Answering
When you can't pick up, Pepper can answer the call for you: it tells the caller it's an automated answering service, takes a message, and sends you a short summary of who called and why. It never says whose phone the caller reached, never gives a caller anything from your account — except a note you choose to share — and never tells them it's Pepper — the caller is a stranger to you, so your assistant's name means nothing to them.
Answering lives in the Answering app on the iPhone. It has three tabs: Calls, Rules and Setup.
Turning it on
Pepper can't change your phone's settings for you, so Setup walks through three steps:
- Turn on Answering. The toggle at the top of Setup. Forwarding alone isn't enough: with it off, a forwarded call reaches Pepper and still isn't answered, and you'll get a message (at most once a day) saying the forward worked and Answering needs turning on.
- Forward the calls you miss to Pepper's number. Setup shows the number (tap to copy) and the code your carrier uses, dialed from the phone's keypad:
*71<number>on Verizon,*61*<number>#on AT&T,**61*<number>**20#on T-Mobile. - Turn off Live Voicemail in Settings → Apps → Phone → Live Voicemail (on iOS 17 it's Settings → Phone → Live Voicemail). While it's on, the iPhone answers missed calls itself, so they never forward to Pepper.
Pepper can't see your forwarding settings either, so Setup never claims forwarding is on. It marks forwarding confirmed the first time a forwarded call actually reaches Pepper — whether or not the Answering toggle is on. To test, have someone else call you and let it ring out; calling your own number from your own phone skips forwarding.
Carrier support is still being confirmed. Pepper tells a forwarded call apart from an ordinary call by the forwarding details the carrier sends along with it, and not every carrier sends them. If your carrier sends nothing Pepper can use, calls you forward won't be answered for you.
What happens on a call
Pepper picks up with "Hi, you've reached an automated answering service," and talks with the caller for up to 30 seconds by default. You can raise that to 60 in Setup. Near the end it wraps up politely, and at the limit the call ends whatever happens. That cap is what keeps robocalls cheap.
Nothing is recorded as audio. The words are kept as a transcript for you to read on the call's card.
If someone calls back within five minutes, Pepper doesn't start a second conversation. It tells them it has already passed their call along, and the call is flagged as urgent for you.
After the call
You get a summary through the channels you pick in Setup: the app, email or SMS, in any combination. Pepper never phones you to tell you about a call. On the iPhone, the notification has Call back and Next time: take a message buttons.
A call is marked urgent only for a real reason: a rule you set to flag that caller as urgent, the caller saying something like "emergency", or a redial within minutes. A caller can't simply talk their way into an urgent alert.
The call's card in Calls has the summary, the transcript, and actions: call back, text back, add as a contact, block, and Next time they call choices that set a rule for that number.
Rules
A rule tells Pepper how to handle a caller. The most specific rule wins, in this order:
- a specific number
- anyone in your contacts
- anyone not in your contacts
- everyone else, the default
Each rule is one kind of handling: take a message (the default), flag as urgent, say you'll call back, book a time, collect something specific, hang up, block, or custom instructions in your own words. Hang up ends the call and still tells you they called; Block ends it and tells you nothing.
Rules can be set three ways: the Next time choices on a call's card, the Rules tab, or just asking Pepper in chat ("if my dentist calls, say I'll call back"). Rules made in chat are saved right away and show up in the Rules tab, where you can change them. Every rule is standing: there are no one-time or expiring rules.
"In your contacts" means your Google Contacts, if you've connected them. Nothing is uploaded from the phone.
Answering questions from a note
In Setup, you can point Answering at one of your own notes — hours, address, services, prices, anything you'd tell a caller. If a caller asks something the note answers, Pepper answers it instead of just taking a message. Anything written in that note can be told to any caller, so don't put anything in it you wouldn't tell a stranger. Only the first 8,000 characters are used; if you delete the note, Answering simply skips it and takes a message instead — callers can't get anything else.
Booking
If you turn on booking in Setup (it's off to start with), a caller with a "book a time" rule can pick a slot Pepper finds free on your calendar. Pepper offers a couple of times, holds the one they choose briefly, puts it on your calendar, and texts the caller a confirmation. If Pepper can't confirm a time, it takes a message instead so the two of you can arrange it.
Things to try
- At a wedding. Running the wedding, or anywhere else you can't pick up: Answering takes the calls you miss, and pointed at a note with the directions and parking, it answers callers' questions from it instead of just taking a message.
Needs the iPhone app. - Leave the unknown number to ring out. No more wondering who that unknown number was: with Answering on, Pepper picks up the calls you miss, finds out who's calling and why, and sends you a short summary.
Needs the iPhone app. - Abroad and expecting a call. Out of the country and waiting on an important call? Set a rule that tells that caller what they need — "if the realtor calls, tell them the signed papers are in their inbox and I'll call Monday" — so the call isn't wasted on voicemail.
Needs the iPhone app.
Try it: "If the realtor calls, tell them the signed papers are in their inbox and I'll call Monday" - Directing the school play. Directing the play, coaching the game, anywhere parents keep ringing about pickup: point Answering at a note with the logistics and every caller gets the answer while you get on with it.
Needs the iPhone app. - Run a side business. Point Answering at a note with your hours, prices and services and it answers callers from it. Turn on booking too, and a caller can pick a time that goes straight on your calendar.
Needs the iPhone app.