Hiver
/
2022–25
Built drafts, signatures and following, and redesigned the inbox, so agents could handle escalations on the go.
Result
Sole mobile designer for 3 years: redesigned the iOS and Android apps and built drafts, signatures and following from scratch.
Company
Hiver
Year
2022–25
Role
Sole mobile designer · with 1 PM, 2 developers and 1 QA
The brief
Hiver's mobile app was never meant to replace the desktop. Its job was to let support agents stop an escalation when they're away from their desk. I was the only mobile designer from 2022 to 2025, redesigning the iOS and Android apps and adding features the app never had.
How I decided what goes on mobile
Every feature started with one question: what does an agent need in two minutes on a phone, and what can wait for the desktop? The answer drew a clear line. Handling conversations came to mobile. Setup and admin work of any kind stayed on desktop.
1. Find work fast
The app opens on the shared inbox, with assignee and tags visible on every conversation. Favourite views (Unassigned, Mine, Team) sit one tap away, so an agent sees what needs them before they open anything.
In Image: The shared inbox in dark mode, and All views with favourites pinned to the top.
2. Act in a couple of taps (redesigned)
Assign, status and activity moved into a bottom bar within thumb reach. Each opens a bottom sheet, so an agent can hand over or close a conversation without leaving it.
In Video: The bottom bar, the assign sheet with the current assignee first, and the status sheet.
3. Pick up where you left off (new)
Drafts sync between desktop and phone, so an agent can start a reply in one place and finish it in the other, with their signature added automatically.
4. Catch escalations early (new)
Agents follow a conversation without being assigned to it and get alerts for new replies, assignee or status changes, and SLA breaches.
In Image: Following a conversation, and notifications with @mentions and swipe to mark as unread and push notification
5. Work with teammates
Internal notes, @mentions and a warning when a teammate is already replying, so two agents don't answer the same customer.
In Image: Status, the activity timeline, and notes with @mentions and conversation sharing
When a teammate starts typing in the same chat, both screens show it above the reply box, so nobody sends a second answer.
In Image: Collision alert on desktop chat · the same alert on mobile
6. Live chat on the go
I also designed most of the Hiver Chat app, which brought website chat to the phone: Unassigned, Mine and Team views, chat templates with “/”, assigning with online agents listed first, and an availability toggle so agents only get chats when they can answer.
In Video: Chat flow - inbox views, chat templates.
Agents can also control their own availability and which chat alerts reach their phone.
In Video: Chat settings with Available for chat · notification preferences
7. When things go wrong
Login could fail for several reasons: no Hiver account, no chat inbox, a suspended account, or changed Google settings. Instead of one generic error, each case says what happened and what to do next, whether that's signing up on desktop or contacting an admin.
In Image: 3 login error states side by side
Each login failure names the cause and the next step.
Desktop vs mobile
We scoped mobile to the live conversation. Setup stayed on desktop: creating a chat inbox, designing the widget, writing templates, editing contacts and sending transcripts. Each of those is a multi-step form with a lot to review, which doesn't fit a phone or the two minutes an agent has away from their desk.
In Image: Same chat. On desktop, assignment and status sit in the side panel; on mobile they move into the ⋮ menu, and chat details are view-only behind ⓘ.
In Image: Templates are written on desktop, where there's room to type, and used on mobile with “/”.
Results
Live chat moved to the phone. Once the Chat app launched, most support chat work happened on mobile rather than desktop.
Shipped on iOS and Android: a redesigned inbox and assignment, plus drafts, signatures, following and collision alerts, all new to mobile.
About 8% of agents, mostly team leads, used following in its first month.
What I learned
Mobile design here was less about shrinking the desktop and more about deciding what belongs on a phone. Spacing, touch targets and how much fits on a screen are so different that every desktop feature had to earn its place. Quick actions on the live conversation came to mobile; anything that needed space or careful setup stayed on desktop.
