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Send Application action

Use the Send Application action to send rich media from a supported application (currently limited to Apple’s iMessage app extensions) to your messaging contacts.

For example, you can configure a bot to send an interactive iMessage app through Apple Messages for Business. The consumer receives a rich media message that displays the iMessage app’s icon, title, and subtitle directly in the Messages application on their device. They can interact with the iMessage app without leaving the conversation. After engaging with the application, the consumer may choose to continue or end the conversation with the bot. If the conversation continues and is routed to an agent, the agent’s transcript shows the iMessage app that was previously shared with the customer.

Note: The Send Application action is currently available for Apple Messages for Business only. The action takes the failure path if you use it in any other unsupported channels.

Configure the Send Application action

FieldDescription
Name Type a distinctive name for the action. The label you enter here becomes the action’s name displayed in the flow structure.
Application Name

Enter the application name. The name you enter here must match the application name previously configured by the administrators in the corresponding messaging platform.

Application URL

A URL string containing data that the messaging application sends to the interactive application. The URL parameters must be specific to your application’s requirements and must match the parameters expected by your device’s messaging application.

Received Message

A dictionary with information telling the messaging application in the participant’s device what content and how to display it in the received message bubble. 

To customize the received message, click Received Message and add the following optional details:

  • An image for use in the received message bubble
  • The title of the received message bubble
  • The subtitle that must appear under the title

Note: When the channel is Apple Messages for Business, this image is used only if the iMessage apps extension is not installed on the consumer’s device. When the iMessage apps extension is installed, the image defined in the application configuration is used in the received message bubble. If the iMessage app is not installed and the message is not provisioned with an image, the received bubble shows a single color in the received message bubble.

Define success and failure paths

PathDescription
Success

This path indicates that the system successfully sent an application supported rich media to the messaging contact.

To follow the route you want the interaction to take, drag the appropriate action below the Success path.

Failure

This path indicates that the system was unable to send an application supported rich media to the messaging contact.

To direct the route you want the interaction to take, drag the appropriate action below the Failure path.

Best practices when configuring the Send Application action

The following best practices help you in ensuring that the messaging channel supports the Send Application action:

  • The Send Application action is asynchronous and it does not pause the bot flow. To prevent transmission to ineligible devices, before you add the action, you must identify whether the user’s device can handle forms. The device capabilities are included within the participant data of a conversation. To confirm the device capability, you can use the expression, (FindString(Flow.deviceCapabilities,"FORM") > 0), for example, in a Decision or Switch action before the Send Application action. Also, if the flow executes the action with a device that does not support FORM, then the action takes the failure path.
  • You can also use the Architect built-in variable, Session.Source, to identify the messaging channel type. For more information about this variable, see Architect built-in variables.