Linphone · open source · Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android

We did not build a softphone. We ship the one Orange, BT and Swisscom use.

Most providers put their own name on an app and hope you never compare it to a real one. We did not write ours, because writing a good softphone is a twenty-year specialism and we are a telecoms operator, not an app studio. Instead we supply Linphone, which Belledonne Communications has built in France since 2001. It is fully open source and already carries calls for some of the largest operators in Europe, and CallFactory is listed on their client page alongside them.

Get your number Where not to use it

Not home-brew a specialist’s product, maintained by a dedicated team rather than as a side project
Open source inspect what you are installing on your own equipment, line by line
Five platforms Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android from the same project
Licence, not seat tied to a serial number, so it moves when people do

The call arrives on the desktop

The number was dialled, the queue offered it to this person, and the app rang on a machine that was already awake. The caller’s number is shown, along with which of your business numbers they dialled, which is useful when you run more than one.

Answering here is a click or a headset button. There is no unlocking, no hunting for a handset and no waiting for an app to wake up, which is the difference between a softphone on a computer and the same app on a phone.

Talking, with both hands on the keyboard

Sinéad answered with the headset button. The caller’s number and the number they dialled stay on screen for the length of the call, next to whatever she is typing into, whether that is the order system, a ticket or the CRM. Mute and hold are a click each, and the timer runs in the window rather than on a handset display across the desk.

Because the app is on the same machine as the work, there is nothing to reach for. That is the whole reason a headset and a softphone beat a handset for anyone who takes calls back to back.

Passing the call to a colleague

The caller needs accounts, not reception. Sinéad picks Niamh from the app’s contacts and the call moves to Niamh’s desk phone in Cork. The caller hears a moment of hold and then Niamh, so nobody reads a number out loud and nobody dials again.

Any endpoint on the number can take a transfer, whether it is a desk phone, another softphone or a mobile over the mobile network. The caller never learns which, and Sinéad’s line is free the moment it completes.

Linphone · desktop

Incoming call +353 83 400 0461 to 0818 274 615 · Kinsella & Moran

end answer

The board shows Sinéad as mid-call the moment she answers, and the queue stops offering her anything else.

On a call · 02:14 +353 83 400 0461 to 0818 274 615 · Kinsella & Moran

mute hold transfer end

Recording and call notes, where they are switched on for the number, run on the platform, so nothing is stored on the laptop.

Transfer to Niamh Fitzgerald Accounts · Cork office · desk phone

cancel transfer

The board shows Niamh as mid-call as soon as she picks up, and Sinéad goes back to available.

Outbound

Your business number, not your own

Calls you place from the app present the CallFactory number rather than anything personal. It is the main practical reason people who spend the day on the phone keep a softphone open even when a desk handset is sitting next to them.

The same is not true of a plain forward to a mobile, as fixed on mobile explains.

Hands

A headset is most of the point

With a USB or Bluetooth headset your hands stay on the keyboard, which is what makes a softphone genuinely better than a handset for anyone taking notes, filling in a system or checking an order mid-call.

Any mainstream USB or Bluetooth headset works, and there is no certified list.

Network

Wired beats Wi-Fi for voice

The app carries the call over the internet, so call quality follows the connection. On a desk where reliability matters, a cable is worth more than any setting in the app. Wi-Fi works, but it is the first thing to rule out when audio gets ragged.

Worth saying to whoever sets up the desks, before the first complaint.

Recommended

On a desktop or laptop

The window stays open, the registration holds, and the call rings on a machine that is already awake and plugged in. For anyone sitting at a computer all day, this fully replaces a desk handset.

Rings reliably, because nothing is putting the app to sleep to save battery.
Headset, hands free, and the caller’s details on the same screen as your notes.
Outbound calls present the business number.
Cheaper than buying a handset for every desk, with the same calling experience.

Use it here, because this is what it is for.

Not recommended

On a mobile phone

It works, and plenty of providers stop the sentence there. What they do not say is that a mobile operating system will close, suspend or throttle a background app whenever it feels the need, and a suspended app cannot ring.

The call fails silently, so you do not find out and the customer does.
Battery optimisation is on by default, and it is not on your side.
Needs a connection good enough for voice at that exact moment.

Ask yourself how important it is to receive every call. If the answer is very, use fixed on mobile instead, because it comes over the mobile network with no app in the path.

Most teams run both: the softphone at the desk, mobile-network forwarding when they leave it. Both are set per person from the same dashboard.

Compared on

Typical provider An in-house app

Through CallFactory Linphone

who builds it

A telecoms company, without softphone expertise

Belledonne Communications, building softphones since 2001

platforms

Usually iOS and Android only

Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android

development

Ad hoc, when something breaks or a customer insists

Continuous, by a dedicated team whose only product this is

source code

Closed. You install it and hope

Fully open source, so you can inspect it, audit it and contribute to it

who else uses it

That provider’s own customers

Orange, BT, Swisscom and Taiwan Mobile, among others

if the provider leaves

The app goes with them

The project continues, because it does not belong to us

For anyone with a security review to pass, the open-source part is not a talking point. It is the whole answer.

Larger organisations and public bodies are increasingly asked what exactly is being installed on staff equipment and what it talks to. With a closed provider app the honest answer is a shrug and a PDF. With Linphone you can read the source, have your own people audit it, and point at a published contributor list rather than at our word. That is a question we would rather be able to answer than deflect.

open source · published client list · independent of us · the same app on all five platforms

Reassign instead of re-buy
A colleague leaves in March and their replacement starts in May. The licence sat idle for six weeks and then went to the new person, so nothing was cancelled, nothing was bought, and nobody had to remember to do either.
Per-user pricing quietly ratchets
On platforms that charge per named user, turnover is a cost. Every arrival adds a seat, and the departures only come off the bill if someone notices and removes them, which is why plenty of organisations are paying for people who left two years ago.
Set up in minutes, from the same screen
Add a VoIP account, assign a licence and hand the credentials to the person. There is no separate vendor account, no download chased through support, and no waiting on us to provision anything.
Only for the people who need one
Not everyone on the team needs a softphone. Someone in the field is better served by mobile-network forwarding, which does not need a licence at all, so you buy them for the desks rather than for the headcount.

Softphone licences 2 of 3 in use

LIC-8841-A Assigned

Sinéad Whelan · desktop · since Jan

LIC-8841-B Assigned

Ciarán Byrne · desktop · since Mar

LIC-8841-C Available

released 6 May · ready to reassign

Licence identifiers are illustrative. Releasing a licence takes effect immediately and it can be assigned to a new VoIP account the same day, at no extra cost.

01
Add a VoIP account
In the dashboard, create an account for the person and assign them a licence. This generates the credentials shown on the right.
02
Install Linphone
Download it from the dashboard for Windows, macOS or Linux. Nothing is compiled, patched or wrapped by us, because it is the upstream application.
03
Enter the four fields
Username, password, server, port and transport. The app registers with our platform and the entry in your team list goes green.
04
Decide what rings it
On its own, alongside a desk phone, or in a queue behind reception. You set it from the dashboard and can change it at any time, per person.

VoIP account · Sinéad Whelan Registered

SIP username

1042-swhelan

Password

••••••••••••

Server

sip.callfactory.ie

Port · transport

5060 · TLS

The same credentials a desk handset takes. A person can register a softphone and a desk phone on separate accounts and have both ring, or use one account on the machine they are actually at.

Fixed on mobile

The business number forwarded to a mobile over the mobile network, with no app in the path. What we recommend instead of a softphone on a phone.

See how it works

Desk phone

Any SIP handset from any supplier, taking the same four credentials as the softphone, and often both ring at once.

See how it works

Team dashboard

Who is available, who is mid-call and who is next, and where a softphone user marks themselves away without touching the routing.

See how it works

AI voicebot

Behind the queue for evenings and overflow, or in front of it to work out which team the caller actually needs.

See how it works

Web interface

Where VoIP accounts, licences, routing and hours are configured. The admin layer above every endpoint on this page.

See how it works

Call insights

Who called, when, how long and where it was routed, including the calls that rang a softphone and went unanswered.

See how it works

Every feature of the phone system (queues, menus, recording, voicemail-to-email, call insights) comes with the number itself, whichever endpoints you end up using. See all features →

Yes. Our platform speaks standard SIP, so any compliant softphone can register with the credentials from your dashboard. We supply, licence and support Linphone because it is the one we would choose ourselves, but nothing stops you using another, and your existing one will very likely work.

It runs, but we do not recommend relying on it. A mobile operating system can suspend or close a background app, and a suspended app cannot ring, so the failure is silent and lands on the caller. For calls that must arrive, use fixed on mobile, which is delivered over the mobile network with no app involved.

It is strongly recommended on a desktop. The audio is better and, more to the point, it keeps your hands free to type during the call, which is most of the reason to prefer a softphone over a handset. Any mainstream USB or Bluetooth headset works.

Yes, because the call is carried over the internet. Quality follows the connection, so a wired network connection is worth more than any setting in the app, and it is the first thing to check if audio is ragged.

Your CallFactory business number. Outbound calls from the softphone present the business identity rather than anything personal, which is one of the practical advantages over a plain forward to a mobile.

Yes, and it is the usual office setup. Both can ring at once, or in an order you set, and the pattern can change by time of day. You configure it from the dashboard, per person.

You pay for the licence, which is tied to a serial number rather than a named person. When a colleague leaves, release it in the dashboard and assign it to whoever replaces them at no extra cost. That is deliberately different from per-user pricing, where turnover quietly increases the bill.

Yes, with a public repository and a published contributor list. For organisations that have to state exactly what is installed on staff equipment, the source can be read and audited by your own people rather than taken on trust from us.

We do, for anything touching your numbers, accounts, licences or routing. The application itself is maintained upstream by Belledonne Communications, which is precisely the point: it is looked after by people who do nothing else.

Start with the number. Put it on whatever each person actually sits in front of.

A softphone at the desk, a handset on reception, mobile-network forwarding in the van: one number, one dashboard, and no decision here that cannot be changed next week.

Get your number

We did not build a softphone. We ship the one Orange, BT and Swisscom use.

A phone that happens to live in a window

The call arrives on the desktop

Talking, with both hands on the keyboard

Passing the call to a colleague

Your business number, not your own

A headset is most of the point

Wired beats Wi-Fi for voice

Excellent on a desktop. We would rather you did not rely on it on a phone.

On a desktop or laptop

On a mobile phone

A home-brew softphone is a liability wearing a logo

You pay for the licence, not for everyone who ever holds it

Reassign instead of re-buy

Per-user pricing quietly ratchets

Set up in minutes, from the same screen

Only for the people who need one

Four fields, the same four as a desk phone

Add a VoIP account

Install Linphone

Enter the four fields

Decide what rings it

One endpoint among several, on the same number

Fixed on mobile

Desk phone

Team dashboard

AI voicebot

Web interface

Call insights

Softphones: frequently asked questions

Start with the number. Put it on whatever each person actually sits in front of.

Rather talk it through first?