Private Messaging, Announced Where People Already Look
Asynchronous, email-like private messaging, distinct from synchronous Chat. Admins govern who can start a thread, whether messaging is allowed, and how long it lives.
See Messages In Action
Private one-to-one and small-group messaging governed on its own track — rich text, @mentions, attachments, and voice notes transcribed automatically while your organization has AI credits, each new message announced in Notifications.
What Messages Does
Message One-to-One
Start a private 1:1 with any teammate, manager, or report. Threads auto-dedupe per pair — messaging someone you already message reopens the existing thread instead of fragmenting the history.
Spin Up A Small Group
Create a private group thread of up to 10 participants for a specific task or huddle, with searchable history. Group messaging is admin-toggleable per business.
Announced In Notifications
Each new message is announced in Notifications next to every other notice, and read in Messages, with search across people, subjects and message text. Each person's unread count follows what they have opened.
Attach Files And Voice Notes
Drive-backed file attachments on any message, and voice notes recorded from the reply box on a computer — voice notes are transcribed automatically while your organization has AI credits. Attachments are admin-toggleable per business.
Mention And Notify
@mention a participant inside a thread and they get a notification. Messages deliver live, so a thread updates in real time the moment a reply lands.
Archive And Clean Up
Archive a conversation to drop it out of your active list without losing it. Authors can delete their own message — it can be restored from Trash for up to 30 days, then it is destroyed for good unless a legal hold keeps it.
A Separate, Independently-Governed Messaging Track
Asynchronous Like Email — Not Another Chat Window
Messages is built on its own dedicated data model, separate from notifications, so it does not piggyback on the notification system. It is the async, "like email" half of communication that complements synchronous Chat. Conversations wait until the recipient is ready, each new one announced in Notifications, with each person's own read state driving their unread counts.
- Dedicated data model — messages, threads, and participants are modeled separately from notifications.
- One place to read — every conversation in Messages, searchable across people, subjects and message text.
- Per-participant read state — a read timestamp per person, independent of any notification read flag.
- Live delivery — new messages reach thread participants in real time.
Governed On Its Own Track, Separate From Chat
Because Messages is governed independently, an admin can switch it off org-wide while Chat keeps working, restrict who is allowed to start a conversation, and set a retention window that applies to messages only. None of those controls touch Chat — Chat's own one-to-one chats have a separate switch, so a no-private-chats policy turns both off. That separation is what regulated and frontline organizations need to control private correspondence or keep history for review.
- Master gate — turn Messages on or off org-wide without affecting Chat.
- Who can start a message — everyone, managers and above, app admins only, or named groups. Replying is not limited by this setting. (A one-to-one between two people an information barrier keeps apart is read-only.)
- Group and attachment toggles — turn small-group threads or file uploads on or off per business.
- Message-only retention — auto-purge after N days, governed separately from channel retention.
Messages In Practice
A practical scope check: what the app covers, which controls matter, and the conversations teams usually run first.
Core capability
Private 1:1 and small-group threads on a dedicated messaging layer, announced in Notifications and read in Messages — not an extension of the notification system.
Controls that matter
Seven settings: group messages on/off, attachments on/off, link previews on/off, Ask AI on/off, who can start a conversation (everyone, managers and above, app admins, or named groups), who can see the usage dashboard, and a message-only retention window in days — plus the master on/off switch.
Scope and specs
Useful specs: thread kinds: 2 (one-to-one, group); group participant cap: 10; read state: per-participant read timestamp; default retention: keep forever, configurable per tenant.
Quick coordination
An employee messages a teammate privately from the user directory or org chart without leaving the platform. The thread is announced in the recipient's Notifications, waits in their Messages, and updates live when they reply.
Small-group huddle
A lead spins up a private group thread of up to 10 people for a specific task, shares a file and a voice note, and keeps the searchable history in one place.
Manager ↔ frontline check-in
A manager reaches a frontline employee directly; where compliance requires, an admin governs or disables these private back-channels independently of channels.
Connected To The Rest Of MangoApps
→ Inbox
Each new message is announced in Notifications, alongside notices, broadcasts and approvals, and opens the conversation in Messages.
→ Chat
Chat owns real-time channels and rooms; Messages owns private mail. Each has its own on/off switch, settings and retention. Information barriers, set by a company admin in Admin › Compliance, apply to both.
→ Drive
File attachments on a message are Drive-backed, so shared files live in the same store as the rest of the platform — with the same permissions and audit trail.
→ Org Chart & Directory
"Message this person" entry points hang off the user directory and the org chart — start a private thread straight from where you find the person.
→ Performance Reviews
Message your manager from your self-assessment, so the conversation starts with what it is about.
→ Voice Notes
Voice notes recorded from the reply box on a computer are transcribed with the same pipeline used elsewhere on the platform.
REPLACES POINT TOOLS
One governed messaging track in place of ungoverned back-channels
Most organizations let private 1:1s scatter across Teams chat, Slack DMs, and personal email — three separate stores, three retention policies, and no single admin control. Messages folds internal private correspondence into one governed, asynchronous, email-like track.
Microsoft Teams private chat
1:1 and group chat inside Teams
- Same login and Notifications as Shifts, Tasks, and HR — private messages live where employees already work, not in a separate chat client
- Asynchronous and email-like by design — threads wait for the recipient instead of demanding a real-time response like a chat window
- Govern private mail without the M365 admin center — turn Messages off org-wide with one app switch while Chat stays on
Slack DMs
Direct messages inside Slack
- Restrict who can start a conversation (everyone, managers and above, app admins, or named groups) — a control Slack reserves for higher Enterprise tiers
- Message-only retention governed separately from channels — keep or purge private history without touching public conversation
- One per-employee platform login covers messaging plus shifts, pay, and tasks — not a second seat in a separate workspace
Personal email for internal 1:1s
Outlook / Gmail for internal back-channels
- Internal private correspondence stays inside the tenant-isolated platform, not scattered across personal inboxes IT can't govern
- Live delivery, and each message waits marked unread until its recipient opens it
- Searchable threads with @mentions, Drive-backed files, and voice notes in one place — not an email chain with lost attachments
PLATFORM ADVANTAGE
Messages inherits everything else MangoApps already does
A standalone messaging tool has to build, buy, or integrate each of these. Messages gets them for free because the platform already runs them.
Identity & SSO
Inherits your SAML/OIDC SSO, MFA, and SCIM provisioning. Employees message a colleague with the same login they used to clock in.
HRIS-synced rosters
Recipients, the directory, and the org chart come from the live org chart — no separate messaging contact list drifting out of date.
Drive-backed attachments
Files on a message live in the platform Drive, under the same permissions and storage as the rest of the platform.
Tenant isolation
Threads and messages live under the same business-scoping and tenant isolation as every other record — nothing leaks across tenants.
Audit & retention
A deleted message can be restored from Trash for up to 30 days, and a per-tenant retention window governs private history on its own track. A legal hold keeps the messages it covers for your records (people no longer see them) until it is lifted — never destroyed while the hold lasts.
Voice transcription
Voice notes are transcribed, while your organization has AI credits, with the same pipeline that powers voice across Chat and other surfaces.
INDUSTRY FIT
Built for organizations that have to govern private messaging
Messages fits any employer, but it earns its keep where compliance, regulators, or a deskless workforce make ungoverned back-channels a real risk.
Financial Services
Disable ungoverned private messaging or retain message history on its own track for review — independently of channels — to meet recordkeeping expectations.
Healthcare
Keep private staff coordination inside a tenant-isolated platform with a retention window, instead of personal text threads and email no one can govern.
Manufacturing
Give plant supervisors a direct line to frontline workers in the same app they use for shifts and pay — with admin control over who can start a thread.
Retail
Store managers reach associates 1:1 or in a small group from Messages, while corporate keeps a single org-wide control over private messaging.
Logistics & Transportation
Dispatchers and drivers coordinate in private threads that wait in Messages — async by design, so a driver isn't pulled into a live chat on the road.
Public Sector
Records-conscious agencies keep internal private correspondence inside the platform with a governed retention window, not on personal email accounts.
WHY MANGOAPPS WINS
One platform beats a stack of point solutions on every axis
The argument IT, communications, security, and compliance all share — and the one a standalone chat or DM tool structurally cannot answer.
Cheaper than the stack
Private messaging is a platform-included capability — not a second seat in Teams or Slack and not a metered add-on. The bill doesn't grow per messaging user.
More secure
One identity perimeter and one tenant-isolation model across every private thread — nothing for security to re-certify in a separate chat tool.
Easier to deploy
Already deployed if you have MangoApps. Turn the app on, review its seven settings, and employees message each other the same day.
Easier to use
Every new message is announced in the Notifications employees already check for everything else — no separate workspace to learn.
Easier to manage
Recipients and the directory come from the HRIS, and one master gate turns private messaging on or off org-wide — without touching channels.
Governed independently
Disable private messaging, restrict who can start a thread, or set a message-only retention window — all on a track separate from Chat. Teams and Slack parity, without the separate admin center.
Customer Success
How Customers Use It
Customer Case Studies
Customer Case Studies
Customer Case Studies
Customer Case Studies
Customer Case Studies
Customer Case Studies
At our head office within HR, marketing, and finance, we use ChatGPT quite a bit, and MangoApps AI Helper is a useful tool for us. As I go around to the stores, I’ve been showing them how the AI Intranet Helper can find things and answer plain language questions about our resources, and they’re quite excited about that.
Alison van Zijl
Head of Human Resources
Full House
Frequently Asked Questions
Messages owns the asynchronous, email-like private 1:1 and small-group messaging — conversations announced in Notifications that wait in Messages like email. Chat owns synchronous, real-time one-to-one chats, rooms and channels. They are different modalities on different, independently-governed tracks, so an admin can disable private messaging while keeping channels (or the reverse) without affecting the other. Information barriers, set by a company admin in Admin › Compliance, apply to both.
In Messages, opened from the profile menu (on a phone, the Messages row at the top of Notifications), which lists every conversation with search across people, subjects and message text. Each new message is also announced in Notifications. You can start a message from the user directory, the org chart, a profile, or an employee's self-assessment.
Yes. The app's master gate is the org-wide switch — disable Messages for a tenant and it turns off for everyone, while Chat and announcements keep working. Chat's own one-to-one chats have a separate switch (One-to-one messages in Chat's settings), so a no-private-chats policy turns both off. Admins can also restrict who can start a conversation to managers and above, app admins, or named groups.
Each person's read state is tracked separately — opening a conversation marks it read for you, and you can mark it unread again from any message. There are no read receipts — senders are not shown whether a message has been read.
Yes. Messages support Drive-backed file attachments and voice notes recorded on a computer, transcribed automatically while your organization has AI credits. Both attachments and group messaging are admin-toggleable per business, so a tenant can allow or block them.
Messages are stored under the same tenant isolation as the rest of the platform. By default history is kept forever; a per-tenant retention window (in days) removes older messages nightly and destroys them permanently 30 days later, governed separately from Chat. An author can delete their own message; it can be restored from Trash for up to 30 days, then it is destroyed. A legal hold keeps the messages it covers for your records (people no longer see them) until it is lifted; they are never destroyed while it lasts. A hold on a person covers every conversation they are in.
No. Messages is a platform-included capability, not sold as a standalone line, and sending mail is not metered (transcribing a voice note or asking Ask AI about your mail draws AI credits, like every AI feature). Private 1:1 and small-group messaging comes with the platform.
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