Cenaly Phone: several places, auto-answer, sign-out and password

This article covers four Cenaly Phone features that work the same on Android, iPhone and Windows: connecting to several workplaces at once, auto-answer and intercom, signing out and recovering your password. Starting from scratch on iPhone — “Cenaly Phone for iPhone: getting started”.

Which version you need#

Everything here arrived in the October 2026 Cenaly Phone update. If you see a separate “Connect this phone” screen after choosing a place, you have the previous version: update the app.

What you need#

Where you take calls#

After signing in the app shows one window — “Where do you take calls?” — listing the places where this phone can be connected:

1. Tick the places: “Tick the places where this phone will take calls”. All places not yet connected are ticked by default.
2. Press “Connect (N)” — all ticked places connect at once.
3. If there is only one place, the app connects it by itself — the window doesn't even appear.

There is no separate “Connect this phone” confirmation any more. Places already connected are marked “Connected”, each with “Your number 115”.

A place where you can't connect is greyed out with the reason:

If only some places connected — “Connected N of M. The reasons are shown next to the places below” and “Done”. An owner without their own PBX sees a “Set up telephony” card. No connection to the server — the app shows saved places and checks them when you connect.

To add a place later: the place ▾ on Home → “Connect another workplace” — the same window opens.

Calls from several places#

The phone keeps all connected places at the same time:

• an incoming call from any place rings right away, labelled with its place — for example “Work call · Hall”; on iPhone — on the system call screen in the place's name;
• the place ▾ on Home changes only what is shown: the number, the “mine” log, “Ringing at…”. The other places keep taking calls;
• outgoing calls use the place on the screen; with several places the keypad has “Calling from: Hall ▾”;
• the phone is woken by an incoming call from any place, even when the app is closed — directly by that place's PBX.

A call stays with its own place. On Windows and Android you can switch the viewed place during a call; iPhone switches it after you hang up (“The current call stays with …”). A consult transfer between places with different PBXs isn't possible — transfer within the call's place.

Two employer companies#

If you work for two companies and the second one added you with the same email, the “Where do you take calls?” window shows the places of both, grouped by company name. They connect with one button and work at the same time — no need to switch accounts. The “mine” log, the caller card, colleagues and wake-up work for each place within its company.

Auto-answer and intercom#

The “Auto-answer” button on Home#

On Home in Cenaly Phone — on Android, iPhone, Windows, in the browser extension and in the panel's web phone — there is a “Your availability” row of three press-down buttons: “Available”, “Do not disturb” and “Auto-answer”. A pressed button is filled with color (“Do not disturb” — with a warning color), and one line in words under the row says what is in effect, for example “Auto-answer: an incoming call is picked up by itself, on speaker”. How the buttons are linked is described in Home; in short:

• “Do not disturb” temporarily releases “Available” and “Auto-answer”; release it and both come back as they were.
• Release “Available” — “Auto-answer” is released too; press “Available” again and “Auto-answer” comes back if it was on.
• Press “Auto-answer” — “Available” is pressed too, and “Do not disturb” is turned off.
• A status changed on another device, with a code from a desk phone or by your manager comes from the phone system — the buttons redraw themselves.

While “Auto-answer” is pressed, an incoming call is picked up by itself and right on speaker, like in a car. If a headset, Bluetooth headphones or a car are connected, the sound goes there; on a computer and in the browser — to the selected sound device. Auto-answer works only while the button is pressed: a released “Available” or a pressed “Do not disturb” releases it, and the phone rings as usual. A call picked up by itself is marked “Answered automatically”.

“Answering calls” settings#

Settings → “Sound and notifications” (on Windows — “Sound”) → the “Answering calls” card:

• Auto-answer works for all places connected on this phone.
• Never answered automatically: a second call during a conversation and a monitoring call (agent assist, listening in).
• While the button is pressed, the Android service notification subtitle says “Auto-answer on”, and on Windows — the tray icon tooltip.
• In the browser extension and the panel's web phone these settings are stored in that browser.

The phone system's auto-answer guard#

A phone that picked up a call by itself tells the phone system so, and on the place's dedicated phone system the call is checked by the auto-answer guard. For the first few seconds — up to 5 by default, the manager can set 3 to 8 — the phone system listens to the sound from the phone, while the caller hears hold music or ringing.

• It hears a voice — the phone system connects at once, usually within a fraction of a second. When a call is picked up by itself, just start talking.
• It looks like nobody is at the phone — silence, steady room noise, and with the “bold” sensitivity also a TV or music without a voice. Then a call from a group or queue goes back to the same queue, to its previous place, and on to the next person, and a direct call continues along the number's route as unanswered — to other devices, call forwarding or voicemail.
• After that, only “Auto-answer” is released on the phone and you see “The phone system returned the call” — “It looks like you weren't at the phone — auto-answer is off”. “Available” stays pressed: the next calls come in as usual — they ring instead of being picked up by themselves. Back at the phone — press “Auto-answer” again.
• When in doubt, the conversation stays. The sound is not recorded — the guard only counts numbers (loudness and frequencies) and learns the “usual” sound of the phone from calls the employee answered by hand.

The manager turns the guard on and sets it up: Telephony → “Incoming call path” → the “Auto-answer guard” block — see Telephony: your own PBX. It is on by default.

Disconnect a place or sign out#

These are two different actions:

Your other devices (a desk phone, a second smartphone) keep working in both cases. You can't sign out during a call — end the call first.

Forgot your password#

On the sign-in screen, under the password — “Forgot password?”:

1. Enter your email → the app sends a code: “If there is an account for …, we have sent a code to it”.
2. Enter the “Code from the email”, “New password” and “Repeat the new password”.
3. On Android and iPhone the app signs in with the new password right away — no need to type it again.

Passwords are recovered the same way in all Cenaly Android apps that sign in with a password (POS, KDS, CRM, waiter, courier and others), in Cenaly Phone for iPhone and in the Windows apps. It works on both cenaly.ru and cenaly.ru. If the account needs a new password, the app says so and offers “Reset password”.

Limitations#

• The new features come with the app update; the previous version has one place at a time and a separate connect screen.
• A consult transfer between places on different PBXs is not supported.
• Wake-up directly from the PBX works once the place's PBX is updated; until then the cloud wakes the phone — a little slower.
• Auto-answer doesn't answer a call that the phone's system didn't show (a “Do Not Disturb” focus, a blocked number).
• The auto-answer guard works only on a dedicated phone system with updated firmware; without it, auto-answer simply picks up the call.
• In a group that rings everyone at once (without a queue), one phone's auto-answer stops the ringing on the others, and a call returned by the guard continues along the route rather than to colleagues in that group. A queue doesn't have this problem — the caller goes back to their place.
• On older phone system versions “Do not disturb” is turned on with a short service call (*78 / *79) — the app warns about it before the first time.
• In the browser extension and the web phone, “The phone system returned the call” is shown only while they are connected: they have no separate notification.

Troubleshooting#

FAQ#

If I disconnect one place, will the others keep ringing?#

Yes. Disconnecting affects only that place on this phone.

Will auto-answer also turn on for my desk phone?#

No. The “Auto-answer” button is a setting of this phone and works only on it. “Available” and “Do not disturb”, on the other hand, are the status of your work number: all your devices and your colleagues see them.

Why do calls keep coming after “The phone system returned the call”?#

The guard releases only “Auto-answer”; “Available” stays pressed, so you still get calls — the phone just rings again instead of picking them up by itself. If you have left, release “Available” or press “Do not disturb”.

Does the phone system listen to my conversations?#

The guard listens only to the first seconds of a call picked up by auto-answer, and only to tell whether someone is at the phone. It doesn't record or send the sound anywhere — it keeps only numbers: loudness and frequencies.

Does signing out disconnect my desk phone?#

No. Signing out disconnects only this device — from all its places.

Related sections#

• Cenaly Phone for iPhone: getting started
• Cenaly Phone: Home
• Cenaly Phone: view and settings
• Cenaly Phone: why it doesn't ring
• Hotel telephony: the room phone on the guest's smartphone
• Telephony: your own PBX