Turn important emails into call notifications with Echobell

Convert urgent emails into time‑sensitive, call‑style alerts with Echobell. Set up an email-triggered channel, add templates and conditions, and never miss a critical message.

Turn important emails into call notifications with Echobell

We all have that one email we simply can’t miss. Echobell turns those critical emails into call-style, time‑sensitive notifications that actually ring your phone—so you hear them even when you’re heads‑down or in a focus mode. Perfect for production incidents, VIP senders, billing failures, and on‑call developer alerts.

What you’ll get by the end:

  • An Echobell channel triggered by email
  • Human‑friendly templates that get read aloud in call notifications
  • Time‑sensitive calling notifications with optional retries
  • Smart Conditions to filter by sender, subject, or keywords
  • Simple mail forwarding rules for Gmail, iCloud Mail, or Outlook

A quick note on privacy: Echobell is privacy‑first. We store only your account, channels, and subscriptions; notification content and records stay on your devices.

Prerequisites

Step 1 — Create a channel

  1. Open Echobell → New Channel
  2. Give it a name and color (for example, “Critical Email Alerts”)
  3. Save

Step 2 — Bind the email trigger

On the channel detail page, copy the dedicated email address. Any email sent to this address triggers the channel instantly.

When an email triggers a channel, these template variables are available:

  • from: sender address
  • to: channel‑bound address
  • subject: email subject
  • text: plain‑text body
  • html: HTML body (when present)

Step 3 — Write clear, spoken‑friendly templates

Use variables to make alerts useful and concise—remember, call notifications will speak this content.

Title template example:

[Email Alert] {{subject}}

Body template example:

From: {{from}}
Preview: {{text}}

Tips:

  • Want a clickable link on records? Pass externalLink via webhook or set a Link Template in Advanced Settings.
  • Keep it short and scannable; long bodies are harder to follow when read aloud.

Step 4 — Choose the Calling notification type

Subscribers can choose how they’re notified. For never‑miss moments, pick:

  • Notification Type: Calling
  • App Settings → Repeat Voice Content: On (optional)
  • App Settings → Retry Failed Call: On (recommended)

Calling notifications ring like a phone call and can break through focus modes depending on your iOS settings.

Step 5 — Filter with Conditions (optional, recommended)

Use Conditions to call only for the emails that matter. Conditions are expressions evaluated against template variables.

Examples:

  • Only call for a certain sender: 
    from == "alerts@yourcompany.com"
  • Only call when subject contains “URGENT”: 
    subject.toLowerCase().includes("urgent")
  • Combine multiple rules: 
    (from == "pager@service.com" || from == "vip@customer.com") && subject.toLowerCase().includes("fail")

If Conditions are empty, every email to the channel triggers a notification.

Step 6 — Set up mail forwarding (pick your provider)

Forward the important emails to your channel address. Common options:

Gmail

  • Gmail → Settings → See all settings → Filters and Blocked Addresses
  • Create a filter (From / Subject contains)
  • Action: Forward to your Echobell channel email address
  • Optional: Add a label or skip the inbox

Note: Gmail may require verifying the forwarding address. If that’s inconvenient, forward via a group alias you control.

iCloud Mail

  • iCloud Mail → Settings → Rules
  • If: From/Subject contains your conditions
  • Then: Forward to your Echobell channel email address

Outlook

  • Outlook/Exchange → Settings → Mail → Rules
  • Add conditions for sender/subject/keywords
  • Action: Forward/Redirect to your Echobell channel email address

Step 7 — Test your alert

  • Send a test email to the channel address
  • You should receive a call‑style alert that reads your templates
  • Check the record in Echobell; tweak templates/conditions if needed

Troubleshooting

  • Not receiving calls:
    • Make sure your subscription’s Notification Type is set to Calling
    • Check iOS notification permissions and focus mode settings
    • Turn on “Retry Failed Call” in App Settings
  • Template didn’t render:
    • Verify variable names: from, to, subject, text, html
    • Conditions are plain expressions—don’t wrap them in {{ }}
  • Too noisy:
    • Tighten your Conditions
    • Add subject keywords or specific senders in your mail rules

Where this shines

  • On‑call developer alerts and production incidents
  • Monitoring notifications from tools that email (and webhooks if you want both)
  • Customer/VIP messages you can’t afford to miss

Next steps

  • Create separate channels for different teams or systems
  • Use webhooks for automated system alerts and email for human messages
  • Share the channel’s subscription link with teammates who also need calling notifications

Have a workflow you’re proud of? Share how you use Echobell for instant notifications and developer alerts—we’d love to learn from it.

By

Nooc

on

Aug 22, 2025