Spires uses a built in phone calling system that is built on the same technology Uber uses. It is free to use for students and tutors, as it connects to phones through the internet, so you do not need to worry about making international calls. Your phone number will remain private, as the call will appear to come from a number starting with 01225. This number would usually originate from a town called Bath in the Southwest England.

For most tutors, this is set up when they create their account, but should you need to make any changes then you can read on.

To begin, your phone number needs to be entered under your account tab:

Under the section titled phone calling system, you have two options. The first is a toggle button next to the words "Let clients call me". If this toggle is black, clients can call you. If it is grey, clients can not call you. We recommend leaving this enabled, i.e. black, so that students can make contact with you quickly and easily.

The second option is the "Edit Phone Number" button. If you click this you will see a pop up like this that will allow you to edit your phone number:

Your phone number needs to be written in the international format. This means there should not be a 0 at the start. The above phone number will not work because it was entered incorrectly, it is also 1 digit short of being a full phone number.

You may enter a landline number if you wish. Be sure to select the correct country so that the dialling code is correct.

In order to make a call you will need to open the messages between yourself and the student. At the top of the messenger you will see a picture of a phone to the right of their name:

This is a clickable icon, and clicking the phone button will bring up a pop up asking you to confirm that you wish to call the student:

You may also see the "Call Parent" button, which will allow you to call their parents. These buttons are only shown if the student and their parent add their phone numbers to Spires under their settings tab, and enable the phone call option.

After this, you may be prompted for access to your microphone by your browser. You will need to allow access to continue. At the end of the call, you can click end call or the student may hang up which would also disconnect you