Install
Go to vocal.solutions/download-app. The page offers the right build for the computer you’re on.- Mac: Download for macOS gets the Apple Silicon build. On an older Intel Mac, click Download for Intel instead. Open the DMG and drag Vocal into your Applications folder. The app is signed and notarized by Apple.
- Windows: Download for Windows gets a signed installer. For the first few days after a new release, Windows SmartScreen may still warn that the app is unrecognized; click More info, then Run anyway.
Sign in
Click Continue with Google and Vocal opens your usual web browser to finish signing in, then hands you back to the app. That trip through the browser is expected. If the browser is already signed in to Vocal, it asks whether to continue with that account or choose another. Continue with email signs you in without leaving the app.Updates
Vocal downloads updates in the background and installs them when you quit, or the next time it starts. Settings → About shows your version and has Check for updates. Now and then an update is required, and Vocal asks you to restart before you keep working. On a Mac, automatic updates only work when Vocal runs from the Applications folder. If you opened it from the DMG or Downloads, About shows Move Vocal to your Applications folder to enable automatic updates.Calls and rings
Calls work the same as in the browser: a banner at the top of the main window to answer, then the full call view or the floating widget (see Make and take calls). The app adds two things:- The Dock icon bounces on a Mac, or the taskbar button flashes on Windows, until you answer or the ring stops. This doesn’t happen while you’re set to Do Not Disturb.
- Incoming calls and texts show as system notifications. Settings → Notifications → Desktop notifications sends a test notification and opens your computer’s notification settings, where you choose how Vocal’s alerts appear.
The phone window
If you’d rather have calls in a small window over your other apps, click Pop out call in the call view during a call, or Pop out to its own window on the floating widget. Vocal remembers the choice and opens later calls there. To go back, click Back to app; the call returns to the main window and later calls stay there. On the Keypad page, Pop out keypad opens the same window as a dialer. It also opens by itself when a call rings while Vocal is minimized or in the tray, so you can still answer. It has three sizes and switches between them as you use it:
In Mini, Expand phone window opens the transcript in Expanded. Opening Transcript, Notes, or Messages also widens the window, and Minimize to mini player shrinks a call back to Mini. Mini and Compact are fixed sizes; only Expanded can be resized by dragging. Keep on top, in the window’s Settings menu, keeps it above other windows and is on by default.