We’re on a mission at Burner – to build a better, smarter phone number.
Today we’re rolling out a stack of features and updates, including a new Google Sheets Connection for text and contact exporting, a new-and-improved Slack Connection, exciting new VoIP and tablet capabilities, and a number of other enhancements including bulk message actions and an easier way to connect Burner to IFTTT and Zapier.
New Connection: Google
We’ve been thrilled by the response to our recently launched Connections platform (original blog post). The best part of it is seeing how people use the various connections, in particular our Developer Connection – which lets users connect Burner to any webhook-enabled web service. A number of people wanted to pump incoming Burner texts into Google Sheets, which they enabled via Zapier (recipe), so we decided to make that integration native.
Now you can directly authorize a connection to Google from within Burner, and all incoming texts are automatically added to a new Sheet as they come in, with all new contacts being added to a separate tab.
We’ve overhauled our Slack Connection as well, affording greater control over how teams can use Burner from within Slack. Now you can connect a Burner to a Slack channel (where any team member in the channel can see or reply) OR connect to Slackbot, which lets you use Slack as your personal texting client with Burner numbers. We’ve also refreshed our commands around a “/burner” syntax.
Our users have been coming up with lots of interesting uses for the Slack connection, from customer service to public Q&A’s – and we think all companies interested in talking to customers by text should give this a try. Hit us up with questions or comments at 310.919.5060 if you want to experience it yourself. We’ll hit you back via our Slack 2.0 connection.
Finally, we’ve made it easier to connect Burner to IFTTT and Zapier – two services that let you create hundreds of custom recipes across dozens of services. Want to flash the lights when you get a voicemail, or text your thermostat a new temperature setting? Just navigate in the app to the Developer Connection and you’ll find new links and walk-throughs.
In-App Calling, Powered by VOIP
Perhaps the biggest feature we’re rolling out starting today is a new capability allowing users to control whether calls come in and out via their underlying carrier phone (which is how Burner has historically worked) or calls are made and received within the app itself (via VoIP). This lets users choose the call flow they prefer and makes Burner much more useful in wifi-only situations, on tablets, across multiple devices, and even internationally.
It's something many users have asked for, and we hope will love.
Burner In-app calling (VoIP) options are available today on Android and will be rolling out on iOS over the next few weeks.
OTHER NEW THINGS
Number Picker: Now you can choose from a list of possible numbers and pick one that is easy to memorize. The devil may be in the details, but so is satisfaction. You choose a local number that suits you, and isn’t that the way things should be?
Bulk delete and mark-as-read: Many of us use Burner to avoid large numbers of unwanted calls and texts, all of which occupied inbox real estate and generated unnecessary “red ball” notifications on the app icon. Now you can clear these with bulk actions that let you mark-as-read or delete large batches of messages. (From within a line or the “recent messages” context, just pull down to see these options.)
Offline support: Burner now offers better support for reading your messages offline too.
Of course these features join many others, including text auto-replies, bot replies, custom photo backgrounds and line colors, message reminders, and so much more.
We are building phone numbers from the future. The future isn’t taking what you get and making do - the future is about choice, flexibility and utility. We are relentless about bringing the future of phone numbers to our customers, and Burner connections,VOIP and the many improvement we’ve made to the latest version of Burner are collectively a big step forward. Check it out here.
Download Burner today!
