Media messaging in Chalkboard

Sending and receiving media in Chalkboard might as well add "endless interaction possibilities" to the list of features we offer, all packaged nicely within your Chalkboard subscription.

Media messaging gives you the ability to get your point across better with pictures and videos, add some personality with voice notes or share information with contact cards or files.

MMS messaging (or Multimedia Messaging Service) allows you to send multimedia messages with the media embedded within the message and is received as sent.

Chalkboard's media messaging allows users to quickly upload media to a message and send it, however, this media is received as a URL link by the receiver.

You can still send an SMS message along with any media you send, this will just be received as a standard message with the URL links to the media.

We've kept everything else the same - you'll be able to see all the usual previews and thumbnails you'd expect to see - it's business as usual!

When you send media from Chalkboard, you'll see the thumbnail of the video, photo or file etc. you sent clearly in your message threads, but when you press send, we reduce the file size (known as file compression) and speed up the process of sending by creating a URL link for the media you're sending.

This URL is a specific locator for the media you've just sent, so the person receiving it can simply click the link, view, download or delete the link entirely from their end.

We don't make any amendments to the media sent, we simply assign it a URL when you press send, compress it and off it goes!

When sending a media message, Chalkboard gives you 5 main options to send:

Photos & videos - Choose existing photos or videos straight from your device or create new ones, on demand.

Files - Sending files is a breeze, the possibilities are endless.

Voice notes - For the times when sending an SMS message isn't going to get your point across as well as you need, you can effortlessly create a voice note and send it instantly.

Contact cards - Share contact information by sending a contact card - choose specifically what information you want to send, or send it all.

Sending an MMS message is as simple as sending a normal SMS message:

• Open your Chats tab
• Select the message icon at the bottom right
• Choose a contact
• Press the + icon, located next to the send button
• Select Add an attachment
• Select your media type and either upload directly from your device or create what you need, on the go
• Add in an optional message around your chosen media
  
• Press Send and you're done!

When sending a media message in Chalkboard, you'll need to make sure it falls below our 100MB per file limit. You can send up to 10 attachments per message.

Anything above this size won't be able to be sent unless you compress it yourself.

We'll let you know if a file exceeds this size in the app to make it simple to know what you can, and can't send.

Sometimes things go wrong, files corrupt, data connections drop or the computer just says no.

From time to time though, some files won't be able to be sent from Chalkboard, we've listed a few reasons why below:

• The file size exceeds our maximum file size limit
• You have an unstable data connection
• You may have left media unsent in the message composer for too long before pressing send - we assign a temporary URL link which becomes permanent when the media is sent

Where a message may fail to send, we give you the option to retry sending if possible or clearly display an error icon to let you know it's not possible to send the media.

If you're in the US then absolutely - anything you can send in Chalkboard you can receive back.

If you're a UK user, currently you're only able to send media from Chalkboard - we're working hard so that you'll be able to receive media in the near future.

If you're a UK user, currently Chalkboard only allows you to send media messages.

This is a constraint set by our virtual number provider, which doesn't support MMS capabilities in the UK currently, but we are working hard to resolve this issue internally to keep cramming more features into your Chalkboard subscription.

We've all been there, you go to send a specific photo to someone only to embarrassingly realise you've sent the wrong one.

We've got you covered, Chalkboard allows for the deletion of all sent media types and once it's deleted from Chalkboard, it's deleted for everyone, unless the person receiving has already accessed and downloaded the media from the URL link.

To delete photos, videos and files sent from Chalkboard:

• Head into the message thread with the media you wish to delete
• Open the media previewer
  
• Click on the three vertical dots at the top right
• Select Delete

To delete voice notes sent from Chalkboard:

• Tap anywhere on the horizontal area around the voice note
• The options drawer will open, go ahead and click Delete

To delete contact cards sent from Chalkboard:

• Click on the sent contact card
• When the preview screen opens, click on the three vertical dots at the top right
• Select Delete

Just so you know, if the person receiving the media decides to delete the message with the URL link or deletes any downloaded media, it will only remove this from their message threads.

Once you've hit delete, it removes the specific URL link we add to the media and deletes it from our database.

If they click on the link once you've pressed delete, they will be taken to an "Invalid link" webpage.

Chalkboard currently doesn't work offline, so we effectively "put a pin" in things and resume normal service when either your mobile data or Wi-Fi connection restarts - your media will be sent once the data connection resumes or we give you the ability to retry sending within your message.