Clinical messaging
Message expiry & recall
Two ways to keep a message from lingering: let it expire on its own after a window, or unsend one you just posted.
Both of these reduce how much protected health information sits in a channel after it stops being useful — and less PHI at rest is a compliance win, not a risk.
Auto-expiry — a message with a deadline
Some details are only relevant for a while. "Use room 214 for the rest of the shift" doesn't need to live in the channel history forever. When you compose a message you can set an Expires window — and when that window passes, Rounds removes the message automatically.
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Open a channel and click into the composer
From the chat workspace, click the channel in the list on the left, then click into the Type a message… box at the bottom. -
Open the Expires dropdown
In the control strip below the composer, find the small clock dropdown — it reads No expiry by default. It sits just after the priority buttons. -
Pick a duration
Choose a window — Expires in 1h, 4h, 24h, or 7d — then type and send. A sent message with an expiry shows a small "Expires in 3:42" pill so everyone can see it's temporary. -
It removes itself
When the window elapses, the message becomes the same "This message expired" placeholder a deletion leaves behind. Any attachment on it is removed too.
Recall — unsend a message
Sent the wrong thing? Posted to the wrong channel? For a short window after sending — 5 minutes by default — you'll see a Recall action on your own message. Recall immediately removes it, the same as deleting, but framed as "unsend".
What expiry and recall don't do
- They don't touch the audit log. The original send is still recorded. Expiry and recall add their own entry — they never rewrite history.
- They don't un-ring a phone. If a notification already went out, recalling the message can't pull it back — the notification was already delivered. Recall removes the message; it doesn't time-travel.
- They aren't retroactive. An expiry is set when you compose — you can't add one to an old message, and you can't extend or cancel one once set.