Call settings control how long an AloAi Voice Agent stays on a call and how it handles silence. Advanced call handling controls what an outbound agent does when a call does not reach a person right away: voicemail, a call-screening assistant, or an automated phone menu (IVR, interactive voice response). Both are panels on the agent’s Configure tab: Call Settings and Advanced Call Handling. This article explains each setting and what the caller experiences.
Call settings
The Call Settings panel applies to inbound and outbound agents.
Voice AI best practices adds voice AI guidelines for natural speech, pronunciation, and safe conversations.
End call on silence ends a silent or idle call after a set duration, such as 30 seconds.
Max call duration sets the longest a call can last. It defaults to 15 minutes and can be changed per agent. When a call reaches the limit, the call ends.
On an outbound agent, if both End call on silence and AI starts speaking after silence are off, the editor shows a warning: if no one speaks, the agent waits in silence until the call times out, which can take several minutes. Turn on either setting to prevent this. For AI starts speaking after silence, see [link: Writing instructions and setting conversation behavior].
[VERIFY: The silence setting is called “End call on silence” in the product reference and “End call after silence” in the warning. Confirm the label shown in the panel.]
Advanced call handling
The Advanced Call Handling panel appears on outbound agents only. Inbound agents do not show it, and voicemail detection, call screening, and IVR detection stay off for them.
The panel has three parts: voicemail, call screening, and IVR detection.
Voicemail
On each outbound call, the agent uses answering machine detection (AMD) to check whether a person or a voicemail system answered.
While the agent works out who answered, it stays quiet. It does not speak before the contact does, and it waits for more than a single opening word before deciding, because a person and a voicemail greeting often start the same way, for example “Hello.” A greeting that includes a voicemail phrase, such as “please leave a message after the tone,” is treated as voicemail.
What to expect on each type of call:
A person answers. The agent replies shortly after the person speaks, including when the person says only “Hello?”
The call reaches voicemail. The agent stays quiet through the greeting and then runs the voicemail action you chose.
The line plays a recorded notice first, such as a call-recording disclosure or a call-screening service. The agent stays quiet through the notice and replies once the person speaks. These calls take slightly longer than a call a person answers directly.
A tone on its own does not end a call that a person has answered. If the contact says a greeting such as “Hello?” two or more times, with pauses in between, before a beep-like tone, the agent speaks and waits for a reply. If the line stays silent, the agent runs the voicemail action.
[VERIFY: The “Hello?” reply in the first bullet was confirmed in the development environment only. Confirm in production before keeping it.]
When the agent detects voicemail, it waits for the greeting and the beep to finish before acting. If the voicemail system does not play a beep, the agent waits briefly and then continues, so it does not stay on the line.
Choose what the agent does when it reaches voicemail:
Hang up ends the call without leaving a message.
Leave a message if reaching voicemail leaves one of these:
Static sentence plays a pre-recorded voicemail, which can include dynamic fields such as the contact’s name.
Prompt has the AI write the voicemail from a prompt, adapting it to previous conversations with the contact.
To hear the voicemail message before going live, see [link: Testing and reviewing your agent].
Call screening
Call screening helps outbound calls reach contacts whose mobile phones use a call-screening assistant, such as the iOS prompt that asks the caller to record their name so the phone can check whether the person is available.
When a screening assistant answers, Aloware recognizes the prompt and waits while the contact decides whether to take the call. Screening detection runs before voicemail detection.
If the contact picks up, the agent is connected and the call continues normally.
If the contact does not pick up, the agent does not leave a voicemail by mistake.
Turn on call screening in the Advanced Call Handling panel. No per-call setup is needed.
[VERIFY: The product reference says call screening is enabled at the account and agent level. The tickets confirm only the agent setting. Confirm whether an account-level setting exists.]
IVR detection
IVR detection lets the agent recognize when an outbound call reaches an automated phone menu and navigate it until it reaches a person.
Choose how the agent handles an IVR:
Hang up ends the call when the agent reaches an IVR.
Default uses the standard IVR detection and navigation behavior.
Custom instructions guide the agent to a specific person or department, for example by telling it which menu options to choose.
[VERIFY: Confirm the option labels shown in the panel.]
During navigation, the agent tells apart automated menus, hold or queue announcements, and people:
Automated prompts are treated as menus, and the agent navigates them.
A short question from a person, such as “Hello?” or “Who is this?”, is treated as a person, and the agent switches to its greeting.
If an announcement says no one is available, the agent stops navigating instead of waiting indefinitely.
When the agent reaches a person, it delivers its greeting promptly and does not talk over the person if they speak first.