Team Chat

Team Chat supports three kinds of conversations:

• Team Chat - a single, restaurant-wide group conversation that everyone can see, always pinned at the top of the chat list.
• Direct messages (1:1) - a private conversation between you and one teammate.
• Shift groups - a temporary group chat for everyone scheduled at a specific branch on a specific date.

Starting a conversation

• Direct message: click + New Chat in the sidebar, then search for and tap a teammate’s name. If you’ve already messaged them before, it reopens that same conversation instead of creating a new one.
• Shift group: click Shift Group in the sidebar, pick a date (and branch, if your restaurant has more than one), then click Open Group. This automatically adds everyone scheduled to work that branch on that date, plus you (even if you’re not personally scheduled that day). Opening the same branch/date again reuses the existing group rather than making a duplicate.

Sending messages

Inside a conversation you can type a message and press Enter to send (Shift+Enter for a new line), and attach a single photo per message using the image icon. Messages you send appear instantly; messages update live for other participants without needing to refresh, and every message you send also triggers a push notification to the other participant(s) in that conversation.

You can delete a message you sent. Owners, Ops Managers, and Managers can delete any message in any conversation. As with Announcements, there’s no way to edit a message after sending it - delete it and send a corrected one instead.

A conversation only loads its most recent 150 messages when you open it. New messages arrive live after that, but there’s no “load more” to scroll further back into very old history the way the Announcements feed has - if you need to find something from much earlier in a long-running Team Chat, you may not be able to scroll back to it.

Unread messages

Conversations with a message you haven’t seen yet show a small red dot on the avatar and a bolded name in the sidebar. This is based on a per-conversation read receipt: opening a conversation marks everything in it as read up to that moment, so the indicator clears for that chat (it can still light back up the moment someone sends something new, even while you’re looking at the sidebar).

Pinning and hiding conversations

Open the ⋯ menu on a conversation in the sidebar (or in the open thread’s header) to:

• Pin to top / Unpin - keeps that conversation above your other chats (Team Chat is always first regardless).
• Delete chat (direct messages only) - removes the conversation from your own chat list. It isn’t deleted for the other person, and it reappears in your list automatically if they send you a new message. Team Chat and shift groups can’t be deleted this way since they’re shared channels, though shift groups can still be pinned.

Auto-translate

If a teammate writes in a different language than yours, SessionPilot OPS can translate their messages for you automatically. Turn this on from your profile settings (the “You” page): enable the “Auto-translate chat messages” toggle, alongside the Language setting that tells the app which language is yours.

Once it’s on, any message from someone whose profile language differs from yours is translated automatically, with a small 🌐 “Show original” link underneath so you can toggle back to what they actually typed. Messages while translation is still loading show a “···” indicator.

Frequently asked questions

Why don’t I see Chat in my navigation at all? It’s a separate feature toggle tied to your restaurant’s plan tier, with the SessionPilot team able to fine-tune it per-restaurant on top of that - there’s nothing to turn on yourself in Settings. Contact SessionPilot support (see Billing) rather than looking for a toggle in the app.

Can I edit a chat message after sending it? No, there’s no edit option. Delete it and send a corrected version instead.

I need to find an old message but Team Chat won’t scroll back that far. Only the most recent 150 messages in a conversation are loaded, with no “load more” for older history. If it’s important, ask the person directly or check whether the same information was posted as an Announcement instead.

A teammate’s messages are showing translated and I want the original. Tap the 🌐 “Show original” link under a translated message to toggle back to exactly what they typed. To stop auto-translating altogether, turn off “Auto-translate chat messages” on your You profile page.