Caller ID: see who's calling on the POS

Overview

When a call comes in, the POS shows a small popup in the bottom-right corner of the screen. The popup shows the caller's number and, if they've ordered from you before, their name.

Tapping the popup takes you straight to that customer's details on the New Order screen, so you can start their order without searching for them by hand.

Note: Caller ID needs a way for the POS to find out about your calls. We recommend a CID Easy G/1 device plugged into the POS, which works with any phone line — see Connecting your phone system below.

This article covers what happens on the POS once a call arrives.

What the popup looks like

The popup appears over whatever you're doing — taking an order, on the Order Hub, or in Settings — and stays on screen until you deal with it. It shows:

• The heading Incoming Call with a phone icon
• The caller's name — the first name we have on file for that number, or Unknown if the number doesn't match any customer
• The phone number that's calling
• The prompt "Tap to view customer details"

Answering a call on the POS

1. When the popup appears, tap anywhere on it.
2. The phone number is copied to the clipboard and a short confirmation appears at the bottom of the screen.
3. The POS leaves Settings or the Order Hub if you were in them, and opens the New Order screen.
4. What you see next depends on whether we recognised the number:
   • Known customer — their customer details open, ready for you to start the order.
   • Unknown number — the customer search list opens, ready for you to add the caller as a new customer.
5. Carry on and build the order as normal.

To dismiss a call instead, tap the X in the top-right corner of the popup. The popup closes and that same call won't come back.

Tip: The number is copied to the clipboard when you tap the popup, so you don't have to type it out. On the Customer Information screen, tap the Paste icon next to the Mobile # field to drop it straight in.

Connecting your phone system

Before any popup can appear, MyFoodFast has to find out about your incoming calls. There are two ways to do that, and which one suits you depends on your phone line.

With a caller ID device — what we recommend. The CID Easy G/1 plugs into your phone line at one end and into the POS's USB port at the other, and reads the caller's number straight off the line. It works with traditional landlines and with VoIP or digital systems alike.

Your number stays exactly as it is: nothing is ported, nothing is forwarded, and there's no monthly telephony cost. It also keeps working if your internet drops. And if you're moving to MyFoodFast from another provider, the caller ID box you already have will most likely work as-is.

See Caller ID with a phone line device for setup.

Over the internet, using Twilio. Your number is hosted on (or ported to) Twilio, which MyFoodFast manages for you. Choose this if you want the Voice Agent to answer calls, which needs the internet route, or if you'd rather have no extra hardware on the counter.

Setup is handled by our team, and involves:

1. Your phone number being hosted on (or ported to) Twilio.
2. That number pointed at MyFoodFast, so we're told about every incoming call.
3. Your number recorded as the store Telephone in Back Office — this is how we match a call to your store, so it has to be the number customers actually dial.

You can see the Twilio connection under Integrations > Twilio in Back Office. For the full setup and what to check when calls aren't coming through, see Connecting your phone number with Twilio.

What happens when someone calls

On the internet route, the caller ID popup fires on every incoming call, before we decide how the call gets answered. What happens to the call itself depends on whether you have the Voice Agent add-on:

• With Voice Agent — the AI answers and can take the order. The popup still appears, so you can see who's on the phone to the agent.
• Without Voice Agent — the call rings through to your store's handset as normal, and the popup appears as staff pick up.

Either way the caller ID popup behaves exactly as described in this article. See Getting Started with MyFoodFast Voice Agent if you want the AI to answer calls.

Note: Some older plug-in caller ID units relied on Windows drivers and won't work with MyFoodFast POS. CID Easy devices — the ones used by most ordering platforms — do work. If you have a box from a previous provider, send support a photo of the label and we'll confirm.

Turning Caller ID on for a POS terminal

Caller ID is switched on per terminal in Back Office, so you can have it popping up on the front counter POS but not on a kitchen or office terminal.

1. In Back Office, go to Setup > In-Store > POS Terminals.
2. Click the terminal you want to change.
3. Turn Caller ID to Yes.
4. Save the terminal.
5. Restart the POS app on that terminal. It reads its Caller ID setting when it starts up, so the change won't take effect until you close and reopen the app.

Note: There are also Caller ID Type and Caller ID Popup fields on the terminal. The POS app doesn't currently use either of them — the popup is the only display style, and it appears whenever Caller ID is set to Yes. Leave them at their defaults.

Repeat calls from the same number

To stop the same call filling the screen, the POS ignores duplicates:

• The same call never pops up twice, however many times your phone system reports it.
• If the same number rings again within about half a minute, no new popup appears.
• Once you've dismissed or opened a call, it won't come back.

If a customer genuinely rings back after that, you'll get a fresh popup as normal — a caller who tries again a minute later is treated as a new call, not a duplicate.

Note: This also covers stores using both a caller ID device and the internet route at the same time. Both report the same call, and you'll still only see one popup.

Checking which calls came in

Where your calls come in over the internet, Back Office keeps a record of every one, whether or not anyone tapped the popup. Go to Reports > Online Reports > Caller ID Logs to see the numbers and times.

This is the quickest way to tell whether a missing popup is a phone-system problem (nothing in the log) or a POS problem (the call is logged but never appeared).

Note: Calls read by a caller ID device don't appear in this report. The device talks straight to the POS without going through us, which is exactly why it keeps working when your internet doesn't.

Troubleshooting

• No popup appears at all. Check in order: is Caller ID set to Yes on that terminal in Setup > In-Store > POS Terminals, and has the POS app been restarted since you changed it? If you're on the internet route, also check whether the call shows in Reports > Online Reports > Caller ID Logs — if it isn't there, the issue is between your phone provider and MyFoodFast rather than the POS, so contact support. If you use a caller ID device, see the troubleshooting in Caller ID with a phone line device.

• It works on one POS but not another. Caller ID is a per-terminal setting. Turn it on for the other terminal and restart the app on it. If you use a caller ID device, remember it only feeds the terminal it's plugged into.

• A regular customer shows as "Unknown". The POS no longer cares how the number is written — a customer saved as 07700 900123 is matched by a call arriving as +447700900123 and the other way round, so you don't need to reformat anything. If a regular caller still shows as Unknown, the number on their record genuinely differs from the one they're calling from (a second mobile, or a withheld number). Open the customer and check the number saved against them.

  Note: Callers who withhold their number show as Withheld or a short code rather than a number, and can't be matched to a customer. That's the caller's own setting, not a fault.

• The popup shows only a first name. That's expected — the popup has room for the first name only. Tap it to see the full customer record.

• The popup stopped appearing after a while. On the internet route the POS reconnects automatically a few seconds after any drop-out. If nothing has appeared for a long stretch and calls are showing in the Caller ID Logs, restart the POS app on that terminal.

• Popups appeared, then stopped after the terminal was re-registered. A terminal has to be registered and signed in for Caller ID to work. Complete the terminal registration, then restart the app.

Related articles

• Caller ID with a phone line device — keep your existing line and read calls with a device plugged into the POS
• Connecting your phone number with Twilio — the Back Office and phone-line side of the internet route
• Getting Started with MyFoodFast Voice Agent — let the AI answer your calls
• Phone orders: collection default and required delivery address