Offer appointment times in Apple Messages

Use a Time picker template to let a customer choose from appointment times inside Messages. A time-picker response records a selection. Your booking system or operator must reserve the appointment and confirm it separately.

Before authoring, obtain current availability from the service that owns the calendar. The template editor does not fetch live calendar slots or prevent another customer from taking the same time.

Create the time picker

1. Open Templates and select New template > Time picker.
2. In Content, enter the draft name, Title, and Message, explaining the appointment type.
3. Open Apple delivery. Under Time zone, choose Fixed time zone and the appointment's zone, or keep Customer's time zone for a remote appointment. Bird gives Apple the offset in force at your slots, so a daylight-saving change needs no edit. Slots on both sides of a clock change cannot share one message.
4. Under Location, keep Fixed place and search Apple Maps for the address, or tap the map to place the pin. Check the Place name the customer sees.
5. To choose the place each time you send instead, select Filled at send. The time zone is then also filled at send, and the send dialog asks for both. A place chosen at send brings its own name, which replaces Place name.
6. Select Add time slot for each offered time. A new slot is filled at send, and the send dialog asks for its date and time. Choose Fixed time instead to enter it now. A slot after the first that is filled at send is optional, so one template can offer fewer times, unless its variable also appears in the title or message.

For a 30-minute appointment in Amsterdam, an example slot is:

• Time zone: Europe/Amsterdam
• Slot identifier: visit_2027_01_15_1000
• Start date and time: 15 January 2027, 10:00
• Duration in minutes: 30

Replace the example with actual future availability.

Content lists the template's time slots and which are filled at send. Select Edit time slots to change them in Apple delivery.

View the screenshot at full size.

Explain what the selection means

Under Native bubble presentation, describe the offered action in Received message bubble. Use wording such as Choose a visit time. Avoid a reply title that claims the booking is confirmed before your calendar accepts it.

Select the business under Personalization, save the template, and prepare and review a test send.

Confirm the appointment separately

After the customer selects a slot:

1. Inspect the response in Conversations. Compare it with the times you sent; a response can contain a selected label rather than a complete booking record.
2. Recheck availability in your booking system. Treat the original offer as potentially stale.
3. Reserve the appointment using the booking system's duplicate-prevention mechanism.
4. Send a confirmation with the date, local time, location, reference, and change or cancellation instructions after the reservation succeeds.

If the slot has gone, explain that it is unavailable and offer updated times. Repeating a customer response or webhook must not create a second booking.

Verify and recover

Test the selected time on an authorized Apple device, including a device in a different time zone. Check the actual date and displayed time, not only the weekday label. Test an expired offer and cancellation before treating the flow as ready.

If preparation fails, inspect the date, duration, time zone, place, and required native fields in Apple delivery. If a send fails afterward, use message history. If sending succeeds but the calendar has no booking, investigate the booking step separately.

Use journey planning to connect these steps into your complete appointment service.