You can transfer calls directly from the Aircall Phone application. This article explains how warm and cold transfers work, how team and contact-based transfers behave, what to expect with recordings and wrap-up time, how transferred calls appear in Analytics and Call History, and how to fix common transfer issues.

How call transfers work in Aircall

When transferring a call, you can choose between a warm transfer or a cold transfer. Transfers can be made to an agent, a team, or an external number.

Important:
• If the agent, team, or external number you want to transfer to is unavailable, they will not appear as a transfer option when you transfer directly to a teammate or team. See the troubleshooting section if a colleague does not show up.
• Internal calls cannot be transferred.

Types of transfers

Cold transfers

A cold transfer sends the call immediately to another agent, team, or external number without speaking to them first.

Steps:

  1. During the call, select Transfer now.

  2. Choose an agent, team, or enter an external number.

  3. The call is sent immediately, and the receiving party can accept or reject the transfer.

What happens next

  • If the transferred call is not answered, for example if there is no voicemail, the number is busy, or the call fails, the call will return to you. If you are no longer available when the call is supposed to return, the call will end.

  • The receiving agent sees the external caller’s number.

Tip: Transferring via a contact to an agent or team dedicated number can prevent unwanted transfer bounce back. You can find more details in the section of this article about transferring calls via contact.

Warm transfers

A warm transfer allows you to speak with your teammate or the external party before completing the transfer, while the caller is placed on hold. You can switch between the caller and your teammate as needed.

Warm transfers are available to individual users, teams, Aircall numbers, and external numbers.

How warm transfers appear

  • When a call from number X is answered by Agent 1, Agent 1 sees the external caller’s number.

  • When Agent 1 starts a warm transfer to Agent 2, Agent 2 sees Agent 1’s number, along with an Incoming transfer from teammate notification.

  • When Agent 1 completes the transfer, the call leg between Agent 1 and Agent 2 ends. A new call leg is created between Agent 2 and the external caller.

Note: When you click Transfer to complete a warm transfer, your call ends.

Team transfers

When a call is transferred to a team, it is dispatched to all available members of that team at the same time.

Important: Transferring a call to a team or individual does not change the call’s original line information. To associate the call with another number, transfer via a contact for that number.

Transferring calls to an agent or team via a contact

Instead of transferring directly to a teammate or team, you can transfer to a contact created for an agent or team’s dedicated Aircall number. This method:

  • Allows transfers regardless of availability status

  • Prevents unanswered transfers from returning to you

  • Sends the caller to the number’s voicemail or unavailable message if no one answers

Important: Each agent or team must have their own dedicated Aircall number for this method.

Add an agent or team Aircall number as a contact

You can create contacts for dedicated Aircall numbers in Aircall Workspace.

Steps:

  1. Click Contacts in the vertical menu, then open the Contacts tab.

  2. Select Add Contact.

  3. Enter the agent or team name and their dedicated Aircall number.

  4. Click Save.

Additional notes

  • You can upload many contacts at once with a CSV file. For more information, please see our article Importing Your Contacts to Aircall.

  • Contacts created for dedicated numbers are available to all agents on the account.

Transfer a call to the Agent or Team contact

Steps:

  1. During the call, click Transfer.

  2. Search for the contact name.

  3. Select the contact instead of the teammate entry.

  4. Choose Talk first or Transfer now.

After the transfer

  • The call follows the contact’s number settings, including audio messages and distribution rules.

  • Unanswered calls go to that number’s voicemail or unavailable message.

Call recordings and transfers

How call recording behaves depends on the type of transfer.

  • Cold transfer (Transfer now): Recording cannot be enabled or disabled after the call is transferred. If recording was enabled before the transfer, it cannot be paused afterwards.
  • Warm transfer (Talk first): Recording can be enabled or disabled after the call is transferred.

Access to recordings depends on user roles.

  • Supervisors and Admins can access all recordings.
  • Agents can access recordings for calls assigned to them or for numbers assigned to them.

Wrap-up time and transfers

Important: Wrap-up time is only applied in certain transfer scenarios.

  • Warm transfers create a new call leg, so wrap-up time always applies.

  • Cold transfers to a teammate transfer the existing call leg, so no wrap-up time is assigned.
  • Cold transfers to an internal Aircall number or to an external line require wrap-up time so the agent can tag the call before it leaves Aircall. Call tagging is mandatory when the call exits Aircall.

Workarounds if you need time for notes after a cold transfer to a teammate

For internal cold transfers to teammates where wrap-up does not apply, you can:

  1. Place the call on hold briefly before transferring to take quick notes.

  2. Have agents switch to busy or unavailable after the transfer, then switch back when ready.

  3. Use the API/Webhooks with the call.transferred webhook to programmatically change the agent’s status to “unavailable” using the Update a User API. This would require custom development.

Analytics and entry number

Users with Analytics+ can see the number of transfers each agent initiates. This metric counts inbound calls answered by an agent and then transferred to another user or external number.

Aircall also uses an entry number, which is the first number dialed in the call flow.

  • Shown in a dedicated column in Call History

  • Available as a filter and metric in Inbound+

Note: Manual warm or cold transfers create two separate calls, so the entry number does not apply to them.

Troubleshooting call transfers

Use this section if transfers do not behave as expected.

Transfer button is greyed out

Common reasons

  • Unstable internet connection

  • Outdated Aircall app

  • Firewall, VPN, or security filters blocking traffic

  • Network instability between your device and Aircall

How to fix it

  1. On the Aircall Workspace desktop app, run Preferences → Quality → Network Diagnostics.

  2. Test your internet connection or try another network.

  3. Update the Aircall app.

  4. Reboot your device.

  5. Check status.aircall.io for incidents.

  6. Review Network Requirements or contact Aircall Support.

Calls come back to me after I transfer them

Common reasons

  • The receiving agent is available but does not answer.

  • Missed transfers return to the original receiver.

How to fix it

  • Give frequent recipients their own dedicated Aircall number.

  • Create a contact for that number and transfer to the contact, not the teammate entry.

  • Unanswered calls will go to that number’s voicemail or unavailable message.

An agent does not appear as a transfer option

Common reasons

The teammate will not show up if they are:

  • Set to unavailable

  • Offline

  • On another call

  • In wrap-up

How to fix it

  • Ask them to switch to available.

  • If you must transfer regardless of status, give them a dedicated number and transfer to that contact.

  • You can always transfer to an Aircall number even if all agents are unavailable, and the call will go to voicemail.

Transfers reach the wrong line

Common reasons

  • Incorrect default number set for the user

  • Unnecessary or incorrect call forwarding

  • User logged into multiple devices

  • Underlying network or app issues

How to fix it

  1. Review the user’s default number. Admins can adjust these settings via the Aircall Dashboard.

  2. Disable call forwarding for the targeted user. This can be done from the Aircall Dashboard by navigating to the user's profile and turning off the call forwarding feature.
  3. Log out the user from all devices and have them log back in to a single device to ensure consistent call handling.
  4. If a specific user is to receive transfers regularly, ensure that they have a dedicated Aircall number. This will prevent calls from bouncing back if the user does not answer.
  5. Check the network and application status to ensure no underlying connectivity issues are causing disruptions in the transfer process.
  6. If the issue persists, consider reaching out to Aircall Customer Support for further assistance and configuration checks.

Wrap-up time does not appear after a transfer

Common reasons

  • The transfer was a cold transfer to a teammate, so no wrap-up is applied.

  • The agent believed they performed a warm transfer, but did not.

How to fix it

  • Use warm transfers when wrap-up time is required for internal transfers.

  • For cold transfers to teammates, use these workarounds:

    • Put the call on hold briefly before transferring.

    • Switch temporarily to busy or unavailable to take notes.

    • Use the API/Webhooks to automate post-transfer status changes.