> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://omni.fireflo.au/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Channels > The four ways OMNI reaches people — SMS, WhatsApp, RCS and Voice — how each connects, what they all share, and what each battery adds on each one. A **channel** is one way of reaching people. OMNI has four: Text messages from your sender IDs, with approved templates and India's DLT when you need it. Two-way conversations, approved templates, media, buttons and reactions. Rich cards, carousels and buttons in the phone's own messages app, sent by bots routed by country. Numbers, IVRs, click-to-call, voice broadcasts and voice agents, with a call log and recordings. Each channel is a separate part of the plan. A channel appears in the menu only when the plan includes it; until it is connected, its section shows **Settings** alone, badged **Set up**. ## Shared connection or your own Every channel connects one of two ways, chosen on its Settings page under **Connection** or **How you connect**: | | The shared connection | Your own connection | | :- | :- | :- | | **SMS** | FireFlo's SMS gateway. Included, nothing to set up. | Your own gateway's address and login. | | **WhatsApp** | A number FireFlo hosts for you — or, until yours is set up, FireFlo's shared number. No Meta setup. | Your number, in your own WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) and Meta app. | | **RCS** | Bots FireFlo runs and routes by country. | Your own login at your RCS provider, and your own bots. | | **Voice** | FireFlo's FireTone organisation, with numbers FireFlo gives you. | Your own FireTone organisation, through its integration key. | The shared connection is the quickest start. Your own connection gives you everything on your provider account — and on Voice, it is required for [voice broadcasts and voice agents](/channels/voice#what-needs-your-own-voice-organisation). Switching back to the shared connection keeps your own details saved. When FireFlo runs a channel for your account, the Settings page says so and there is nothing to connect. If a shared connection reads "Not offered on this platform yet", ask [support@fireflo.au](mailto:support@fireflo.au). The **Channels** page lists every channel with where it stands: **Not in plan**, **Not configured**, **Configured · untested**, **Connected** or **Error**. A channel is active when the plan includes it and a connection is configured — shared or your own. ## What every channel shares The channels differ in what they carry, but the rest of OMNI treats them alike. Replies on SMS, WhatsApp and RCS land in one [Inbox](/using/inbox), in the person's thread for that channel. You answer on whichever channel you pick under **Reply via**. Calls appear on the contact's timeline instead. Every message and call is filed against the [contact](/using/contacts), so their page shows one history across all four channels. Every channel honours **do-not-contact**, which stops everything, one-time codes included, and **quiet hours** — the person's own, or else the account's — during which promotional messages wait. When someone sends **STOP**, they stop hearing from you on every channel; **START** brings them back. With the [Customer data](/batteries/customer-data) battery, a person can instead stop one channel, or only its marketing. A [broadcast](/using/broadcasts) can go out on any channel in the plan. People who opted out are left out before anything is sent. What happened to each message — sent, delivered, read, failed and why — is on the [delivery report](/using/delivery-report), whatever the channel. The [OMNI API](/developers/overview) sends on every messaging channel, with [failover](/developers/messages-with-failover) from one to the next, and [places calls](/developers/calls) on Voice. ## What each battery adds A [battery](/batteries/overview) is an optional boost. Every channel works without any. A battery adds the rows below only when it is in the account's plan. | Battery | SMS | WhatsApp | RCS | Voice | | :- | :- | :- | :- | :- | | **AI Agents** | Agents reply by filling in an approved DLT template; draft new templates; run workflows ("Reply 1 or 2"); answer questions about broadcasts. | Agents reply in free text inside the 24-hour window and by template outside it; draft and submit templates; run workflows with reply buttons; answer questions about broadcasts. | Answer questions about broadcasts. Agents don't reply on RCS, since it carries approved templates only. | — | | **Calendar** | Reminders, confirmations and booking codes by SMS when there's no WhatsApp route and the text matches a DLT template. | Reminders with Confirm, Reschedule and Cancel buttons; a list of free times to book from; booking codes. | — | — | | **Catalogue** | Products as names, prices and a link to your catalogue page. | Products pushed to your Meta catalogue; product cards and lists people can order from (on your own number); carts become orders. | Products as names, prices and a link to your catalogue page. | — | | **Customer data** | Per-channel consent, opt-in for marketing, your own stop and start words, the preference page, audiences and traits. | The same. | The same. | Voice appears in consent and on the preference page, so someone can stop calls without stopping messages. | | **Pipelines** | Messages on a deal's timeline; a contact's deals beside their thread. | The same. | The same. | — | | **Tickets** | Raise a conversation as a ticket that stays in step with it. | The same. | The same. | — | The channel pages say more about each row. ## Who may set up a channel Connecting a channel and changing its settings needs the permission to **configure channel modules**. By default the **Owner** and **Admin** roles have it. Sending needs the permission to **send messages** (Owner, Admin and Support by default). See [Team and roles](/using/team-and-roles) to change who holds what. This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.