www.mays.app/help/ai-automation/ai-assistant-in-chat) — Start a chat with the AI Assistant from the app's Chat tab. It answers from your knowledge base, looks up your tasks (and, for managers, sales and who's on shift), and can read a photo you take.

## Still need help?

Send us a support request and a real person on the Mays team will get back to you.

[Contact support](https://www.mays.app/contact?topic=support) · [Call +1 (561) 286-3939](tel:+15612863939)

Canonical: https://www.mays.app/help/team-chat/team-chat-basics