Smartflows migration tutorial: How to move every number in Aircall

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Aircall's Legacy Routing system has officially reached end-of-life, which means every number on your account needs to run on Smartflows—Aircall's visual call routing builder. If you're an admin staring at a dashboard full of unmigrated numbers and wondering where to start, this Smartflows migration tutorial breaks the entire process into concrete steps you can follow alongside your Aircall Dashboard, from pre-migration prep to the moment you click Publish.

What we are

Key takeaways

• Smartflows fully replaces Aircall's Legacy Routing, which reached end-of-life on May 26, 2025—all numbers must now run on the new visual flow editor.

• Migration happens one number at a time with zero downtime: your existing call distribution stays active until you click Publish on the new Smartflows flow.

• The Automated Migration path converts your legacy call distribution into Smartflows widgets instantly, though some settings (line priority, callback requests, RQT) reset to defaults and need manual review.

• Admins managing many numbers can scale quickly by importing a finished Smartflows flow from one number to another—choosing structure-only or full-configuration replication.

• Each Smartflows widget (IVR, Time Rule, Audio, Ring To, Voicemail, Redirect To, Waiting Experience) maps to a specific legacy concept, and understanding these mappings prevents the most common post-migration issues.

• A five-day migration roadmap—audit, test-migrate low-volume numbers, review, bulk-migrate, verify—keeps the process controlled and low-risk.

Why Aircall retired legacy routing (and what Smartflows replaces)

Before walking through the migration itself, it's worth understanding why this change happened—and why it matters for your team's daily operations.

Legacy Routing was Aircall's original call distribution system. It relied on two separate number types—Classic Numbers for basic call routing and IVR Numbers dedicated to building interactive voice menus based on customer keypad input. If you wanted an IVR menu on a Classic Number, you had to create a separate IVR Number and nest it within the Classic Number's flow. The system worked for basic needs, but it was rigid, required significant manual setup, and couldn't support the kind of flexible, multi-branch call flows that modern sales and support teams demand.

Aircall's Legacy Routing reached end-of-support on March 31, 2025, meaning no further technical assistance was provided for numbers still running on the old system. The full end-of-life date—May 26, 2025—marked the point at which Legacy Routing was retired entirely. Every Aircall number now runs on Smartflows.

Smartflows is Aircall's drag-and-drop call routing builder that replaced Legacy Routing. Admins open it from the Numbers page of the Aircall Dashboard, then add configurable widgets—IVR, Time Rule, Audio, Ring To, Voicemail, and Waiting Experience—onto a visual canvas. Flows are built per number, saved as drafts, and activated only when the admin clicks Publish.

The shift matters beyond Aircall's product roadmap. According to Gartner's "Forecast Analysis: Contact Center, Worldwide," CCaaS adoption is projected to see an additional 8% boost in 2026 as organisations accelerate migration from premises-based and legacy systems to cloud-native solutions. Aircall's move to a unified visual editor reflects that broader industry trajectory: simpler configuration, faster deployment, and more flexible routing logic—all accessible without engineering support.

Here's how the two systems compare at a glance:

For a deeper look at how Aircall handles inbound call distribution across teams, see the guide to Aircall's call routing feature.

Pre-migration checklist: What to do before you open the editor

The migration itself is fast—most admins complete a single number in under ten minutes. The work that makes it fast, though, happens before you open the Smartflows editor. Skipping preparation is where teams run into avoidable issues: mismatched team assignments, forgotten IVR branches, or flows that go live before they've been properly reviewed.

Start by auditing your current numbers. Open the Numbers page in your Aircall Dashboard and list every active number on the account. For each one, note whether it's a Classic Number or an IVR Number, and document (or screenshot) its existing call distribution. This documentation becomes your reference point during migration—you'll use it to verify that the automated conversion captured everything correctly.

Next, confirm your team roster. Legacy flows reference specific users and teams for call distribution. If someone has left the company or a team has been restructured since the flow was last updated, those assignments won't carry over cleanly. Check that every user and team in your active flows still exists in the Dashboard before you migrate.

Decide your migration order. There are two schools of thought: start with your lowest-volume numbers to build confidence with minimal risk, or start with your highest-volume numbers to get the biggest operational improvement first. For most teams, low-volume first is the safer path—it gives you a dry run before touching the numbers your sales or support teams rely on most heavily.

Finally, be aware of settings that reset to default during migration. Line priority, callback requests, and Ring Queue Time (RQT) settings are all disabled by default after migrating. If your team relies on any of these, you'll need to reconfigure them manually in the Smartflows editor post-migration.

Forrester research on cloud migrations consistently shows that organizations conducting a formal readiness assessment before migrating see significantly higher success rates and fewer post-migration incidents compared to teams that skip planning. The same principle applies here—even though this is an in-platform migration, a fifteen-minute audit saves hours of troubleshooting.

If you use IVR menus in your current setup, now is a good time to review Aircall's guidance on how to design your IVR flow so you can spot improvement opportunities during migration rather than simply replicating an old structure.

1. Export or screenshot every legacy flow from the Numbers page.

2. List all active numbers and classify each as Classic or IVR.

3. Confirm that every user and team in your flows is still active in the Dashboard.

4. Decide your migration order (low-risk numbers first is recommended).

5. Enrol in the free Aircall Learning Lab course "Easy Transition to Smartflows."

Haven't taken the free Learning Lab course yet? It covers key benefits, step-by-step guidance, and workflow tips, start it before you begin migrating.

How to migrate a number to Smartflows

This is the core procedure. You'll repeat it for every number on your account, and once you've done it twice, the process becomes muscle memory.

Open your Aircall Dashboard and navigate to the Numbers page. Select the number you want to migrate and click Migrate. This redirects you to the number's Call Distribution page, which serves as the launchpad for the Smartflows editor.

Click Open Smartflows Editor. This opens the visual flow editor in a new browser tab—a deliberate design choice that lets you compare the new Smartflows canvas side-by-side with the legacy flow you're replacing. Keep both tabs open throughout the process.

The editor now presents two migration paths. The first is Automated Migration, which automatically converts your existing legacy call distribution into Smartflows widgets. IVR messages, redirections, and user/team assignments carry over. The second is Start from Scratch, which gives you three options: a blank canvas, a pre-built Smartflows template, or importing an existing flow you've already built for another number. For most teams migrating an established number, Automated Migration is the fastest path.

Once your flow is populated—whether automatically or from scratch—review it widget by widget. Pay particular attention to the Time Rule Widget, which replaces the legacy "business hours" concept. The Time Rule Widget is a Smartflows component that replaces Legacy Routing's fixed business hours toggle. It lets admins route calls on a day-by-day, hourly, or custom 30-minute basis, creating conditional branches that direct callers differently during open hours, after hours, weekends, and holidays. If your legacy configuration was set to "always closed," the conversion creates a 24/7 left branch (0:00–24:00, all days) with the steps from your "closed" legacy branch—this is intentional, not a bug.

As you review, remember that your number continues to operate on its current legacy call distribution throughout this process. Nothing changes for callers until you explicitly click Publish. You can click Save Draft at any point to preserve your progress, close the editor, and return later by navigating back to the same number and clicking Resume Draft.

When you're satisfied that the flow is correct, click Publish. The new Smartflows routing activates immediately for that number. If the flow has missing configurations or errors, an exclamation mark appears next to the Publish button—resolve the flagged issues before going live.

1. Go to Dashboard → Numbers and select the number to migrate.

2. Click Migrate—you'll land on the Call Distribution page.

3. Click Open Smartflows Editor (opens a new browser tab).

4. Choose Automated Migration to convert your current flow, or Start from Scratch to build new.

5. Review each widget: IVR, Time Rule, Audio, Ring To, Voicemail, Waiting Experience.

6. Adjust settings—callback requests, line priority, and RQT are disabled by default.

7. Click Save Draft to save without going live.

8. Click Publish when the flow is verified—the new routing activates immediately.

What changes (and what doesn't) when you move from legacy routing

The most common question admins ask before migrating is some variation of "will anything break?" The short answer is no—but some things do change, and knowing what to expect eliminates surprises.

Your IVR messages and redirections transfer automatically. If you had a multi-level IVR on a legacy IVR Number, those menus and their branch mappings carry over into the native IVR Widget inside the Smartflows editor. Separate IVR Numbers are no longer necessary because Smartflows includes IVR functionality natively within the flow—one of the biggest architectural simplifications in the migration. Aircall's IVR system page explains the full capability set.

User and team assignments also transfer. If your legacy flow routed sales calls to "Team A" and support calls to "Team B," those assignments appear in the corresponding Ring To widgets after automated migration.

What doesn't carry over—or more precisely, what resets to default—are three specific configurations: line priority, callback requests, and RQT settings. These are disabled by default in Smartflows. If your team relies on callback requests (where callers press during hold to receive a return call), you'll need to ensure your flow includes an Audio Widget or Waiting Experience Widget where the key is active—and that your callers are informed of the option through your audio message.

Extension dialing also works differently. In Legacy Routing, callers could dial a three-digit extension at various points in the call. In Smartflows, extension dialing is available during any Audio Widget in the flow, so you need to make sure your flow includes at least one Audio Widget if your team uses extensions.

How to import, copy, and reuse flows across multiple numbers

Migrating one number is straightforward. Migrating twenty or fifty numbers—each with a similar call distribution—is where the import feature becomes essential.

Smartflows lets you take a finished call flow from one number and replicate it on another. This works for both newly created Aircall numbers and existing numbers that have already been migrated to Smartflows. The source number must already be running on Smartflows before you can import from it.

To import a flow to a new number, create the number through the standard process, navigate to its Call Distribution tab, and click Build your call flow. You'll see the option to import an existing Smartflows setup or build from scratch. To import a flow to an existing Smartflows number, go to that number's editor and click the Import button in the top-left corner.

When importing, you choose between three levels of replication. Steps only imports the structure of the call flow without its configuration—you'll need to set up ringing rules, business hours, audio messages, and other settings from scratch. This is ideal when you want the same flow architecture but different behavior. Full configuration imports the exact flow with all settings intact—recommended when you want identical routing across numbers, or when you plan to change only a few details. Number settings imports account-level number configurations alongside the flow.

You can also copy and paste individual widgets between numbers, but with one important limitation: both numbers must be open in the same browser tab. In the flow editor, click Copy step on your chosen widget, close that number's editor, return to the Numbers page, open the destination number's editor in the same tab, and click Paste step when adding a new widget. This doesn't work across separate tabs or browser windows.

For teams managing diverse call routing strategies across departments, Aircall's guide to call center routing strategies covers the logic behind different distribution methods—useful context when deciding which flows to replicate and which to build fresh.

1. Ensure the source number is already migrated to Smartflows.

2. Open the destination number's Call Distribution tab → click Build your call flow or Edit.

3. Click Import in the top-left corner of the editor.

4. Search for and select the source number.

5. Choose: Steps only (structure without config), Full configuration (exact replica), or Number settings.

6. Adjust any details, then Publish.

Managing a complex multi-number setup? Talk to your Aircall account manager about bulk migration support.

Widget-by-widget configuration reference

Smartflows uses a modular widget system—each widget handles one specific piece of the call flow. During migration, the automated conversion maps your legacy settings onto these widgets, but understanding what each one does helps you spot misconfigurations and optimize flows post-migration.

The IVR Widget creates keypad-driven menu branching. Callers hear a prompt and press a number to route to a specific branch. In Smartflows, IVR menus are embedded directly in the flow—no separate IVR Number needed. Multi-level IVRs (an IVR within an IVR) are supported by nesting IVR widgets. Input options are limited to single digits; for more options, use multi-level nesting.

The Time Rule Widget replaces Legacy Routing's business hours concept and supports routing on a day-by-day, hourly, or 30-minute basis. After automated migration, verify that the time windows match your team's actual working hours—especially if your legacy setup used a simple open/closed toggle that didn't account for half-day schedules or staggered shifts.

The Date Rule Widget handles calendar-specific routing: public holidays, company shutdown periods, seasonal hours. Use it alongside the Time Rule Widget to build flows that adapt to both recurring schedules and one-off dates.

The Audio Widget plays a message to callers—either a text-to-speech conversion or a pre-recorded audio file. It's also required for extension dialing: callers dial three-digit extensions while audio is playing. If your team uses extensions, at least one Audio Widget must appear in the flow.

The Ring To Widget routes calls to a specific user or team. Critical configuration detail: if no overflow widget (such as a Voicemail or second Ring To) follows a Ring To step and the selected user or team is unavailable, the call rings once and drops. Always add a fallback after every Ring To.

The Redirect To Widget sends the call to a different Aircall number or an external number—and it ends the current flow entirely. Do not place any widgets after a Redirect To; they won't execute. The editor displays reduced-opacity widgets and warning banners if you accidentally add steps after this point.

The Voicemail Widget sends callers to a voicemail box. It's the most common fallback after a Ring To step and should be placed at the end of any branch where a live agent might not be available.

The Waiting Experience Widget controls what callers hear while in queue—hold music, position-in-queue announcements, and estimated wait time messages. Callers can press * during the waiting experience to request a callback.

The Ring To (via API) Widget is an advanced component available on the Professional plan. It queries an external system—such as a CRM or help desk—via REST API and dynamically routes calls to a specific user, team, or number based on the response data. It supports GET and POST methods and has a 10-second timeout. Use cases include routing to a caller's account manager listed in Salesforce or directing customers with open tickets to a specialized support team. For teams exploring API-driven routing and AI-powered distribution, Aircall's automated call routing guide covers the broader strategy.

Troubleshooting common migration issues

Even with thorough preparation, a few issues come up frequently during Smartflows migration. Most are quick to resolve once you know what's causing them.

The Publish button shows an exclamation mark. This means the flow has at least one widget with missing or incomplete configuration. Click on the flagged widget—it will be highlighted in the editor—and complete the required fields. Common culprits include Ring To widgets without a selected user or team, or IVR widgets with unconfigured branches.

Calls drop immediately after reaching a Ring To step. This happens when there's no fallback widget after the Ring To. If the assigned user or team is unavailable and no overflow is configured, the call rings once and disconnects. The fix: add a Voicemail widget or a second Ring To widget (pointing to a backup team) directly after every Ring To step.

An unexpected 24/7 branch appears after migration. If your legacy configuration was set to "always closed," the Smartflows automated migration creates a Time Rule Widget with a left branch set to 24/7 (0:00–24:00, all days), containing the steps from your legacy "closed" branch. This is the intended conversion behavior—the system is preserving your after-hours routing. Edit the Time Rule to match your actual business hours if needed.

Widget copy-paste doesn't work between numbers. Both numbers must be open in the same browser tab. If you opened the destination number in a new tab or window, the paste function won't detect the copied widget. Close the source number's editor, navigate to the destination number within the same tab, and try again.

A highly complex flow won't save. Smartflows supports large distributions with many widgets and branches, but extremely complex flows can exceed system limits. There's no fixed cap on widget count, but if you're experiencing save failures, simplify the flow by reducing branches or splitting the distribution across multiple numbers using the Redirect To widget.

ICMI and ContactBabel research on cloud contact centre migrations consistently identifies call-routing misconfiguration as a leading cause of post-migration incidents. The troubleshooting patterns above address the five most common Smartflows-specific scenarios, but the underlying principle is the same: test every branch of your flow with internal calls before going live with customer traffic.

Still stuck? Contact Aircall Support.

Your migration roadmap: What to do this week

You now have every piece of information you need to migrate your numbers. The question is sequencing—how to get it done efficiently without disrupting your sales or support operations.

The approach that works best for most teams follows three phases: audit, test-migrate, and roll out. The audit happens once (Day 1). The test migration covers your two or three lowest-volume numbers so you can practice the workflow and catch any surprises in a low-stakes environment (Day 2–3). The rollout covers everything else, using the import feature to accelerate repetitive setups (Day 4–5).

Every migration is per-number and zero-downtime. Your callers never experience an interruption—the old routing stays active until you publish the new flow. If you save a draft and walk away, nothing changes for callers. This makes it safe to spread the migration across a full business week rather than attempting a single high-pressure cutover.

1. Day 1: Audit all active numbers and document legacy flows.

2. Day 2: Migrate your 2–3 lowest-volume numbers as a test run.

3. Day 3: Review migrated flows, adjust widgets, and publish.

4. Day 4: Migrate remaining numbers using import to speed up repetitive setups.

5. Day 5: Verify all numbers are live on Smartflows; archive legacy documentation.

Once all numbers are live, take a final pass through your Aircall Analytics dashboard to confirm call volumes, missed-call rates, and routing distributions match your expectations. If anything looks off, you can edit and re-publish any Smartflows flow at any time—there's no lock-in once a flow goes live.

Ready to start? Log in to your Aircall Dashboard and migrate your first number now. New to Aircall? See how Smartflows call routing works—request a demo.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to migrate one number to Smartflows?

Most admins complete a single-number migration in under 10 minutes. The Automated Migration option converts your existing legacy flow instantly; you only need to review widget settings and click Publish.

Will my phone number experience downtime during migration?

No. The number continues to operate on its current legacy call distribution until you publish the new Smartflows flow. Migration is handled one number at a time.

Can I migrate numbers gradually instead of all at once?

Yes. Smartflows can be enabled per number, so you can migrate progressively—verifying each number is configured correctly before moving to the next.

What happens to my IVR settings when I migrate to Smartflows?

IVR messages and redirections carry over automatically. IVR Numbers are no longer required because Smartflows includes IVR functionality natively via the IVR Widget inside the flow editor.

How do business hours work in Smartflows?

The legacy "business hours" concept is replaced by the Time Rule Widget. It lets you route calls on a day, hourly, or 30-minute basis with conditional branches for open, closed, and holiday periods.

Can I undo a migration if something goes wrong?

You can save your progress as a draft at any time without affecting live routing. Only clicking Publish activates the new flow. If you need to change something post-publish, edit and re-publish.

Do ported numbers work with Smartflows?

Yes. Smartflows works with all Aircall numbers, including ported numbers and new numbers created in the Dashboard.

Is the Aircall Learning Lab migration course free?

Yes. The "Easy Transition to Smartflows" course in the Aircall Learning Lab is completely free and covers key benefits, step-by-step migration guidance, and workflow tips.

Published on April 27, 2026.