> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.tied.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Entry points

> Eight places a customer can start an Apple Messages conversation — most of which you already own.

An entry point is any surface where a customer taps **Message** and lands in a thread with you. AMB has eight, and the interesting thing about them is how many involve no website visit at all.

A customer who searches your brand in Apple Maps and taps Message never saw your homepage, never found your support page, and never looked for a phone number. That is the point of the channel.

## The eight

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Apple Maps" icon="map-pin">
    A Message button on your business listing. The highest-intent entry point there is — they are
    looking for you specifically, often nearby, often right now.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Spotlight and Safari search" icon="search">
    Searching your brand surfaces a Message option directly in results.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Your website" icon="globe">
    A Message button that opens Messages on iOS. You place the link yourself, so decide what Android visitors get
    [RCS](/channels/rcs) instead.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Your iOS app" icon="smartphone">
    A support entry that hands off to Messages, so customers keep the thread after they close the app.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Email signatures" icon="mail">
    A Message link in transactional or support email. Moves a slow thread onto a fast channel.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Social profiles" icon="at-sign">
    A Message link from your social accounts.
  </Card>

  <Card title="NFC tags" icon="nfc">
    Tap a physical tag to open a conversation. In-store, on packaging, on equipment.
  </Card>

  <Card title="App Clip Codes and AR" icon="scan">
    Scan a code or an AR marker to start messaging.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Which ones to set up first

Not all eight are worth equal effort.

**Set up immediately:** Apple Maps and your website. Maps because intent is highest and it costs nothing but a listing update; your website because you already control it and it converts existing traffic.

**Set up soon:** email signatures. Every transactional email you already send becomes an entry point, and it is a template change rather than a project.

**Set up when they fit:** app, social, NFC and AR. These are genuinely valuable in the right business — NFC on packaging for a consumer brand, AR for anything showroom-based — and pointless in the wrong one. Do not build them because the list has eight items.

<Tip>
  **Every entry point lands in the same inbox.** You do not configure eight destinations. Where a
  conversation came from is recorded on it, so you can route and report on entry point without
  maintaining separate setups.
</Tip>

## Routing by entry point

Because the entry point is recorded, you can treat conversations differently based on where they started — an in-store NFC tap is a different situation from a website enquiry, even from the same person.

That is an [automation rule](/automation) rather than a channel setting.

## Next

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Rich Feature Messages" icon="sparkles" href="/channels/apple-messages/rich-feature-messages">
    What you can send once the conversation opens.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Registering with Apple" icon="clipboard-check" href="/channels/apple-messages/registration">
    Entry points require an approved Apple Business Register account.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>


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