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The Inbox is two-way texting with your clients, from your salon’s number instead of your personal one. Booking questions, running-late messages, “can you squeeze me in Thursday”: it all lives in one place your salon team can use. Conversations turn on when your salon’s own number is set up. Automatic appointment texts already work from day one through Sable’s shared number. Booth renters’ client conversations stay private to the renter who owns them. Search for a client or conversation using phone digits, such as 3125550142. Spaces, parentheses, and hyphens are optional, and you can search by part of the number. The same search works when choosing a recipient for a new message.

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The Inbox

To set up the number that turns on client conversations, see Set up business texting. Conversations sit on the left, the thread on the right, and it works the way texting should:
  • New message starts a conversation with a client you can message who has a phone number on file.
  • Filter conversations by read, unread, or archived, and Archive the ones that are finished. Archived isn’t deleted; it’s just out of the way.
  • Mark as unread when you read something at a red light and need it to still be there mentally at the end of the day.
  • Book straight from a conversation when “any openings Thursday?” turns into an appointment.
  • On iPhone and iPad, touch and hold the name or phone number at the top of a conversation to select and copy it.
  • On iPhone and iPad, unfinished messages are saved on your device as you type. Clear the text to discard a draft, or return to the conversation to continue it.
  • Messages a teammate sent carry their name, so a shared number still reads like people talking rather than the salon talking.
Owners, admins, and front desk see the salon-owned inbox. Commission stylists see conversations only for clients assigned to them through a preferred-stylist assignment or appointment history, excluding booth-renter-owned clients. Booth renters see conversations for clients in their own directory, with other renters’ conversations excluded. These rules also apply to search, unread badges, sending, Send Later, and conversation actions. A conversation becomes booth-renter-owned when an active booth renter is the client’s preferred stylist. Only that renter can see or reply to it; it stays hidden from the owner, front desk, other stylists, and other booth renters even when someone else has booked that client before. There is no option to delegate those conversations to front desk right now, and salon staff cannot clear the client assignment to reveal a renter’s thread. If the renter leaves the salon or changes to a salon role, the conversation returns to the salon-owned inbox so new replies do not go unnoticed. Unread badges follow the same rules, so the number on the tab always matches what opening it shows. Client reply notifications go to the staff member who most recently sent a manual message in that conversation. Automated reminders do not take over the conversation. Before anyone has replied, the assigned stylist receives the alert, with shared-inbox staff as the fallback when no assigned stylist is available. This does not change who can open or reply to a shared conversation. See Notifications on iPhone and iPad for previews, unread alerts, and push settings.

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Photos from clients

On iOS, photos received from clients appear in the conversation. Tap a photo to open it, then close it to return to your messages. If a photo fails to load, tap Retry. Attachments that are no longer available or cannot be displayed show a message in place of the photo. Photos follow the same conversation permissions as messages. Text messaging runs on permission, and Sable tracks it for you:
  • Appointment texts (confirmations, reminders, receipts): clients agree to these when they book through your booking page or explicitly check an SMS consent field on an intake form. Both controls are optional and unchecked by default.
  • Marketing texts (campaigns, promotions): a separate, optional checkbox at booking. Agreeing to reminders is not agreeing to promotions, and Sable keeps the two apart.
  • STOP always wins. A client who texts STOP stops getting messages, automatically, no action needed from you.
Form submissions with valid SMS consent can open the client’s Inbox thread from Reply. Sable never treats filling out a form as permission by itself: the SMS checkbox must be explicitly checked. If texting is unavailable, the submission offers email instead when possible. When you start a conversation with a client who hasn’t come through the booking page (an imported client, a phone booking), Sable asks you to Confirm SMS permission: a quick attestation that this person actually gave your business the OK to text them. Answer it honestly. It exists to protect your sending reputation, which is what keeps your reminders landing in message threads instead of spam folders. You can also ask Jules in chat to record this permission from a conversation. Jules shows the same statement on a confirmation card, and permission is recorded only when you approve it. Jules can also mark conversations read or unread, archive, block, delete, and restore them, with the same access rules as the Inbox. If you enter a phone number in New Message and no client matches, staff with permission to add clients can create one there. Enter the client’s name and confirm that they already gave your business permission to text them. Sable opens the new conversation after saving the client; it does not send a message for you. An invalid number or one that belongs to an existing client cannot use this shortcut; opting out still prevents sending.
Importing a client list brings the people, not their texting permission. See Import your clients for how to handle a list from another system.

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Habits that keep messaging healthy

  • Keep phone numbers current; a conversation can’t start without one.
  • Let the automated reminders do the routine work (they have their own guide) and save the Inbox for actual conversation.
  • If a client asks to stop hearing from you, honor it on the spot; don’t wait for them to text STOP.
Still stuck? Visit the Help Center to submit a support ticket.

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Messages on iPhone and iPad

Client message pushes show the client’s name and message, subject to your iPhone’s notification preview settings. Opening a conversation clears the related notification alerts after its messages load. See Notifications on iPhone and iPad to manage push categories and the app icon’s unread count. Open Inbox from the app menu. Conversations appear newest first, based on their latest message. Tap New message, search for a client, and choose their name. Tap the photo at the top of a conversation to open client information, view their full profile, or change the conversation photo. Choosing initials keeps the client’s original profile photo available. Swipe left on a conversation to archive or delete it. Use Edit to select several conversations and mark them read, archive them, or delete them together. Recently Deleted lets you restore conversation history. Deleting a conversation cancels its pending scheduled messages; restoring the conversation does not restart those sends. A new incoming text brings the conversation back to the inbox. The filter menu stays available when the inbox is empty, so you can still open Archived and Recently Deleted. Pull down on the conversation list to refresh it. While Messages is open, the list also updates automatically.

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Send Later

In a conversation, tap +, then Send Later. Drag the date and time wheels to choose a time in the next 14 days. The picker uses your salon’s time zone; scheduled sends are available between 8 AM and 9 PM. Write the message and tap the send arrow to save it to the schedule. A scheduled message stays outlined until it is sent. Tap Edit beside its time to send it now, change its time or text, or cancel it. The Send Later filter collects conversations with scheduled messages. Sable checks SMS consent, the client’s current number, and the sender’s access again when the message is due. If any of those have changed, the message shows as not sent. Messages whose delivery cannot be confirmed are not automatically sent again. Your draft keeps its request identity for a safe retry; check the conversation before choosing New draft and sending another request.

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Daily texting limits and recovery

Manual replies and scheduled messages count toward your salon’s daily texting limit. If the limit is reached, Sable keeps your draft so you can send it after the limit resets. Archived conversations do not contribute to the inbox unread count. A new client reply returns an archived or deleted conversation to the inbox. Restore deleted conversations from Recently Deleted in the iOS Messages filter. Restoring them makes them visible on the web again, without restarting canceled scheduled messages. When a teammate edits a scheduled message, Sable retains the original creator and records the latest editor. Sending checks the editor’s current permissions and attributes the message to them. Send Now also checks the permissions of the person pressing it and keeps that same editor attribution.

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Book from a conversation

On iPhone, choose Book Appointment from the contact card or the conversation’s three-dot menu. The client carries over. Tap Choose date and time to browse the appointment calendar and select a time while seeing the stylist’s schedule. Choose services before confirming the appointment. This action is available when your role can book appointments. Swipe right from the left edge of a conversation to return to Messages. Release a short swipe to stay in the conversation.