Inbox update - June 2024 Release

[TrustedTeam]

Hello Forum Community!

Thank you to everyone who took part in the Beta test for the new inbox, your insights were invaluable to the team.

The Beta test will end soon and you will revert to the old inbox for a short period, this will then convert to the New Inbox sometime in June (the final date to be confirmed, but it’s soon!)

If you want to know more about the Beta test you can get up to speed here

That means that the New Inbox will launch to all members in June 2024!

Check out the Introducing our new messaging and application experience blog post as it explains the New inbox in more detail.

There will also soon be an information pop-up when you log in to your THS inbox explaining that the new inbox is coming soon.

We couldn’t have done it without your help and here is some of the feedback from the forum community that helped shape the New Inbox:

@Itchyfeet

Sometimes I receive an invitation without a message. I always ask the HO if they have sent a message and some respond that they have.

Owners will no longer be able to invite a sitter without a message

@weirdholyman

Show the correct time of messages sent/received based on CURRENT location.

Time stamps in your inbox will now show in your local time

@Megg

Clicking on “favourites” just takes me to my inbox instead of to a list of house sits that I’ve favourited. I would love to be able to see an actual list so that I can un-favourite the ones that are no longer suitable.

For sitters, your ‘Favourites’ is now on a separate page, making it easier to view. These can also be sorted by listings currently ‘Looking for a sitter’

@Marion

I HATE the way messages are nested so you either see just the last one or ALL of them – at least on the web. Not sure how it looks on the phone. It’s a problem. If you write a message and then add a line in another message the receiver might not see the original message or understand the context of the additional line.

The message structure will now be a clearer more user-friendly layout.

@Crookie

owners sending sit invites for dates that a sitter is unavailable having already been confirmed for THS sit for the same dates.

Owners will no longer be able to invite sitters who have a confirmed THS sit

@sledgejoyce

Why is the place to pause and unpause applications found to the left of the inbox? I’ve seen lots of posts on the forum from homeowners who don’t know where to look for it. And, with the Five and Pause, it seems the place to unpause should have more visibility.

We can now display when your listing is active or when it has been paused, and we’ve made it clearer how to unpause the listing if you would like to receive more sitter applications

@Snowbird

Make it far easier to change the date(s) on a confirmed sit, when both parties agree. I’m referring mainly to when start and end dates get firmed up nearer the date, and may need a day or two adjusted at the start or the end. Currently it’s so complex that I think many don’t bother.

If a pet parent edits their dates after applicants have applied, the sitter will be alerted that these dates have changed. If they’re not available for these new dates, they will also have the option to withdraw their application

@Marion

Sometimes I start out making a sit “private” and seeing if past sitters want to apply. There is no easy intuitive way to then make the same sit public.

We’ve also made it easier for pet parents to add private dates and directly invite a previous sitter, all without the sit going live on their profile for other sitters to see

For those who have not already seen it here is a sneak peek of the new layout:

The team will keep you posted about the launch date. The great news is that once we have a shiny New Inbox there is potential to add more features in the future!

[DianeG]

This looks like it must be for the desktop version? Any changes coming for the app?

[Carla]

Great question @DianeG The new inbox will alight across the app and website

[Carla]

Hello everyone,

I have an update for you. The New Inbox will be launched on the 10th of June 2024

[crocomben]

I cant search my inbox now.
Luckily I can revert back to old INBOX.
Hope they keep this

[Breezylake]

I just started to write a note in the Inbox, and found the text box cannot be expanded as before, so I end up scrolling up and down to see what I had written above. What happened to the expand feature of the text box so we can see everything that we’ve written? Very helpful for an application letter, and follow-up correspondence.
Will that be put back soon? Right now have reverted to the old Inbox.

[Carla]

Hello @crocomben Thank you for the feedback. There were issues with the previous search function as it did not always work as intended, therefore it was removed and they are looking at adding it again in the future.

You can in the interim revert back to your old inbox. This helps with the transition between the old and new inbox but won’t always be available as the new inbox is the one that is intended to be used in the future.

@Breezylake Thank you for your feedback, it is super helpful. We will collect all feedback about the new inbox and pass it on.

The team are doing a fix for a small glitch with archiving messages. This should be done by tomorrow.

Feel free to leave any more feedback or questions. Thank you

[Globetrotter]

I just went into my inbox this morning and it had just changed to the new inbox layout which is awful! I have no idea why this was changed - it certainly hasn’t improved on anything.

[richten1]

I do hope it’s improved since when I tried it 2 months ago when it kept crashing and giving me an error whenever I applied for any sit. I reverted back to the old inbox after a few days.

[Wildcolonialgirl]

@carla why when I run a saved search am I getting “sits you might like” which (a) don’t fit the search criteria and (b) I am unavailable for.

[HelloOutThere]

Hello THS team,
Just got the new inbox mid way thru setting up a sit.
I could switch back but that was jarring.

When I was trying to add dates for a private invite…a dialog box popped up with a calendar so that I could add start/end dates but there was no way to apply the dates once selected.

Even a good old enter button key stroke did not move the calendar along, so I canceled everything with the sitter and started from scratch.
(Not fun and I was on the desktop since the text typing boxes on the phone app are torture…drama intended.)

Just some feedback @Carla

[Carla]

@Wildcolonialgirl I think that happens when there are no matching sits to your saved search criteria, so it offers you ‘sits you might like’. I will double-check this for you.

@HelloOutThere Hum that’s is odd, let me check on that one for you. Thank you

[Wildcolonialgirl]

There are matching sits, but there’s a sub heading for sits I might like which are irrelevant

[HappyDeb]

The look of my inbox changed today, but I can not find where to search for a contact. Am I missing something?

As it stands I have to trawl through EVERY message either in my inbox or archive, until I eventually find the person I am looking for. I sit full-time, that’s a huuuuuuge amount of messages.

Surely there is a search box available, but I just can’t see it.

THS have supplied a button where I can click back to the old way, so I have done that just to show THS how user unfriendly the new inbox is, but I can see that function vanishing very shortly.

I see the reason for creating a better messaging system, but this is waaay worse if there isn’t a search function.

Am I missing something? We do lots and lots of repeat sits for HO’s, where future sit details are on THS rather than whatsapp from an insurance point of view, but surely I shouldn’t have to hunt for them in such an old fashioned manual way… it’s back to the dark ages again.

[Jenny]

Hi @HappyDeb

I’ve merged your post with our discussion about the inbox update, as your question might help someone else!

I double checked the blog post and it confirms the search function will return, though at the moment the blog says “watch this space” so we don’t have any specifics on when, so I’d recommend using the function for reverting to the old inbox for the moment while it’s available.

Jenny

[Happypets]

For info, we’re well into our second year of membership but have never had either a search or delete option for messages (only inbox and archive) so theres a huge number to trawl through when attempting to locate a past contact.

[anon47943759]

Oh my goodness, is this for real???
Frames? 3? And the most important one, reading, writing, and communicating, squeezed in between? One inch in width???

[Carla]

Hello, @anon47943759 What device are you using as that view doesn’t look quite right?

Here is a screenshot of how it should look. When I check my inbox on my desktop it looks the same. Membership Services can also help troubleshoot as they can log in to your account and see if it appears as it should be.

(Testing image only, not actual members details)

@HelloOutThere A quick update for you. Great spot that is a small bug that they are working on now. Thank you!

[anon47943759]

@Carla

What device are you using as that view doesn’t look quite right?

hp spectre x360 /2024

[Carla]

@anon47943759 Thank you I will let the team know