How-to guides
How to set up driver check-ins
Who this is for: dispatchers and owners.
A check-in is a question sent to a driver — by text or by phone call — and the answer read back into the load. Drivers do not need an app or a login; they reply the way they already text you.
Before you start
Three things must be true or nothing goes out:
- The driver has a mobile number on file (Drivers → the driver → Phone).
- Texting is enabled for your company (Settings → Operations).
- Your number is approved for texting, and the driver has given SMS consent. See Get your number approved for texting.
Send a check-in by hand
Driver Check-ins → Send check-in. Pick the driver, optionally link the load, and send. The driver gets a text asking where they are and how it is going. Their reply comes back into the app.
Call a driver instead
Call places an automated voice check-in: the app dials the driver, asks the same questions out loud, and records the answers. Use it for a driver who does not text, or when you need an answer now. The call shows up in your Calls list alongside inbound calls, and the answers are parsed the same way as a text reply.
Automate the morning round
Settings → Operations:
| Setting | Effect |
|---|---|
| Auto-send morning driver check-ins | Off by default. When on, every driver on an active load gets the standard check-in text. |
| Morning check-in (HH:MM) | The local time it goes out. |
| En-route check-in interval (hours) | How often a driver in transit is pinged. Default 4. |
Drivers who already checked in within the last 12 hours are skipped, so a manual check-in the night before does not produce a duplicate at 7am.
What the app reads from a reply
Whatever the driver writes, the reply is parsed into:
- A status — empty, at pickup, loaded, at delivery, in transit, delayed, or off duty.
- Location — city and state.
- ETA, when they gave one.
- Flags for needs fuel, needs repair, needs dispatch help, and has documents to send.
- A short summary, plus anything raised that does not fit the boxes.
A driver texting "loaded out of Ocala, rolling now, should be in Atlanta around 4, need a repair on the trailer light" produces all of that without anyone retyping it.
Escalation when a driver goes quiet
Settings → Operations:
- Late response threshold (min) — default 60. A check-in with no reply after this long is marked Late.
- Escalation phone — texted when a check-in goes late.
- Escalation email — the address notification emails go to.
The sequence is: Requested → (no reply past the threshold) → Late → escalation contact notified → Escalated, with a flag on the load's timeline.
Escalations are deliberately suppressed for loads that already finished — delivered, POD received, or paid. Nobody gets paged at 3am about a driver who stopped answering on a load they dropped that afternoon.
Your escalation contact is a person too: if they have replied STOP to your texts, the escalation text is skipped rather than forced through.
Check-in statuses
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Requested | Sent, waiting on the driver. |
| Responded | Driver replied and it was parsed. |
| Late | Past your threshold with no reply. |
| Escalated | Escalation contact has been notified. |
| Closed | Done with. |
Related
Still stuck?
Email support@dynamanic.io with your company name, what you did, what happened — quoting any message on screen — and when, with your timezone.