What Is a Softphone? How It Works, What It Needs and How to Set One Up

A softphone is a software application that lets you make and receive phone calls over the internet from a computer, smartphone, tablet or web browser, without a physical desk phone. It shows a dial pad, contacts, call history and voicemail on screen, and you talk through a headset or the device's built-in microphone and speaker.

If you have been asking what is a softphone because your team works from home, on the road or across several sites, the short answer is that it turns the device people already carry into a full business extension. This guide explains how a softphone works, what it needs, how it handles 911 and security, what it costs and how to set one up without call-quality headaches.

What Is a Softphone, Exactly?

The name says it: a soft phone is a telephone made of software. Instead of a handset with buttons wired to the wall, the phone is an app that registers with a VoIP phone system and behaves like any other extension. Colleagues can dial it, it can join ring groups and queues, and outbound calls display the company's number rather than the user's personal one.

Most business softphones do more than a desk phone ever did. A modern softphone app usually bundles calling with business texting, voicemail transcription, presence, team chat and sometimes video meetings, which is why the line between a softphone and a unified communications app has largely disappeared.

How Does a Softphone Work?

Under the hood, almost every business softphone speaks SIP, the signaling protocol defined in IETF RFC 3261. SIP handles the conversation about the call: registering the app with the phone system, ringing the other side, putting a call on hold and hanging up. The audio itself travels separately as a stream of small data packets.

• You sign in to the app, and it registers with your provider's cloud phone system as your extension
• When you dial, the app sends a SIP request, and the phone system routes the call to another extension or out to the public phone network
• Your voice is digitized and compressed by an audio codec, then sent as packets across the internet
• The far end decodes the packets back into sound, and the same happens in reverse for their voice
• When either side hangs up, a final SIP message ends the session and the call is logged to your history

The codec decides how much bandwidth a call uses and how natural it sounds. The Opus codec specification (RFC 6716) scales from 6 kbit/s for narrowband speech up to 510 kbit/s for high-quality stereo audio, and adapts as network conditions change. G.711, the codec used on traditional phone networks, runs at a fixed 64 kbit/s before network overhead. That is why a softphone call needs very little bandwidth but a lot of consistency.

Types of Softphones: Desktop, Mobile and Browser

A softphone can take three forms, and most teams use more than one. The same extension can ring all of them at once, so a call can be answered at a laptop in the office and continued on a phone in the car.

Type	Runs on	Best for	Watch out for
Desktop softphone	Windows or Mac app	Office and home-office staff who work at a computer all day	Needs a decent headset; laptop sleep settings can drop the app
Mobile softphone app	iOS or Android	Field staff, owners, sales reps and anyone away from a desk	Battery-saving settings, weak Wi-Fi and switching between Wi-Fi and cellular
Browser softphone	Chrome, Edge, Safari or Firefox tab	Shared computers, front desks, quick setup with nothing to install	Closing the tab ends the session; the browser must be allowed to use the microphone

Browser softphones use WebRTC, the standard built into modern browsers for real-time audio and video. The IETF's WebRTC audio codec requirements (RFC 7874) require every WebRTC endpoint to support both Opus and G.711, which is why a browser tab can talk to the same phone system as a desk phone without plug-ins.

What Is a SIP Softphone?

A SIP softphone is a general-purpose app that you configure by hand with a SIP server address, username and password, so it can register with almost any compatible phone system. It is flexible, but it usually covers calling only. A provider's own softphone app is set up automatically when you sign in, and it adds texting, chat, presence and voicemail tied to your business account. For most small businesses the provider's app is simpler and better supported.

Softphone Requirements: What Do You Need?

Softphone requirements are modest, but each one matters. Skipping the headset or relying on a weak Wi-Fi signal causes most of the complaints people blame on the software.

Requirement	What good looks like	Why it matters
VoIP phone service	A business plan with a number, extension and app included	The app is only the endpoint; the service supplies numbers and routing
Device	A current computer, iPhone or Android phone with operating system updates	Older systems lose app support and security fixes
Internet connection	Stable Wi-Fi, wired Ethernet or strong mobile data	Jitter and packet loss hurt audio more than raw speed
Headset	A wired or Bluetooth headset with a noise-cancelling microphone	Laptop speakers cause echo and pick up room noise
Permissions	Microphone, notifications and background activity allowed	Without them the app cannot ring when it is in the background
Registered address	The user's current physical address saved on the account	Supports accurate 911 location, covered below

If calls already sound choppy on video meetings, test the network before you roll out softphones. Our VoIP call quality test guide walks through measuring jitter, latency and packet loss at each location.

What Features Should a Softphone App for Business Include?

A good softphone for business should do everything a desk phone does and fill in the gaps a desk phone never could. When you compare apps, check for these capabilities:

• Calls from the business number with hold, transfer, park, conferencing and call history
• Two-way business texting so customers can reply to the same number they call
• Visual voicemail with transcription, so messages can be read instead of played
• Presence that shows who is on a call, away or available, including colleagues on desk phones
• Team chat and video meetings in the same app, so staff are not juggling several tools
• The same experience on iOS, Android, desktop and web, with settings that follow the user
• Admin controls to add, remove and sign out users from one portal

Dial Raven's ConnectUC business phone app covers that list: calling, business SMS, team chat, video meetings with screen sharing, presence and visual voicemail on iOS, Android, desktop and web, all tied to your business number.

Softphone Benefits and Limits

The case for softphones is strongest for teams that are not always at the same desk. The limits are real but manageable, and most of them are network or device issues rather than problems with the app itself.

Benefits	Limits
No hardware to buy for most users	Depends entirely on the device's internet connection
Business number on personal phones without exposing private numbers	Phone battery and power-saving settings can stop calls ringing
Set up in minutes; new hires sign in and start calling	Audio is only as good as the headset or microphone
Calls, texts, chat and voicemail in one place	Personal devices need a clear security and offboarding policy
Same extension rings laptop and phone together	Some roles, like a busy reception desk, still prefer a physical phone

Many businesses end up with a mix: desk phones at reception and in shared areas, softphones for everyone else. If you are deciding device by device, our guide to business phone hardware for VoIP compares desk phones, headsets and conference phones in more detail.

How Do Softphones Handle 911 Calls?

This is the question most softphone guides skip, and it matters most for people who work from home or move between offices. A softphone can travel anywhere, so the phone system cannot assume the caller is at the company's main address.

Under the FCC's 911 dispatchable location rules, providers of non-fixed VoIP must send an automatic dispatchable location when technically feasible. Otherwise they may rely on a registered location that the customer provides before service starts and can update. Providers must also try to detect when the service is being used to call 911 from a different place, and either prompt for a new location or update it automatically.

• Ask each softphone user to confirm their registered address on day one
• Remind hybrid staff to update it when they change where they regularly work
• Tell staff that a cell phone's native dialer is a reliable fallback for 911 when the app is unavailable
• Set the front-desk or security notification your multi-line system uses for 911 calls

For the full picture on direct dialing and notification rules, see our E911 compliance guide for business.

Are Softphones Secure? A BYOD Checklist

A softphone is as secure as the account and the device it runs on. NIST's telework and BYOD security guide (SP 800-46 Rev. 2) makes the same point for remote access generally: organization-issued and personal client devices should both be secured against the threats you expect. For softphones, that comes down to a short list.

• Require a screen lock and current operating system on any device that runs the app
• Turn on multi-factor sign-in for the phone system's admin portal
• Limit international calling to the users who need it, to reduce toll-fraud risk
• Keep call recordings and voicemails in the business account, not downloaded to personal devices
• Sign out lost or stolen devices remotely and remove departing staff the same day

How Much Does a Softphone Cost?

The app itself is rarely the expense. Standalone SIP softphones range from free to paid licenses, but they still need a VoIP service with numbers and calling behind them. With most business phone providers, the softphone app is part of the per-user subscription.

On Dial Raven, the ConnectUC app is included with every plan. Starter is $14.99 per user per month with a business number, unlimited U.S. and Canada calling and business SMS; Pro is $24.99 per user per month and adds an auto attendant, call recording, analytics and team collaboration. You can compare plans on our pricing page. The only optional extra is a headset, or a desk phone for users who want one, available pre-configured from our VoIP phone catalog.

How to Set Up a Softphone Step by Step

• Choose a business VoIP plan and create a user and extension for each person
• Install the provider's app on each person's computer, phone or both, or open the web version
• Sign in and allow microphone, notification and background permissions
• Confirm the registered address for 911 in the user's settings
• Pair or plug in a headset and make a test call to a colleague and to an outside number
• Exclude the app from battery optimization on Android and allow background refresh on iPhone
• Set business hours, voicemail greeting and call forwarding so missed calls go somewhere useful
• Add the user to the right ring groups or call queues

Two settings cause most first-week complaints. On phones, power-saving modes can put the app to sleep, so calls ring late or not at all. On laptops, Wi-Fi far from the router or a crowded network causes clipped audio; a wired connection or a closer access point usually fixes it. Ten minutes of testing per user before go-live saves hours of troubleshooting later.

If you would rather not configure this yourself, our team handles setup during free onboarding. Sign up for Dial Raven and we will build your extensions, routing and apps so staff only need to sign in.

Frequently Asked Questions

So, what is a softphone for your business? It is the simplest way to give every person a real business extension on the devices they already use, as long as the network, headset and 911 address are set up properly. Dial Raven includes the ConnectUC softphone app with every cloud VoIP phone system plan, so your team can call, text and chat from one number on any device. Talk to our team to plan the rollout.