In-App Chat
Real-time messaging between office, dispatchers, and drivers, threaded by trip and fully logged.
Inside the product
No more WhatsApp groups, no more personal phone calls that leave no record. Transportial's in-app chat connects everyone in your operation in a structured messaging layer where every conversation is tied to the relevant trip or order.
Why chat belongs on the trip, not in a separate app
A dispatcher's question about a delay only makes sense next to the plan: which stop, which window, which vehicle. Putting the thread on the trip and the consignment keeps that context one glance away and turns the conversation into part of the record, searchable later when a customer asks what happened.
External bridging closes the last gap. A subcontracted driver who only has WhatsApp still appears in the same thread, and the office never has to keep a personal number in a phone.
How it works
Open the thread
From a trip, consignment, vehicle or driver, or from the Messages page with its filters.
Write or pick a template
Compose with attachments and formatting, or select a message template for the context.
Deliver on the right channel
The recipient gets it in the app, on the board computer, by WhatsApp, Telegram or e-mail, depending on the channels connected to the chat.
Confirm it landed
Receipts show delivery and reading; unread counts sit on the board row.
What it does
Threads that follow the work
Entity chats
Every consignment and every vehicle has its own chat; drivers have theirs. Filters for 1:1, groups, vehicles and consignments keep the list navigable.
Direct and group chats
Private or public chats with members holding none, read, chat, moderator or admin permissions, pinned chats and a "send to multiple chats" action.
System messages
Board-computer status messages land in the same thread as human messages and can be hidden.
Templates
Message templates with a context (vehicle, trip, upcoming trips) and a language, picked from the composer.
Reach people where they are
External channels
WhatsApp (Meta Graph API), Telegram and e-mail bridge into the same thread, inbound and outbound; a chat reply can also go out as a threaded e-mail reply.
Read receipts
Read by the driver, delivered to everyone, read by everyone, so an acknowledged route change is provable.
Push and desktop
Mobile push through Firebase and native desktop notifications from the Electron app; unread counts show on the plan board.
Auto-translation
DeepL or Google Cloud Translation with "see translation / see original", a per-tenant translation memory and a monthly character ceiling with a usage report.
Chat as an operational record
Files to the trip
Photos and documents shared in a trip chat can be attached to the trip with one action.
Message states
Normal, important, pinned and deleted states; the message source (internal, WhatsApp, Telegram or e-mail) is stored on each message.
Automations into chat
Message automations can post to chat as a channel, so trip confirmations and ETA updates appear in the thread the driver already reads.
Customer chat
Customers with portal access chat with you from the customer portal, scoped to their own orders.
Technical details. Chat runs over Socket.IO with tenant-scoped rooms per consignment, vehicle, direct or group chat. Messages are persisted with their source (internal, WhatsApp, Telegram or e-mail). Push notifications use Firebase Cloud Messaging.
Works with
Frequently asked questions
Can drivers without the app take part?
Yes. WhatsApp, Telegram and e-mail bridge into the same thread, and board-computer messages from Transics, Webfleet, Trimble or Mapon appear as system messages.
Are messages translated?
Yes, with DeepL or Google Cloud Translation. Readers switch between translation and original, a translation memory reuses earlier translations, and a monthly character limit caps the cost.
Can I see whether a driver read a message?
Yes. Receipts show read by the driver, delivered to everyone and read by everyone.
Can automations write into chat?
Yes. Chat is one of the message automation channels, next to e-mail, notification, WhatsApp and Telegram.
Concepts & terminology
- Entity chat
- A chat that belongs to a consignment, vehicle or driver and shows up on that entity's detail page.
- Message source
- Where a message came from: internal, WhatsApp, Telegram or e-mail, inbound or outbound.
- Read receipt
- Delivery and read confirmations per message: read by the driver, delivered to everyone, read by everyone.
- Translation memory
- A per-tenant cache of translated messages that avoids paying twice for the same sentence.
- Message template
- A reusable message with a context (vehicle, trip, upcoming trips) and a language.
Related features
- OpenMove Driver AppGive your drivers everything they need for their trip, on iOS or Android, with real-time communication back to the office.
Message AutomationsSend the right message to the right person at exactly the right moment, triggered automatically by 75+ operational events.
Real-Time Vehicle TrackingKnow where every vehicle is, what every sensor is reading, and how every trip is progressing, in real time.