# ChatGPT Dots voice calls: how to call your dot Call your dot from the phone button in its conversation, on a computer or a phone. What a call can do, what hanging up stops, and fixes when it won't connect. *From How to Use Dots, an independent guide (not affiliated with OpenAI). Web version: https://howtousedots.com/voice-calls Last verified: 2026-10-06.* *Step 9 of 10 on the path "Learn Dots, step by step". Before it: [Connect your computer](https://howtousedots.com/connect-your-computer.md). After it: [Memory](https://howtousedots.com/memory.md).* To call your dot, open its conversation and click the phone button at the top right. You talk, and your dot answers out loud. **In short** - The phone button is at the top right of your dot's conversation, on a computer and in the ChatGPT app on your phone. - The call reads **Calling...** for a few seconds, then shows a timer. That's your cue to talk. - You call your dot. Your dot can't call you. You need a dot ([create one](https://howtousedots.com/setup) first) and a microphone ChatGPT is allowed to use. Calls work in a desktop browser, the desktop app and the ChatGPT phone app, and not in a phone's web browser. ## Call your dot on a computer A call is a small card that sits on top of your dot's conversation. These six steps follow one call from start to finish. **Walkthrough: Call your dot on a computer** ### Step 1: Click the phone button Open your dot's conversation. The phone sits at the top right, and its tooltip reads **Start call**. The **Call** button in your dot's profile does the same thing. ![The top right of a dot's conversation: a three-dot menu, a phone icon with the tooltip Start call, and the profile button. The dot's profile is open underneath](https://howtousedots.com/assets/shots/voice-calls-start-call.jpg) Image: The AI Advantage (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3xKmcHBOzY) ### Step 2: Wait while it says Calling... A dark card appears with your dot's name and **Calling...**. A call that works connects within a few seconds. ![A dark call card with the dot's name, the line Calling..., a mute button and a red hang-up button](https://howtousedots.com/assets/shots/voice-calls-calling.jpg) 1. **Calling...** means it's ringing. 2. Mute your microphone. 3. Hang up. Image: The AI Advantage (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3xKmcHBOzY) ### Step 3: Talk when the timer starts **Calling...** turns into a timer. Your dot can hear you now. Say what you want the way you'd say it to a colleague. ![The same call card, now showing a timer at 00:00 where Calling... was](https://howtousedots.com/assets/shots/voice-calls-timer.jpg) Image: The AI Advantage (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3xKmcHBOzY) ### Step 4: Watch the line under its name While your dot works on what you said, the timer gives way to what it's doing: **Thinking**, or a step such as **Sending message to cloud chat**. The conversation underneath stays usable, so type anything that has to be exact, such as a link or a name. ![The call card during a call. Under the dot's name the line reads Sending message to cloud chat](https://howtousedots.com/assets/shots/voice-calls-status.jpg) 1. What your dot is doing right now. Image: The AI Advantage (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3xKmcHBOzY) ### Step 5: Click the red button to hang up Its tooltip reads **Hang up**. ![The call card with the pointer on the red button and the tooltip Hang up](https://howtousedots.com/assets/shots/voice-calls-hang-up.jpg) Image: The AI Advantage (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3xKmcHBOzY) ### Step 6: Read what the call left behind The card disappears. Your conversation gains a marker with the call's length, and under it your dot writes up what you agreed. ![A dot's conversation after a call. A marker reads 1m 52s, Call ended. Under it the dot writes: Your OBS reminder is set for 14:36 SAST. One correction from our call: I can send the reminder here, but outgoing calls aren't available to me right now](https://howtousedots.com/assets/shots/voice-calls-call-ended.jpg) 1. The call, logged with its length. 2. The write-up. What you said out loud isn't copied into the conversation, so this is your record. Image: Leon van Zyl (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niv2BEcOkR8) ## Call from your phone On a phone the steps are the same and the call fills the screen. Open the ChatGPT app's menu, tap your dot (it's the first entry), then tap the phone button at the top right of the conversation. ![Two iPhone screens side by side. On the left the call reads Calling... with buttons labeled iPhone, End and Mute. On the right it shows a timer at 0:00 and the first button now reads Speaker](https://howtousedots.com/assets/shots/voice-calls-phone-call.jpg) 1. Ringing: **Calling...** 2. Connected: the timer. Talk now. 3. The first button names where the sound is going. It reads **iPhone** until you switch to **Speaker**. *The same call a few seconds apart. **End** hangs up, and **Mute** turns into **Unmute** while you're muted.* Image: Futurepedia (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_1Vn2WfpEY) ## Try a call Now place one yourself. This practice call shows what your dot does with four things people say on a call, and what the conversation looks like after you hang up. **Interactive: Simulator: call a dot** Open it: https://howtousedots.com/widgets/call-simulator.html What it does: A phone mock of a dot's conversation. Tap the phone button and the screen reads Calling..., then a timer. While connected you can hand over a job by voice (the dot starts and the job keeps running after you hang up), ask how a job is going (a call works from part of your conversation, so it can know less than a background task), ask for a call back (a dot can't start a call and offers a message instead), or type a link while you talk (the conversation stays usable). End returns to the conversation, which gains a marker such as "23s · Call ended" and the dot's written follow-up. A switch makes the next call fail, showing Call failed, the message "Couldn't connect the call. Check your connection and microphone access, then try again." and Try again. Its content as text: ### Call a dot Tap the phone button, say a few things, then hang up. Watch what the call does and what it leaves behind in the conversation. Juno · Active The budget report is about half done. I'll send it when it's ready. tap the phone, top right Message Not on a call. Tap the phone button at the top right of the conversation. #### Hand over a job by voice Your dot starts while you're still talking. The line under the timer shows the step it's on, such as **Thinking**. The job is the same as one you typed: it keeps running after you hang up. #### Ask how a job is going You get a spoken summary. A call works from part of your conversation, so it can know less than the task that's running in the background. For the detail, open the task under Recent activity in your dot's profile. #### Ask your dot to call you Your dot can't start a call. Calls go one way: you call it. It offers a message at that time instead. #### Type while you talk The conversation stays open during a call. Type anything that has to be exact: a link, a name, a number. Your dot can message you there too. #### Hang up The conversation gains a marker with the call's length, and your dot writes up what you agreed. What you said out loud isn't written into the conversation. Hanging up ends the voice conversation and nothing else. Work you handed over carries on. #### When the call doesn't connect The screen reads **Call failed**. Check that ChatGPT may use your microphone, then tap **Try again**. A second try often connects. Need your dot right now? Type to it. Messages don't depend on the call. [ ] Make the next call fail ## What hanging up does Hanging up ends the call. A job you handed over during it keeps running. Diagram: A call and a job on one line. You call, you hand over a job, you hang up. An arrow runs from the job past the hang-up to a result that arrives in your chat. - You call → You hand over a job - You hand over a job → You hang up - You hand over a job → The job's result, in your chat - To stop the job as well, tell your dot to stop, out loud before you hang up or in a message afterwards. - A call works from part of your conversation. For the detail of a running task, open it under **Recent activity** in your dot's profile. ## If the call won't connect Sometimes **Calling...** never turns into a timer. On a phone the screen changes to **Call failed**. On a computer a red banner reads "Couldn't connect the call. Please try again". ![An iPhone call screen reading Call failed. Couldn't connect the call. Check your connection and microphone access, then try again. A Try again button sits under the message](https://howtousedots.com/assets/shots/voice-calls-call-failed.jpg) Image: Minda on X (https://x.com/mindagames/status/2106116164170702939) Try these in order: 1. **Hang up and call again.** If it still says **Calling...** after ten seconds or so, that call isn't going to connect. A second try often does. 2. **Check microphone access.** The first call asks for it. If you clicked **Don't Allow**, turn the microphone on for ChatGPT in your system or browser settings. 3. **Stop dictating.** The microphone in the message box is **Dictate**, which types what you say. While it's recording, the phone button is greyed out. 4. **Call from another device.** If the phone app fails, try a computer, and the other way round. 5. **Type instead.** Messages don't depend on the call. ## Check you've got it One question before you move on. **Predict: You ask your dot on a call to compare five hotels. Ten seconds later you hang up. What happens to the hotel job?** - It stops, because the call ended - It keeps running and the answer arrives in your conversation - It pauses until you call back Answer: It keeps running and the answer arrives in your conversation Your dot writes up what you agreed right under the **Call ended** marker. ## Next step You can call your dot. The last lesson covers what it remembers. **Next:** [Memory](https://howtousedots.com/memory) A dot remembers with three things: the conversation, its own notes and ChatGPT memory. See where each fact lands, what you can view, and how to delete it. ### Can my dot call me at a set time? No. You place every call. Ask your dot for a message at that time, and call it when the message arrives. ### Is there a time limit on a call? OpenAI doesn't publish one, and the call screen shows no limit. The timer just counts up. ### Do calls use up my plan's usage? Conversations with your dot don't count toward your ChatGPT usage limits, and a call is a conversation. Jobs your dot starts in Work or Codex because of a call count toward those products' limits as usual. See [Dots usage limits](https://howtousedots.com/limits). - 2026-10-06: Rebuilt around the real call screens, with a practice call. - 2026-10-05: First published. ## Sources - [OpenAI docs: Message your dot (ChatGPT and voice)](https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/dots/channels) - [OpenAI docs: Meet dots](https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/dots) - [OpenAI docs: Tasks and memory (what a call can see)](https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/dots/tasks-and-memory) - [OpenAI docs: Control your dot](https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/dots/controls) - [OpenAI Help Center: Getting started with your dot](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001530-getting-started-with-your-dot) - [The AI Advantage on YouTube: screenshots of a call on the web](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3xKmcHBOzY) - [Leon van Zyl on YouTube: screenshot of a conversation after a call](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niv2BEcOkR8) - [Futurepedia on YouTube: screenshots of a call on an iPhone](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_1Vn2WfpEY) - [Minda on X: screenshot of the Call failed screen](https://x.com/mindagames/status/2106116164170702939)