Cenaly Phone: your own SIP server without a Cenaly account

Cenaly Phone can be connected to any PBX or SIP provider of your own — Asterisk, FreePBX, FreeSWITCH, 3CX, Yeastar, Zadarma, Mango Office, Sipnet and others — and used like a regular SIP softphone. You don't need a Cenaly account for this: no email, no company, no plan. The line details, call history and lamps are stored only on your device and are never sent to Cenaly.

Which version you need#

PBX presets are hints with typical settings, not a compatibility certificate: testing on live lines of external providers is still ahead.

What you need#

You don't need a Cenaly account. If you are an employee with a Cenaly account, you can add your own lines next to it (see “Together with a Cenaly account”).

First launch: your own SIP account#

1. Open Cenaly Phone. The first screen offers two options: “Cenaly phone” (sign in with your Cenaly account) and “My own SIP account” (“Connect to your PBX or provider. Data is stored only on this device”).
2. Tap “My own SIP account” — the “New SIP line” form opens right away.
3. Pick a preset in “PBX or provider” (or “Other”) and fill in the server, user name and password.
4. Tap “Save and connect”.

After saving you get the tabs of this mode: Home (lines with their status, voicemail — “Listen” and the number of new messages if the PBX reports it), Keypad (with several lines — “Call from: …”), Calls (the history of this device only) and BLF lamps — on Android the “BLF” tab in Contacts, on iPhone, Windows and Ubuntu a separate “BLF” tab. Sections that exist only for the Cenaly PBX (the PBX call log, groups, the hotel room phone, the intercom) are hidden in this mode.

The line form#

The short form:

“Advanced” is for when the provider gave you more parameters: “Authentication ID” (only if it differs from the user name), “Caller name”, “Registration server”, “Port” (empty — automatic), “Outbound proxy”, “Register on the server”, “Re-registration interval, s”, “Keep the connection alive”, “STUN server” (only if your provider requires it), “Audio codecs, in order of preference”, “Encrypt audio (SRTP)” — off / “If the server supports it” / “Required”, “Keypad tones (DTMF)” — “RFC 4733 (recommended)”, “SIP INFO” or “In the audio”, “Voicemail number”, “Echo test number”, “Call pickup prefix” (for example *8 or **), “Group pickup code”, “Also request online status (presence)” and User-Agent.

Without registration (“Register on the server” off) you can only make calls: the line gets the status “No registration: outgoing calls only”.

PBX and provider presets#

A preset fills in typical technical settings — transport, port, pickup codes, voicemail and echo test numbers — and shows hints. It does not touch what you have already entered. Under the list there is the line “A preset fills in typical settings; it does not guarantee compatibility”.

The values come from the vendors' documentation. The phone itself was tested on our Asterisk and FreeSWITCH test benches; acceptance on live lines of external providers has not been done yet. If your provider gave you other parameters, their instructions come first.

Connection type: TCP, UDP, TLS#

• TCP — the default: the connection stays up while the phone sleeps.
• UDP — available, but the field shows “Over UDP the phone may lose the connection while idle and miss calls. TCP or TLS is more reliable”.
• TLS (encrypted) — recommended if your PBX supports it. The server certificate is checked by the system and against the server name. If the system doesn't trust it (for example, a self-signed certificate of an office PBX), you see the reason and the SHA-256 fingerprint. The line is saved only after the explicit “Trust this certificate (fingerprint …)” button, with the warning “Only if you are sure this is your server…”. Changing the server or the connection type resets the trust. On Windows and Ubuntu you can't trust a fingerprint from the app yet — you need a certificate the system trusts.

Audio encryption is a separate setting — “Encrypt audio (SRTP)” in Advanced.

Checking the connection and sound#

• “Save and connect” waits for registration (up to 25 seconds on Android, up to 15 on iPhone) and states the result in words: “The line is connected”, “Wrong user name or password”, “Couldn't connect: …”.
• “Check sound” calls the echo test number from this line: you hear your own voice. The call goes through your PBX or provider and may be charged.
• “Save without connecting” saves the line without a network; connect it later.
• Windows and Ubuntu also have “Check connection”.

After a wrong password the app does not retry on its own: many PBXs block the IP address after several failed sign-ins (fail2ban). Fix the password and the line connects.

Settings → SIP lines#

All your own lines with their status in words: “Connected”, “Connecting…”, “Not connected: …” (with “Next attempt in …”), “Wrong user name or password”, “Off”, “No registration: outgoing calls only”, “Enter the password again”. Each line has an on/off switch and “Use for outgoing calls” (the line marked “Default for outgoing calls”). At the bottom — “Send anonymous error reports” and “Delete local lines and data”.

Where to find it: without Cenaly — ⚙ Settings → “SIP lines” (first row). With a Cenaly account — on Android Settings → the “Advanced” group → “SIP lines”, on iPhone, Windows and Ubuntu Settings → “SIP lines”.

Incoming calls in the background#

If incoming calls may be missed, the app says so plainly: “Incoming calls may be missed: notifications are off”, “…battery saving restricts the app”, “…only while the app is open”. If the app was force-stopped (“Force stop” in Android settings), it receives nothing until you open it again — the app tells you so.

Windows and Ubuntu#

The sign-in screen has “My own SIP account”, followed by the same form with Advanced. The tabs of this mode are Home, Keypad, Calls and BLF; ⚙ holds “SIP lines”, “Gestures”, the language, anonymous reports, deleting local data and “Sign in to Cenaly”. Differences on a computer:

• the port is not looked up via DNS SRV — if your provider uses a non-standard port, enter “Port” in Advanced (otherwise 5060, 5061 for TLS);
• a line without registration does not receive incoming calls;
• there is no diagnostics wizard yet: the SIP log of your own lines goes to the app's log file on the computer, with passwords masked;
• on Ubuntu the password is kept in Secret Service (the desktop keyring). Without that service the app warns: “Secure system storage is unavailable: line passwords are kept only in memory until the app is closed” — after a restart you enter the password again.

Together with a Cenaly account#

An employee with a Cenaly account can keep their own lines on the same phone.

• Your own lines appear in Settings → “SIP lines” and in Keypad next to the work line. By default calls go out on the Cenaly work line; your own line is used only if you pick it in “Call from: …”. Incoming, outgoing calls and transfers always stay on their own line — the app never swaps the line silently.
• You can't transfer a call between lines of different PBXs: “You can't transfer between lines of different PBXs”.
• Signing out of Cenaly keeps your own lines — “Your own SIP lines stay on this device after you sign out of Cenaly”. The app stays a softphone for your own lines. To sign in again — ⚙ → “Sign in to Cenaly”.
• Your own lines are not included in the Cenaly connection check, device reports or the Cenaly PBX call log.

Where your data is kept#

Line details, numbers, the call history, “Mine” contacts and lamps of your own lines are kept only on the device and are never sent to Cenaly — not to the server, not to analytics, not to support reports. They are also excluded from backups.

If the system key store was reset (for example, after restoring the phone), the line switches off with the status “Enter the password again” — an empty password is never sent to the server.

“Send anonymous error reports” is off by default in the mode without Cenaly; when turned on, reports go without addresses, logins or phone numbers.

“Delete local lines and data” removes your SIP lines, passwords, the local call history, contacts and BLF lamps from the device. Cenaly data is not affected, and the deletion can't be undone.

Line diagnostics#

On Android — “Check connection” on Home (or “Diagnostics” from “Help with calls” → “Technical details”) → the “Line diagnostics” block → the line you need:

• “Check line” — step by step: the server is found in DNS, there is a connection (for TLS — the certificate), the PBX answers, registration succeeded or the password is wrong, STUN (if set), phone permissions. Steps that exist only for the Cenaly PBX are marked “Only for Cenaly PBX”.
• “Record a SIP log for 15 minutes” — the full SIP messages of the line are written to a file on the phone (passwords and encryption keys masked) and recording stops by itself. “Save or share the log” first shows the whole text — “Check what will be shared” — then saves it as a file or shares it through an app you choose, for example with your PBX administrator. There is also “Clear log”.
• Sound check — “Call echo test …” (with a warning that it may be charged) and “Check microphone and earpiece” without a server: hold the phone to your ear and you hear yourself.
• “Recent calls on this line” — how many audio packets arrived, were sent and were lost, jitter and delay from the other side's reports.
• “Save report on this phone” — a text report on the line without passwords and the other parties' numbers. In the mode without Cenaly this button replaces “Send to support”: nothing goes to Cenaly.

iPhone, Windows and Ubuntu don't have this screen yet.

Limitations#

• The Cenaly Phone browser extension does not support your own SIP lines — it works only with the Cenaly PBX.
• Presets are hints; we don't yet confirm compatibility with specific providers by acceptance testing.
• iPhone: incoming calls to your own lines arrive only while the app is open or was used recently.
• iPhone, Windows, Ubuntu: the port is not looked up via DNS SRV — enter it if it is non-standard.
• Cenaly cloud features (the PBX call log, the call assistant, call translation) are not available for your own lines.

Troubleshooting#

FAQ#

Do I need a Cenaly account?#

No. “My own SIP account” works without an email, company or plan. A Cenaly account is needed only for the Cenaly PBX and its cloud features.

Does Cenaly see my calls and password?#

No. Line details, the call history and lamps of your own lines live only on the device, and the password is in the system key store. Anonymous error reports are off by default.

How many lines can I add?#

Several: each has its own status, one is the “Default for outgoing calls”, and in Keypad you can pick any of them.

Why TCP by default and not UDP?#

Over UDP an idle phone loses its connection to the server through the router and misses calls. TCP keeps the connection up, and TLS also encrypts it.

Related articles#

• Cenaly Phone: BLF lamps
• Cenaly Phone: swipes and gestures
• Cenaly Phone: direct calls between devices
• Cenaly Phone: dialing, calls and history
• Cenaly Phone: several places, auto-answer, sign-out and password
• SIP phone setup
• Telephony: your own PBX