Welcome to your ALOHA® setup guide! Charlie AI SMS is our smart text messaging assistant built for inbound patient conversations. Instead of your front-desk team typing out every single text from scratch, Charlie sits quietly in your dashboard and drafts suggested responses for scheduling, common office questions, insurance, and more. You can easily Discard, Edit, or Send the message before your patient ever sees it.
✨ When You Need This Guide
You will find this guide helpful if you are trying to answer any of these questions:
How do I turn on Charlie AI SMS for my practice?
What is the difference between the Voice Agent and the Texting Agent?
How does Copilot Mode keep my team in control?
What happens when a patient texts us an image or wants to cancel?
Why hasn't a patient received a text response yet?
What This Covers (And What It Doesn't)
✅ Covers: How to activate the text agent, how Copilot Mode works, patient text examples, and basic troubleshooting.
❌ Doesn't Cover: Setting up the Charlie Voice Agent or verifying deep medical insurance eligibility details.
⚙️ How to Activate Charlie AI SMS
Setting up your texting co-pilot is quick and easy! Just follow these three simple steps.
✅ Step 1: Connect Your Knowledge Base
This step teaches Charlie everything about your practice so the text drafts are accurate.
Log into ALOHA and click the Agents icon on the left side of your screen.
Open the Agent List tab and click on your SMS agent Charlie Texting Agent.
Choose the Knowledge Base Folders and specific content sources you want Charlie to read.
Click Update Agent.
💡 Quick Tip: Charlie can only answer questions using the folders you select here. Make sure your services, common questions, and policies are attached!
✅ Step 2: Turn Charlie On in the Convos Tab
The last step is to connect Charlie to your live text inbox.
Click the Convos Icon on the right header menu.
Click the Gear Icon (Settings) in the top-right corner of your message list.
Toggle Charlie AI to ON (turns blue).
🤖 Voice vs. SMS: What’s the Difference?
While Charlie SMS shares the same brain and Knowledge Base as your Voice Agent, it is specially optimized to text like a real human. Here is how they compare:
Feature | 📞 Voice Agent | 💬 SMS / Texting Agent |
How it Sends | Fully Autonomous (talks directly to callers). | Copilot Mode (Drafts replies for staff approval). |
Style | Spoken, conversational sentences. | Short, concise texts (under 160 characters when possible). |
Scheduling | Asks questions step-by-step. | Proactive (offers two open times slots immediately). |
Handling Mistakes | Not applicable. | Automatically understands text typos and autocorrect errors. |
💡 Common Questions & Troubleshooting
What You Might Notice | Why It's Happening | What to Do |
A patient says they texted, but they never got a reply back. | Charlie created a draft, but a human hasn't approved it yet. | Open the Convos tab, look for the blue-bordered draft card on that thread, and click Send. |
Charlie drafted a message with the wrong answer. | The source information in your Knowledge Base might be missing, outdated, or confusing. | Click Edit to fix the text manually for now. Then, go to your Knowledge Base and update your Training Questions so future drafts are perfect. |
A patient sent an image, and Charlie ignored it. | Charlie cannot read or process pictures/MMS attachments. | This is normal! Charlie should automatically draft a text asking the patient to describe what they need in writing. |
🎉 You'll Know It's Working When:
You see blue-bordered Charlie AI suggested drafts appearing instantly in your Convos tab whenever a patient texts.
Your front-desk staff spend less time typing out basic appointment times and answers from scratch.
Patients easily book, confirm, or reschedule appointments in just 4 to 5 quick text messages.
💬 Need Help? We're Here!
If you run into any trouble or need help making Charlie text exactly the way you want, please don't hesitate to reach out to our team!
📞 Call Us: 800-563-0469
📧 Email Us: support@getaloha.com