Presence
What is Presence?
Presence is the real-time status a UCaaS platform shows for each user — available, busy, in a meeting, on a call, away, do not disturb — so a colleague can see at a glance whether someone is reachable before calling or messaging them. Presence typically updates automatically from calendar events and active calls, alongside a status a user sets manually, and syncs across desk phone, softphone, and chat.
More detail
Automatic presence signals commonly include an active call, a calendar meeting in progress, or a device going idle, layered underneath any manual status a user sets themselves.
Presence is what makes a team messaging app or softphone client feel connected to real availability, rather than just showing a static contact list with no sense of who's actually free right now.
Frequently asked
- Does presence update automatically or does a user have to set it?
- Both — most platforms auto-detect signals like an active call or a calendar meeting and combine them with a manual status a user can set themselves, such as marking do-not-disturb during focused work.
- Does presence sync across a desk phone, softphone, and chat app?
- In a properly integrated UCaaS platform, yes — being on a desk phone call is reflected the same way in the softphone and chat client, so a colleague sees one consistent status regardless of which device they check.
See also
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