Aircall and the Open CTI Retirement: The CTI v3 Upgrade vs. Aircall for Salesforce Voice

If your team runs Aircall inside Salesforce, you may be looking at two changes at once. Aircall is pushing an upgrade to its Salesforce CTI v3 package, and the top of its Salesforce help articles now carries a note about the Open CTI retirement. It is easy to read the upgrade as “the migration.” It is not, and mixing the two up could leave you rebuilding the same reports twice.

Here is what Aircall has published, how the two integrations differ, and how to plan the work so you only do it once.

What Aircall’s help center now says

Aircall’s CTI v3 configuration guide opens with a clear warning. Salesforce is retiring Open CTI in 2028. Existing Salesforce orgs can keep using the integration until then, but newly created Agentforce Service Cloud orgs can no longer implement new Open CTI integrations, “including this one.” Aircall points those orgs to Salesforce Service Cloud Voice instead.

That lines up with the Salesforce retirement notice, which says the Open CTI framework reaches end of life on February 28, 2028, when legacy connectors stop working.

What the CTI v3 upgrade actually changes

The upgrade is about data, not about leaving Open CTI. Aircall says it pushes the CTI v3 package upgrade to customers and adds a new, dedicated Salesforce object, the Aircall Log object (ALO). Until now, CTI v3 logging relied mainly on the Task object. ALO is meant to hold richer call data, such as message, AI and IVR information, and to support stronger reporting.

By default, the upgrade logs calls to Task + ALO. Admins can later switch to ALO only, but Aircall warns that doing so means updating flows, triggers and Task-based reports first. The guide also flags a field rename on Task, from aircall__External_contact_phone_number__c to aircall__External_contacts_phone_number__c, with the old field due to be deprecated.

Orgs that also run the v4 Sales Engagement package have more to do. According to Aircall’s v3 + v4 migration guide, Sales Engagement moves to the Aircall Workspace CTI instead of the Salesforce Sales Dialer, ALO replaces the Aircall Voice Object (AVO), and uninstalling v4 deletes AVO and its records. Aircall recommends backing that data up with Data Loader before you remove the package.

The longer-term path: Aircall for Salesforce Voice

Aircall already has a non-Open CTI option. In an August 26, 2025 announcement, Aircall and Salesforce introduced a native integration between Service Cloud Voice and Aircall. On its integration page, Aircall lists calling through the Omni-Channel phone widget, voicemail drop, transfers that show agent availability and capacity, warm transfers, real-time transcription and sentiment, and AI insights logged to the VoiceCall record.

The requirements are spelled out on the same page: the Aircall Professional plan, Salesforce Voice licenses, and an additional $30 per user per month add-on for the integration. Extra AI features, including sentiment analysis, call summaries and action items, are listed at $9 per user per month.

Aircall’s Salesforce Voice FAQ adds a few details worth knowing before you plan:

• Users need a Contact Center Admin, Agent or Supervisor (Partner Telephony) permission set, plus the Aircall SfV User permission set.
• The VoiceCall record is created as soon as the call connects.
• The Salesforce Voice phone interface is a standard Salesforce component and cannot be customized.
• Aircall stores extra call data in an Aircall Voice object linked to each VoiceCall, because the standard object has field limits.
• Call logging follows the time zone on the user’s Salesforce profile, not the one set in Aircall.

How to avoid doing the work twice

The CTI v3 upgrade asks you to touch layouts, permission sets, Task fields, flows and reports. A move to Salesforce Voice later will touch many of the same things again, because call data shifts to VoiceCall records. So treat the CTI v3 work as a discovery exercise. While you are in there, list every flow, report and dashboard that reads call activity. That list becomes the backbone of your Salesforce Voice migration plan.

What this means for your contact center

• Do not confuse the upgrade with the migration. CTI v3 with ALO is still the integration Aircall says is affected by the Open CTI retirement.
• Back up before removing v4. Export AVO data first, since uninstalling v4 deletes it.
• Budget early. Salesforce Voice licenses plus Aircall’s $30 add-on (and $9 for extra AI) change the per-seat math.
• Expect less UI control. The Salesforce Voice phone interface is standard, so plan agent training around it.
• Pick a cutover window. Moving before 2028 avoids a rushed switch close to the deadline.

If you are comparing vendors while you rebuild, Partner Contact Center Powered by Vonage runs on Salesforce Voice, and Vonage Contact Center for Salesforce brings voice, video, WhatsApp, SMS, chat and email into the same Salesforce workspace.

Sources

• Aircall Help Center: Salesforce CTI v3 unified configuration guide
• Aircall Help Center: Migrate from Aircall Salesforce CTI v3 + v4 to the unified CTI v3
• Aircall: Aircall for Salesforce Voice
• Aircall Help Center: Salesforce Voice FAQs
• Aircall: Aircall and Salesforce deliver native voice AI integration (Aug 26, 2025)
• Salesforce Help: Open CTI Retirement