Capturing information from a user in a Apple Messages for Business chat conversation

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Capturing Information from a User in an Apple Messages for Business Chat Conversation

    The Virtual Agent Designer is a tool for creating and managing conversation topics between a virtual agent and users within Apple Messages for Business. It allows you to effectively prompt and capture information from users during chat interactions.

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    Key Features

    • User Notification Consent: Notifications are off by default. Users must opt in to receive notifications, which can be done either by entering "Notification" in the chat or through an admin portal setup.
    • User Input Controls: The application supports various input controls such as:
      • Text: Users can enter plain text.
      • Static Choice: Users select from a predefined list.
      • Dynamic Choice: Users choose from a dynamically generated list.
      • Boolean: Users provide Yes or No responses.
      • File Picker: Users can send files.
      • Date Time: Users can select date and time.
      • Carousel: Users select items from a carousel.
    • Bot Responses: The application supports various bot responses, including:
      • Text: Plain text messages.
      • Image: Sending images to users.
      • Link: Sharing web links (must be in the allowed domain list).
      • Table: Organized information display.
      • Card: Displaying selected information from a record in various formats.

    Key Outcomes

    By utilizing the Virtual Agent Designer within Apple Messages for Business, customers can enhance their chat interactions by effectively capturing user information and providing rich, interactive responses, ultimately improving user engagement and satisfaction.

    Virtual Agent Designer is a diagram tool for creating and managing topics, which are blueprints for conversations between a virtual agent and user.

    Use the collection of input controls provided by the Virtual Agent Designer to prompt and capture information from a requester in a Apple Messages for Business chat conversation. For more information, see Getting started with Virtual Agent Designer.

    For more information about displaying images along with external links, see Using link unfurling in Virtual Agent.

    Apple Messages for Business has an array of interactive features that are native to the app. For more information about these interactive features, see Conversational Integration with Apple Messages for Business.

    User notification consent

    Note:

    Notifications are turned off by default for the Apple Messages for Business channel. Make sure to enable notifications at the channel level.

    Users must opt in to receive notifications. No notifications can be delivered until the user grants consent.

    There are two ways for users to grant consent to receive notifications:
    • The user can enter Notification into the Apple Messages for Business chat to get a bot response with the option to subscribe or unsubscribe from receiving notifications for your business on Apple Messages for Business.
    • As the administrator, you can set up the option for users to subscribe or unsubscribe from notifications from your portal. See Subscription-based notifications for more information.

    User input controls

    The Conversational Integration with Apple Messages for Business application supports the following user input controls in Virtual Agent Designer.

    Table 1. Supported user input controls
    User input control Description
    Text User enters a plain text string in the conversation.
    Static Choice User selects an item from a predefined list.
    Dynamic Choice User selects an item from a list that is created dynamically. For example, the user can select from a list of cases that they opened.
    Boolean User enters a Boolean response to the bot. For example, the user can reply Yes or No in a chat conversation.
    File Picker User sends a file to the bot.
    Date Time User selects a calendar date, time (hours and minutes), or both.
    Carousel User selects a single item from the carousel.

    For more information about configuring user input controls, see Assistant Designer user input controls.

    The Conversational Integration with Apple Messages for Business application supports the following bot responses in Virtual Agent Designer.

    Table 2. Supported bot responses
    Bot response Description
    Text Bot sends a plain text string to the user.
    Image Bot sends an image to the user.
    Link

    Bot sends a web link to the user.

    Note:
    Any URLs must be added to the allowed domain list (sys_cs_hostname_allow_list) table.
    Table

    Bot sends information in a table format so that users can see information in a more organized way.

    For example, you can organize and display information such as the following:
    • Planned service changes
    • Company holidays
    • Contact information
    • Testing sites
    Card Bot uploads and displays selected information from a record on your instance. You can choose a record card, video card, or small or large image card.

    For more information about configuring bot responses, see Assistant Designer bot responses.