> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.thread.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Phone and registration
> Buy a calling number for your guides in one click, then unlock texting with a one-time carrier registration.
Your guides text and call from real phone numbers your organization owns. **Phone & registration** — under **Settings → Branding & Identity** — is where an org admin buys those numbers and files the one-time carrier registration that unlocks texting.
The two capabilities arrive at different speeds, and the section is honest about it:
* **Calling** works the moment you buy a number. Nothing else is required.
* **Texting** requires a one-time registration with the mobile carriers (a business identity, a brand, and an A2P messaging campaign). You start it whenever you want it; texting turns on by itself once carriers approve.
Only organization admins can open Settings and configure phone & registration. The section is also unavailable on personal accounts — carrier registration requires a registered business.
## A state-aware flow
The section always opens at your first incomplete step. Steps you've finished never render as forms again — they compress into a status rail. Come back mid-registration and you resume exactly where you left off; come back after filing everything and you see only statuses and a **Refresh** button.
## Buy a number
Enter an area code (optional) and click **Search**. Thread lists purchasable US local numbers with their location and monthly price — included in your plan.
Click **Buy** on the number you want. One click does everything: the number is wired for inbound and outbound and joins your organization's pool.
You land on the status rail with the banner **"Calls are live now."** Your number dials today — nothing else is required for calling.
Numbers are pooled at the organization level. Each guide picks its own number from the pool, so you can buy one number or several. Once the section shows the rail, an **Add a number** row lets you search and buy more in place — and if your texting campaign is already verified, new numbers join it automatically, with no new forms or review.
Each pooled number shows a readiness chip: **Text + calls** once it can text, or **Calls · text pending** while texting registration is still in flight.
## Unlock texting
Texting is a deliberate, separate unlock — never forced after a buy. From the rail, the locked **Texting** row explains what's involved; click **Set up texting** to start. The registration is filed once per organization and covers every number in your pool.
Your legal business details: legal name, business type and industry, registration number (EIN in the US), address, website, and an authorized representative with a work email and direct phone. This identity is filed once and serves both texting and verified caller ID — nothing gets re-asked later.
Pick a brand tier. **Low-volume standard** suits a pilot (lower daily message volume, skips the vetting fee); **Standard** covers higher volume — for when a whole cohort texts at once. Registration fees are covered by Thread, and you can upgrade the tier later without re-registering the campaign. The brand files under the legal name from your business profile.
Review the prefilled campaign description and message flow (how your customers opted in), and paste your public **privacy policy** and **terms & conditions** URLs — carriers fetch both during review, so they must be live https pages on your own domain. Sample messages are shown read-only: they're the live first-text templates with your business name, so what carriers review is what actually sends. STOP/CANCEL/UNSUBSCRIBE and HELP keywords ride the platform defaults.
Carriers require the brand to be approved before a campaign can be filed. If your brand is still in review, the campaign step becomes a waiting room: everything is editable, but the submit button reads **Waiting for brand approval** until the brand clears. Use **Check status now** to re-read the latest status on demand instead of waiting for Thread's background sweep.
## The status rail
Once filed, the registration watches itself. The rail shows one row per filed resource — **Business profile**, **Brand**, **Campaign** — each with a plain-language status chip (*In review*, *Approved*, *Verified*, *Needs fixes*). A **Last checked** timestamp shows when statuses were last synced, and **Refresh** re-reads every filed resource on demand. Thread also re-checks in the background, so approvals land without you watching the page.
When the campaign reaches **Verified**, texting unlocks automatically for every number in your pool. There is no final step to click — the readiness chips flip to **Text + calls** and your guides can text.
## If a filing is rejected
Rejections are surfaced plainly, not hidden. If carriers reject your business profile or brand — most often a legal-name or EIN mismatch with government records — the section reopens at the business step with the carrier's reason shown. Correct the details and resubmit; a fresh filing is created and the chain continues from there.
Carrier and registry review timelines are outside Thread's control. Brand vetting and campaign review are performed by third parties, and their queues vary. Thread files everything for you, keeps statuses current, and unlocks texting the moment approval lands — but it cannot promise when that approval arrives. Plan texting-dependent launches accordingly.
## Verified caller ID
Verified caller ID is a separate **voice** unlock — independent of texting, with no carrier texting review involved. It makes your bought numbers registered callers: calls are signed as verified (SHAKEN/STIR), your name displays on recipients' handsets, and your numbers are protected from spam labeling.
From the rail, click **Set up** on the caller ID row:
1. **Business identity** — the same identity texting uses. If you already filed it, this step is skipped entirely.
2. **Caller trust** — one input: your caller ID display name (15 characters max — what handsets show when you call). One submit files it all against your identity.
Verified-caller signing is submitted immediately; name display and spam-label protection are filed by Thread on your behalf. The rail then shows a single line — **Verified caller ID — included** — with its current state. Caller trust can proceed while carriers are still reviewing your identity, and filing it never forces you into texting registration.
## Bring your own Twilio
If your organization already runs numbers on its own Twilio account, you can use them instead of buying from Thread. The **Bring your own number** flow lives inside the number pickers — where a guide picks its texting number, or a voice agent picks its calling number.
* **Connect once.** Enter your Account SID and auth token — one credential pair, never per number. The token is encrypted in Thread's vault and verifies that inbound webhooks are really from Twilio; rotate it any time to revoke access. Once connected, the picker shows the masked account (**Twilio connected · AC…1234**) with a **Switch account** button; new credentials replace the old ones.
* **Pick from your numbers.** Thread lists the numbers live from your connected account — nothing to paste.
* **See exactly what changes.** Before anything is written, Thread shows the full diff. For **texting**, one required change (the messaging webhook, so replies reach your guide) — gated behind a checkbox where you attest the traffic fits your own registered campaign; the attestation is recorded to your audit trail before the change applies. For **voice**, no changes are required at all: outbound calls carry their own per-call routing, and your number's existing inbound setup stays exactly as it was. Everything else — your campaign, messaging-service settings, STOP keywords, other numbers, billing — is untouched.
* **Texting rides your campaign.** A BYO number texts under your own carrier registration, so there's no Thread-side carrier wait — texting is live as soon as your campaign is verified on your account, and Thread re-verifies it daily. If your token rotates, texting pauses safely and Thread pages you rather than failing silently.
The applied number joins your pool tagged **Yours · BYO** and is assigned like any other number.
## Related pages
How guides use SMS, email, and voice as one conversation.
Consent, quiet hours, STOP handling, and the rest of the floor.
The email counterpart: one domain for sending and receiving.
Give a guide a phone voice with Voice Studio.