For instant help, call or message our OnCall Help experts in-app for live assistance.

01. OnCall Basics

OnCall is the fastest way to gain instant access to a broad array of Experts, using nothing other than your mobile device. With OnCall, you not only gain access to Experts in real-time, but the timesaving benefits of this app are unparalleled. If you are an Expert at anything, join OnCall and help others with their questions and projects—either for free or for your desired rate per session.

Yes. While some Experts charge for their services and consultation, the downloading, installing, and usage of the OnCall application is free.

A User can search for Experts, engage in conversation with them, through voice, video or text, rate the Expert, and pay for services through OnCall. Experts can provide services and consultations through voice, video or text, provide their Service Description, Terms of Use, Credentials and charge for services/ consultations through OnCall.

An Expert is an OnCall user that has useful and valuable knowledge in a particular field and wishes to provide help to other Users.  An Expert may have certifications, licenses, awards, and diploma that support the Experts domain of knowledge.

Yes, OnCall is available to download and use globally.

All activity and actions like signing up, managing your account and profile, interacting with experts, and many more are all done through the app. The OnCall website is purely informative in nature.

02. Setting up your account

To start using Oncall, download the ‘OnCall – Find Experts’ app to your Android or iOS mobile device and sign up. Once signed up, you can begin using the app.

Download OnCall from the Apple App store or Google Play store by searching for “OnCall Find Experts”.

There are two ways to set up your expert profile. When signing up to OnCall you will be asked whether you would like to become an expert and be visible to others publicly. If at this point you select ‘Yes’ you will be redirected to set up your expert profile. If you have pressed no, you can always return to your account and turn on the ‘Become An Expert’ toggle button and fill in the appropriate sections. Once you have completed your Expert profile you can start using it right away, however, you must select a category to belong to first.

Yes. OnCall can also be used on a compatible tablet that runs iOS 7+ or Android 4.0+.

No. Please contact the OnCall Help expert from the app for assistance to do this.

03. How it works

There are several methods to finding experts.

  1. Find Experts button on the Activity Stream -> Search for Experts using the search bar or scroll through the list already displayed.
  2. Categories tab -> Search for Experts in the search bar or scroll through the categories and drill down to the sub-categories and individual experts.
  3. Post a question -> Post a question to the community on the Activity Stream page and have experts find you instead.

Contacting Experts can only be done through an iPhone, Android or a supported tablet device. Once you have located the expert you wish to contact, simply tap on the relevant row and you will be able to choose from voice/video or instant messaging communication methods. Select the option you would like to use and start communicating.

If you would like to find out what each Expert can offer you, please read their Service Description. Each Expert varies in expertise, services and fees.

Credentials are certifications, licenses, awards, degrees and diplomas that support the experts domain of knowledge.

Currently we do not support real-time communication options between users and Experts through the website.  This is a feature we will consider in the future if there is sufficient demand.  Consider logging into your account with an iPhone or Android device to use this feature.

04. Payments and transactions

Unfortunately, purchased credits are not refundable. Consider only purchasing credits on an as needed basis.

Experts can only redeem their credits once they have a minimum of 20 Credits Earned. Once you have reached this threshold you can request to redeem credits, to do so go to My Account –> Expert Settings -> Request Payout –> Redeem. An email will be sent out to you confirming your request. Please allow between 5-7 business days for your PayPal account to be credited. There is also a maximum redemption of 200 Credits per day. There are fees associated with Redeeming Credits. Both PayPal and the platforms (Apple, Android) charge for their services in order to insure your transactions. PayPal charges 2.9% of net transaction and the platforms charge 30%. These fees will be deducted (once each redemption) once your credit redemption is processed.

Note: OnCall does not make any profits on in-app credit purchases; we are only facilitating connecting users with experts. You will receive an email confirmation once your PayPal account has been credited.

When in a call (voice only or video) with a User, click the “Charge” icon, which looks like a credit card, in upper left hand corner of the screen. Select the rate you wish to charge the other party on a per minute basis in increments of 0.1 credits (equivalent to $0.10) per minute. Once a User accepts the charge, a charge timer starts. At the end of the charged call, a charge record will be in the app’s Activity History screen. Please note that calls are prorated and transaction fees are rounded to the nearest 0.1 credit.

To redeem your credits, a PayPal account is required.  Enter your PayPal account details under the Redeem Credits section of “My Profile”.  Note you must have a minimum of at least 20 credits earned to be able to redeem.

You can track your transaction history in the app under My Account -> Activity History.

An Expert can define how much they wish to charge a user on a per minute basis in increments of 0.1 credits ($0.10) per minute. Once the user accepts the charge, a charge timer starts to help the user track their charged session time. At the end of the charged call, charges will be calculated and the call history updated.  Please note calls are prorated and transaction fees are rounded to the nearest 0.1 credit.

It is up to the Expert to track their income and report it appropriately as per their countries’ tax law. OnCall does not provide documentation regarding income earned through the OnCall service.

Credits are the type of “currency” used within OnCall (think of it as the payment currency charged by Experts for their time). Each Expert defines how many credits each minute of their time is worth within each session. In order to purchase credits, iPhone and Android users can access the “Purchase Credits” option in the “My Profile” section of the app and occurs as an in-app purchase that will require users to have a valid App Store iTunes or Google Wallet account depending on the device type. Once the account is set up, users are ready to purchase any of the credit packages.

Three credit packages are available:

  1. 5 credits for $4.99 USD
  2. 10 credits for $9.99 USD
  3. 20 credits for $19.99 USD

If 20 or more credits have not been accumulated you will lose those credits upon closing your account. You must earn a minimum of 20 credits before you can redeem them. It is recommended that users not close their account until a minimum of 20 credits is accumulated. Also a closed account cannot be reinstated; you will lose all your data.

OnCall is set up using UTC (Coordinated Universal Time). As this is likely different from your current timezone, there will be a variance in time depending on your location.

05. Common issues

Ensure that the message recipient you are sending the message is marked as available (green dot at the top right of their avatar). If you still do not get a response and the recipient is marked available, try logging out of the app and signing back in. If that still doesn’t work, try terminating the app from memory and starting it up, and log in again and retry sending the message again.

If you register to be an Expert and a category you are looking to register under is not present, please continue registering with an available category that most closely matches your service offering profile and include the description of your services. You can then suggest new categories in the “Settings” section of the app as we regularly review suggestions and add them to our published category list.

Ensure that you have enabled video by tapping on the video camera icon while in a call. If the button is red in colour, it means that video is currently disabled. OnCall also uses smart video transmission routing, which adjusts the quality of the video depending on the quality of the user’s connection. Do ensure that you are connected via a reliable Wi-Fi connection or have at least 3G HSPA cellular (LTE recommended) data enabled with strong network signal bars.

If on the rare occasion you find that charging is not working properly, do let us know immediately at support@on-call.me or by calling or messaging the OnCall Help expert within the app. This feature is critical and any issues with it must be reported as soon as possible.

Ensure that the microphone is not currently muted. By default while in a call, the microphone is always enabled.

When filling out your expert preferences and details, do remember to tap the “Save” button typically located at the bottom of screen where you input information into. You should receive an alert notifying you that your details have been successfully saved if you did this correctly.

Ensure that you have a data connection enabled; either Wi-Fi or 3G cellular data should suffice. Once verified, do try it again and if still not working, please log out and then log in again and retry to see if it fixes the problem.

06. Managing your account

Once you have logged into OnCall, select the Settings tab. In Settings you can change your connectivity preferences, alerts, feedback, social media and view our Privacy and Terms of Use policies.

Once you have logged into OnCall select the My Account tab. Then tap on the “Account Settings” option. In that page you can change your profile name, email address, profile picture and password.

Once in the My Account section, tap “Expert Settings” then turn on the Become An Expert toggle switch and fill in the appropriate sections. Once you have completed your Expert profile you can start using it right away. Please note that you must select a category to be able to become an expert.

07. Features

No, the user trying to reach you will get an alert saying that you are currently unavailable and your device will not ring at all.

Yes. Go to My Account -> Expert Settings -> Call Handling -> Route Calls to Phone -> enter the phone number you would like your calls to be redirected to.

Absolutely. Simply go to Settings, then select the “Share App” option and select the desired platform you would like to share the app via.

Simply go to Settings, then select the “Rate the App” option, then follow the instructions from there to complete leaving your feedback for us. Additionally, once you’ve used the app for a certain amount of time, you’d get a pop-up option to ask you to rate the app as well.

Once a session is completed, you will receive a prompt to rate the expert you were just engaged with. Tap “Yes” and proceed to fill out the page by providing a star rating (from 1 – 5 where 1 is terrible and 5 is excellent) and a write-up in your own words describing the experience.

You can defer rating an expert for up to 24 hours later, which you can access later by going to My Account  -> Ratings and Reviews -> Pending then select the rating and review you would like to complete by selecting the relevant row.

Rate the Expert is a simple review process, where you can tell the rest of the OnCall community about your experience with this particular expert by providing a star rating (from 1 – 5 where 1 is terrible and 5 is excellent) and a detailed write-up.

You can communicate with experts using video, voice, or instant messaging.

08. Policies

In the event of a transaction dispute email us right away to disputes@on-call.me. Please provide your OnCall User Name, and the date and time of the transaction. Please allow up to five (5) business days for a reply as we investigate the issue in detail.

Our privacy policy is accessible on the app by going to Settings -> About -> Privacy Policy. Additionally, you can view it on our website at http://on-call.me/privacy

Our terms of use policy is accessible on the app by going to Settings -> About -> Terms of Use. Additionally, you can view it on our website at http://on-call.me/terms-of-use

09. OnCall for devices

Yes. While it is scaled up view of a mobile screen, all the features work exactly the way they would on a supported smartphone device. At a minimum, the tablet must run the minimum OS version supported.

The OnCall website is supported on all major web browsers like Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer 7+, Opera, and many more that supports HTML5, CSS3, and Javascript at a minimum.

OnCall for Mobile is available on the following devices and OS versions:

  1. iOS 7+ which includes the following supported devices – iPhone 4S, 5, 5S, 6 and 6+
  2. Android 4.0+ (Ice Cream Sandwich) and 5.0 (Lollipop), which includes but is not limited to the following supported devices – Samsung S5 , Samsung Note family, Motorola Moto G, Nexus 5+, LG Optimus

Although OnCall is currently not available for these devices, we will consider adding them in the future if there is sufficient demand.  Consider logging into your account with an iOS and Android device to use OnCall.

10. OnCall for experts

Yes.  Each Expert can include their own specific terms and conditions they deem necessary for the services they plan to provide.

No. You must define a category in order for your profile to be visible as an Expert profile.

Yes. You can become an expert and not include a Service Description and/or Service Terms, however, you must define the Category your service will belong to.

Yes, as of version 1.1.1, credits are now consolidated into a single bucket. Therefore you can now use credits earned to pay for transactions with other experts.

As an Expert you can and should include a full description of your services, including links to your website, social media, and other resources. You also have the opportunity to include your own Service Terms.

Since an Expert on OnCall is a user that has useful and valuable knowledge in a particular field and wishes to provide help to other Users or Experts, you will need to define the particular field in which you are an Expert. Additionally, fill in the Service Description and/or your own Service Terms, which users will need to accept if they would like to use your service. You may also have certifications, licenses, awards, and diplomas that support your domain of knowledge; therefore we encourage you to publish them to your credentials page under My Account -> Expert Settings -> Credentials. Published credentials are publicly visible by the entire OnCall community as long as you remain an Expert.

Disengage the Become An Expert toggle switch under My Account -> Expert Settings. Your information will be saved, however, you will not be searchable or publicly viewable and you will be removed from the directory. Your profile will function as a regular User account type.

For profiles to be most attractive to users, we suggest that Experts include full descriptions of their service details along with as many pictures like before and afters for example. Visuals help a lot and add a lot of colour to the profile. Make sure that the Category you choose is the most appropriate for your services. Within your Service Description you should also consider including links to videos, websites and other resources to enhance your profile.

Still can't find what you're looking for?

Call or message our OnCall Help agent directly on the app for immediate assistance Mon - Fri, 9am - 5pm EDT. If your issue is less urgent, send us an email with your name, contact number, issue description, and availability time.

TORONTO, ON

360 Dupont St,
Toronto, Ontario, M5R 1V9,
Canada

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