# Phone

The phone places calls from the dashboard itself. Your browser is the SIP client and the call travels over one of your own [SIP trunks](/docs/guides/voice/sip-trunks), so there is nothing to install and no API key to hand out: the dashboard mints a [session credential](/docs/guides/voice/sip-trunks#session-credentials) for each call, and that credential expires within minutes.

Open it from [**Phone**](https://bird.com/dashboard/w/voice/phone) in the Voice section of the dashboard sidebar. It is a floating window that stays with you as you move around the dashboard, so a call outlives the page it was placed from.

## What a browser call needs

- **A verified caller ID.** Register the number you present on the [**Trust**](https://bird.com/dashboard/w/voice/trust) page and complete its verification call. See [Caller IDs](/docs/guides/voice/caller-ids).
- **A trunk that can carry a browser call.** Three settings on the trunk, all on its own page: [outbound calling](/docs/guides/voice/sip-trunks#call-direction) on, [session credentials](/docs/guides/voice/sip-trunks#session-credentials) accepted, and MD5 in the [Digest offer](/docs/guides/voice/sip-trunks#digest-algorithm), the only algorithm a browser can answer with.
- **The country turned on.** A call to a country your workspace has not enabled is refused at setup. See [Destinations](/docs/guides/voice/destinations).
- **Permission to place calls.** A call bills the workspace, so the phone appears only for members with voice access at write level.

Your browser asks for microphone access on the first call.

A call that does not go through says why in the window. When Bird refused it, that is the [rejection reason](/docs/guides/voice/call-log#rejected-calls), with the setting that fixes it.

## During a call

- **Keypad** sends DTMF tones, for an IVR menu or an extension; typing digits on your keyboard sends them too.
- **Microphone and speaker** have their own picker, and the microphone can be switched mid-call. Choosing the speaker works in Chromium browsers; elsewhere the call plays through the system default.

The phone places outbound calls only: it does not ring for incoming ones, and it has no hold or transfer. **It cannot reach [emergency services](/docs/guides/voice/placing-calls#emergency-calls-are-not-carried).**

It cannot be closed during a call either, since that would leave a billed call with nothing to end it: hang up first. Reloading the page rejoins a call that had been answered; a call still ringing when the page went away cannot be rejoined, and its [record](/docs/guides/voice/call-log) is then the only account of how it ended.

## Where the calls show up

A browser call is carried and billed like any other, and it produces the same record: it lands on the [**Calls**](https://bird.com/dashboard/w/voice/calls) page alongside every call the workspace placed, from any client.

## Next steps

| Page                                                   | What it covers                                                       |
| ------------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| [SIP trunks](/docs/guides/voice/sip-trunks)            | Session credentials, the IP allow list, allowed API keys, and Digest |
| [Caller IDs](/docs/guides/voice/caller-ids)            | Registering a number and proving you own it with a verification call |
| [Voice destinations](/docs/guides/voice/destinations)  | Turning on the countries you call, and what high risk means          |
| [Call log](/docs/guides/voice/call-log)                | Every field on a record, filtering, and CSV export                   |
| [Place your first call](/docs/guides/voice/first-call) | From an empty workspace to a ringing phone in about ten minutes      |