Techniques are disclosed for managing communication channels in a communication system that includes communication devices and a communication server. In one embodiment, a communication device may receive an invitation to join a new communication channel, the invitation comprising a universal resource locator (URL) link to a location that contains instructions for joining the new communication channel. The communication device may then launch a companion application in response to activating the URL link where the companion application may be associated with an account administered by a communications server. The companion application may be configured to manage one or more communication devices. A user may select from among the communication devices managed by the companion application to be added to the new communication channel and send, to the communication server, an acceptance to the invitation to join the new communication channel. The acceptance may include an identity of the selected communication devices to add to the new communication channel.