Andrea Helpdesk grows up: internal chat, private messages, and installable mobile apps
There is a funny thing that happens once a helpdesk starts doing its job properly. The tickets are in there. The customer history is in there. The knowledge base is in there. The internal notes are in there. The team starts living in it. And then, inevitably, someone opens Slack, Teams, Discord, WhatsApp, email, or whatever other digital junk drawer the business has accidentally standardised on, and says: “Can someone look at ticket #123?”
There is a funny thing that happens once a helpdesk starts doing its job properly.
The tickets are in there. The customer history is in there. The knowledge base is in there. The internal notes are in there. The team starts living in it.
And then, inevitably, someone opens Slack, Teams, Discord, WhatsApp, email, or whatever other digital junk drawer the business has accidentally standardised on, and says:
“Can someone look at ticket #123?”
Which is fine.
Until the answer is in one place, the ticket is in another place, the knowledge base article is somewhere else, and three weeks later nobody can remember why a customer was promised a thing that now appears to be legally binding.
So Andrea Helpdesk now has chat.
Internal chat, where the support work already happens
Andrea now includes internal team chat channels.
Think familiar rooms like:
#general#sales#support
Agents can talk in shared channels, keep team discussion close to the helpdesk, and avoid scattering important support context across a dozen unrelated tools.
This is not trying to replace every workplace chat system on earth. It is trying to solve the very specific problem helpdesks always have:
the conversation about the ticket should live near the ticket.
That means chat messages can link directly to tickets and knowledge base articles.
So instead of writing:
“Have a look at that weird printer ticket from yesterday, the one with the thing.”
You can point the team straight at the actual ticket.
Instead of saying:
“I’m pretty sure we have a KB article about that.”
You can link directly to the article.
It keeps the support loop tighter, cleaner, and much less dependent on everyone remembering where the important conversation happened.
Channels for the team, private messages for the quick stuff
Not every conversation needs a channel.
Sometimes you just need to send another agent a quick note. Andrea now supports private messages between agents as well as channel chat.
That means you can have the normal shared team spaces for general support flow, sales questions, escalations, and operational chatter, while still being able to privately message another agent when something does not need to become a whole public production.
The goal is simple: less tab-hopping, less copy-pasting ticket links into external apps, and fewer important details disappearing into places your helpdesk cannot see.
Andrea is now a proper installable app
The other big change: Andrea Helpdesk is now a full Progressive Web App.
That means you can install it like an app on:
your PC
your Mac
your Android phone
your iPhone or iPad
It still runs from your own server, in your own browser, against your own helpdesk. But once installed, it behaves much more like a normal app.
No app store dance.
No vendor account.
No “please wait while this 240 MB Electron wrapper updates itself for the fourth time today.”
Just install the helpdesk from the browser and pin it where you need it.
Alt text: Andrea Helpdesk showing the browser option to install the app.
Phone notifications, without handing your helpdesk to someone else
Once Andrea is installed as an app, you can enable notifications and get helpdesk alerts directly on your phone.
That is a big deal for small teams.
A customer replies.
A ticket needs attention.
Something moves.
Your phone can tell you.
Alt text: Android showing the install prompt for Andrea Helpdesk.
Alt text: Andrea Helpdesk installed as an app on an Android phone.
Alt text: Android asking permission for Andrea Helpdesk to send notifications.
This fits the whole Andrea idea nicely: modern helpdesk behaviour, without needing to surrender your customer conversations to a rented SaaS platform.
You still own the server.
You still own the database.
You still own the application.
Now it just feels a lot more like something your team can keep open all day.
Still self-hosted. Still GPL. Still yours.
The point of Andrea has not changed.
It is still a self-hosted PHP helpdesk for people who want control over their customer support system, their data, and their costs.
What has changed is that it is becoming more comfortable to actually live in.
Internal chat means your team can discuss work where the work already is.
Private messages mean agents can quickly talk without dragging every conversation into a public channel.
Ticket and knowledge base links mean the support context stays attached to the support system.
PWA installation means Andrea can sit on your desktop or phone like a real app.
Notifications mean the important stuff can come to you.
It is still free as in freedom.
It is just a bit more useful in your pocket now.
