SMeet Bot API

User help

Bots in SMeet are programs that answer in a chat: a support desk, an order status, a set of answers to common questions. This page is for the people who talk to them.

What a bot is#

A bot is an automated account. A program written by its developer, a company or a person, answers for it from the developer's own servers.

• Bots are always marked Bot in chats, in search and on their profile. The Official bot badge is given only by SMeet.
• A bot has no "last seen", and you cannot call it.
• A bot can write to you only after you have pressed Start, and only in your chat with it. It cannot add you to groups or write to other people on your behalf.

Finding and starting a bot#

• Search for its name or address; bot addresses end with _bot. A company can also give you a link such as https://messenger.scrile.com/u/support_helper_bot.
• The bot's profile shows its description, its developer, for a bot of an organisation the organisation, the list of its commands, and the notice Messages you send to this bot are processed by its developer.
• Press Start to begin. Your message /start appears in the chat, and the bot answers. A link with ?start=... at the end passes a code to the bot, for example the number of your order.

Talking to a bot#

• Write as you would to a person. Type / to see the bot's commands.
• Buttons under a bot's message do something in the bot, or open a web page. While the bot handles a press you see a waiting indicator; if it does not answer within 15 seconds you see The bot did not respond, try again later.
• A link button opens an https:// page in your browser. Check the address before you enter any data there.
• If the bot changes a message, its buttons change too; a button of an older version says This button is no longer active.
• Bots and their buttons work in the current SMeet web app and in SMeet for iOS and macOS. Other apps, including SMeet for Android for now and older versions, cannot start a bot and show a started chat as text without buttons; you can still reply and type the bot's commands there. To start a bot or press its buttons, open the chat in the web app or in SMeet for iOS or macOS.

Sending files#

You can send a bot photos and documents, as in any chat.

• Every file is checked for malware before the bot can open it. Files larger than 20 MiB never reach a bot.
• Files a bot sends you are checked the same way. Documents are downloaded, never opened inside the app.
• When you delete your message, the bot loses access to its files at once. A copy the developer's program has already downloaded stays with the developer.

Stopping and blocking#

• Stop: press Stop bot in the bot's profile, or send /stop. The bot can no longer write to you, and messages it has not received yet are not delivered to it. To continue later, press Start again or send /start.
• Block: the bot cannot write to you until you unblock it and press Start again.
• Deleting the chat: the app offers to stop the bot as well.

Stopping and blocking work at once and do not depend on the bot: its developer cannot undo them.

Reporting a bot#

In the bot's profile press Report bot, choose a reason (spam, abuse or harassment, fraud or scam, illegal content, privacy violation, other), add a comment of up to 1000 characters if you want, and send. You can attach a message from your chat with the bot as an example. SMeet administrators review reports and can suspend a bot. Reporting does not stop the bot for you: stop or block it as well if you do not want its messages.

Your data and the bot's developer#

A bot is run by its developer, outside SMeet. What you send a bot goes to the developer's servers and is processed under the developer's rules.

• The bot receives: your display name and public address, the messages and files you send in your chat with it, your presses on its buttons, and whether you started, stopped or blocked it.
• The bot never receives: your e-mail address, your phone number, your other chats, your contacts or your sessions. It does not see what you wrote before you pressed Start.
• After Stop or Block the bot receives nothing new from you and cannot write to you.
• Data already received stays with the developer; SMeet cannot delete it there. To have it deleted, contact the developer named in the bot's profile, and report the bot if something is wrong.

Do not send a bot passwords, card numbers or other secrets unless you trust its developer.

Bots in organisations#

• A bot of an organisation is visible only to the organisation's members. Others see This bot belongs to an organization you are not a member of.
• If you leave the organisation, your chats with its bots stop. If you come back, press Start again.
• The organisation's administrators can switch bots off. Then you see Bots are turned off in this organization, and the bots receive nothing from you.

Messages you may see#