Updates to our Google Voice apps

Updates to our Google Voice apps(blog.google)

457 points by scommab 9 years ago | 351 comments

jitl 9 years ago |

I used to use my Google Voice number as my primary contact number, but when development of the product seemingly died for three years without addressing outstanding issues with group MMS or picture messages, I migrated back to my regular cell number. I've already told all my friends to forget my Google Voice number. I've changed my preferences in every service I use to contact my regular cell number.

Now Google is soft re-launching this service after 5 years, and wants me to come back? No way. They squandered more than 5 years of first-mover advantage in the "free SMS" space, and have lost to WhatsApp, Facebook, and Apple Messages.

I'm happy than when I need to send test SMSs on my computer, the web app I use will be slightly better. That's my only use-case for Google Voice anymore.

wlesieutre 9 years ago | |

That's about where I am with this. I got started with GV back when carriers were charging $0.25/each to send or receive texts, and eventually paid Google $20 to port my old AT&T number into their system.

Then Google stopped developing the GV app and I switched from iOS to Android to get the Hangouts Dialer integration. With the Hangouts integration instead of a real GV app, they apparently threw away the spam reporting/filtering (on voice and text) that had been one of its greatest features.

Eventually I got fed up with the poor service. Third parties would refuse to accept my phone number, or would accept it but couldn't actually send me messages. Group MMS didn't work properly. As of late 2013, they "integrated" MMS support with T-Mobile and Sprint. When one of them tried to send you a picture, you'd receive it as an email attachment on your gmail account. MMS from AT&T and Verizon users, as far as I can tell, continue to disappear into the ether.

I have no idea how many missed social calls I had from people in college organizing social lives via group texts that I never got, and they never knew I didn't get because there was zero indication on either end that it wasn't delivered.

As far as I'm concerned, Google Voice is dead. Maybe this reincarnation lasts two years before management decides to refocus on Duo/Allo, or maybe it's six months. Maybe they throw it out and go all-in on a new Project-Fi based VOIP/messaging system. Either way, I'm staying out of it.

My number's been ported to T-Mobile on the $30 prepaid unlimited plan, and I switched back to an iPhone. Voicemail transcriptions work just as well as GV's did, and my text messages don't just vanish anymore. Everything's great.

baggachipz 9 years ago | | |

I was a die-hard Google user/fanboy until about a year and a half ago. I was a Fi user, Voice user (before Fi), Hangouts, Nexus buyer, you name it (I even had a Google TV and almost bought an OnHub). I bailed on it all when I realized that Google has absolutely no long-term vision or desire to support what they produce. I went to an iPhone and despite Apple's warts, it's a night-and-day experience. I'll never again trust Google products.

slg 9 years ago | | |

>I have no idea how many missed social calls I had from people in college organizing social lives via group texts that I never got, and they never knew I didn't get because there was zero indication on either end that it wasn't delivered.

That is what forced me away from GV a few years back. It is an unforgivable flaw of a communication product for messages to completely disappeared from the system without any party knowing. The fact that Google was comfortable with that flaw for years tells you all you need to know about their commitment to these kind of products. It will take years of updates like this before I start to believe that any renewed commitment will stick.

wlesieutre 9 years ago | | |

I'll send this along to the one friend I still know using Google Voice though. I'm sure he'll be excited, he was just complaining about something the other day and I was nudging him toward bailing.

With Google losing interesting in Voice and integrating it into Hangouts, then apparently losing interesting in Hangouts too, I'd been telling him that Voice was probably dead-dead.

tedmiston 9 years ago | | |

> I got started with GV back when carriers were charging $0.25/each to send or receive texts

What? Unlimited texting has been included in every phone plan I've ever had since the first iPhone or earlier, before Google Voice existed.

dnr 9 years ago | |

It's a little strange to read accounts like this. I've been using Voice continuously for years now, and ported my old number into it. There were a few years when it kinda sucked (yes, I also lost group/mms messages with no warning), but since the integration with Hangouts (2014? 2015?), I've been quite happy with it again: group messages work, pictures in messages work, etc. Hangouts isn't perfect and still has lots of missing features and annoyances, but it's been overall acceptable to me.

I do have two unusual situations that make Voice a good fit for me: I don't have reliable cell reception in my apartment (so texting and calling through wifi is really useful), and I'm on the T-Mobile $30 plan, so I have only 100 minutes on my "real" phone number (so I make as many calls as possible through gmail on my laptop). It's also really nice to use my regular phone number with no extra effort or roaming fees when traveling internationally.

EvanDotPro 9 years ago | | |

I'm in a very similar situation, and overall have found GV to be a net positive despite the imperfections.

The only additional caveat I've found is that the proper carrier-level call forwarding to GV voicemail doesn't work with the $30 T-Mobile plan.

leephillips 9 years ago | | |

I wanted to do this, as I have the same situation: bad cell connection in the house. But the voice quality on Hangouts was so bad I had to give it up. The audio cuts out every few seconds, for example. This is sitting right next to the router with a Fios connection.

vpeters25 9 years ago | |

I had a GV as the primary in my resume for years. Last year, many recruiters emailed me that calls weren't going through with a recording stating "The person you are trying to reach is not accepting calls at this time". I asked in GV forums to not avail.

I don't know how many nice job opportunities I missed when hiring managers saw my application but could not call me back until I detected the issue.

Ended up switching everything to a new VoIP number I can control in my asterisk server. Only feature I miss is the speech-to-text on voicemails.

djsumdog 9 years ago | | |

I still use my GV number for all recruitment. I hate actually taking calls so it works for me fine. I call back the ones I want to on my own time. ... I also hate recruiters. They're scum .. but that's another issue. /sorryrant

awiesen 9 years ago | | |

That recording isn't in Google Voice. Maybe you had a forwarding phone on your Google Voice account that was eating your calls. (Maybe you had an old one you forgot to take off, and someone else took over the number and it was doing that.)

vostok 9 years ago | |

> I've already told all my friends to forget my Google Voice number.

Why didn't you migrate your GV number? That seems a lot less painful than telling everyone to update your contact information.

ocdtrekkie 9 years ago | | |

This is a nerve-wracking process as there's little to no feedback on how this process is progressing, but it does work! I migrated my Google Voice number, which was long since my primary, out of Google Voice over to my cell carrier about a year ago.

jitl 9 years ago | | |

I was never confident enough in Google Voice (because of the issues mentioned above) to port my AT&T number to Google Voice, so many people had both numbers for me.

elastic_church 9 years ago | |

I boosted my Google Voice number out of Google Voice and into T-Mobile.

Took like 30 minutes.

Secondly, the Google Hangouts app had effectively replaced Google Voice for years. I think picture messages worked there no problem.

chrishacken 9 years ago | |

I was thinking the same exact thing; didn't they say they were closing Voice down in favor of Hangouts awhile back? I freaking love Voice, but Google needs to make high-level internal decisions about which products will get long-term support no matter what, and which won't.

slacka 9 years ago | |

I have been using Google Voice/Hangouts for all my daily phone calls and SMS for 7 years now. Since switching from the Google Voice app to the Hangouts App, I have not had any major issues or complaints.

Did you you try the Google Hangouts App before ditching Google? I wonder if most of your problems stem from that.

EDIT: I just verified that I can sent/receive group MMS. It appears this feature has worked since at least 2014. Seems you missed the memo to migrated to Hangouts.

colechristensen 9 years ago | |

I'm assuming what happened is they used Google Voice to jumpstart Google Fi and left Voice around as a neglected old version which they actually kept supporting (whoo). Now Fi is settled they're turning their focus back to Voice.

mark212 9 years ago | | |

no, they bought a company called Grand Central in 2007 and re-branded it as Voice. This was well before Fi. A couple of the key players from GC left to form Uber Conference in 2012 which was then rebranded as Dialpad with backing from Google Ventures.

http://venturebeat.com/2012/05/21/inventor-of-google-voice-n...

bjt 9 years ago | | |

Except that Fi leaves the really killer Voice features behind. You don't get texts or voice transcriptions emailed to you in Fi.

pokemongoaway 9 years ago | |

The fact that their little update doesn't have a comments/feedback section - and the state of their GV product forum - still demonstrates that they don't take this seriously.

bisby 9 years ago | |

I ported my numbers away after running into so many issues where services would use my native phone number rather than my GV number (placing a call from my car, the person on the other end sees my native number, even though I have everything set up properly)

And living in an area with spotty service... native SMS always send, and the GV "over data" SMS usually fail. Unless they can fix a LOT of issues AND add incentive to come back, I think I'm fine without it for now.

JustSomeNobody 9 years ago | |

Out of curiosity, why didn't you keep using it, but with Hangouts instead?

jitl 9 years ago | | |

Group SMS and MMS messages weren't supported by the backing service. As group messages became more popular as more of my friends got smartphones, I'd miss more and more communications that my friends were having. Additionally, there were times when even regular SMS messages would be delivered minutes or hours late. The whole system felt unreliable. It felt like the only purpose was to send outbound messages from the computer.

At the time that I switched, the Hangouts app was having some difficulties of its own. The biggest issue I had with it is that Hangouts would try to upgrade me from an SMS chat to a Hangouts chat with someone, when the recipient was an infrequent or Gmail-only Hangouts user. Google would recognize their number and send Hangouts messages, they wouldn't see the messages on their iOS device because they didn't have a Hangouts app, so to them it would seem like I had stopped responding.

maxerickson 9 years ago | | |

I just recently realized I had to tell Hangouts to ring.

I also haven't figured out how to set it to have Hangouts ring when I am on wifi and forward to the phone only when I'm not. So I get dueling ringers.

sp332 9 years ago | | |

I thought Hangouts only got those features working with Google Voice numbers about a year ago?

deftturtle 9 years ago | |

As far as I know, you can't call landlines with WhatsApp, iMessage, or FB Messenger. There's value in having a second number that is treated like a cell phone. I can register for accounts with it (Signal, Twitter, etc), and my real phone number stays private. During college, I gave out my GV number for privacy, but it didn't support MMS at the time. Couldn't get photos, and then they wanted me to use Hangouts & claimed voice would be phased out. It was a real bummer, and the Hangouts experience was strange, as mentioned elsewhere in the thread.

I'm glad this is being updated, because it provides value to me and definitely other people, too. If WhatsApp can connect you to landlines or function as an actual phone, then that's excellent news. Even so, I would still appreciate having more options.

draw_down 9 years ago | |

I just use it as a secondary number because the area code for my real number is for so far away. Sometimes that would seem strange or suspicious, and I use it during those times.

legohead 9 years ago | |

Close to how I feel about most Google products or APIs.

"Hey, that's cool! But remember when they randomly killed X, Y, Z," etc...

At least Voice has lasted, I guess.

throwthisawayt 9 years ago |

As an xoogler, this tells me that the voice team is now staffed again. It also tells me that the executive team is thinking about reducing headcount and focus on hangouts, but still are uncertain.

Finally, it tells me that google still has no idea how to crack the messaging space, and has so no team internally that is taking charge but a bunch of teams with different approaches, all jockeying for executive support.

Google will lose this space because it lacks focus while Facebook is owning it through focus on the messenger platform and the acquisition of whatsapp.

nemesisj 9 years ago |

I've been a Google Voice user for 6-7 years. It became more important to me 5 years ago when I moved to the UK and ported my mobile number to GV.

It's not been very pretty. We were thrown a lifeline with the Google Hangouts app taking over for the absolutely-awful Google Voice app.

One of the most frustrating things about GV is that for certain SMS providers, it fails the "is this a USA number test" or "can we SMS to it" test (it's unclear which), thus making it not work with my USA bank accounts, and I can't register for Lyft, for example.

I wish they'd fix this, but what I really wish is that they'd make it a real product, make it cost a few bucks a month, and have a team working on it.

I was actually quite annoyed by the cheeky little "tee hee it's been 5 years + plus emoji" talking about their total lack of updates (both software, and well, actual communication around the service). It just comes across as contempt for the customer. Doubly so when they then throw everything into confusion at the end of the post by hinting that Hangouts may or may not be the future, and perhaps we should switch back?

Are there any good alternatives? What I need is to be able to receive texts from within the USA, be able to access via mobile app and the web, and have voicemail service.

27182818284 9 years ago |

I like how this story has shot up immediately to the top of Hacker News. Google Voice is beloved by its users, but Google hasn't shown love for it for (as they point out) five years. I'm glad to see the update!

So that's lovely, though overall the PMs and VPs need to reconcile all the apps with each other. A friend recently bought a Pixel Phone and was lost as to what to use. I mean, I can't blame him...

* Phone's generic looking SMS app

* Hangouts

* Voice

* Allo

* Duo

mevile 9 years ago |

Google's never ending iteration of messaging products comes across as schizophrenic. They have no focus, no discipline, no willingness to stick with an existing solution. I actually want them to just leave GV alone since it just works for me and now that they've turned this into a messaging product I know its days are numbered.

It's like maybe I'm thinking I should now move away from GV because their executive team has shined their spotlight on it, unearthed a working service and will now exploit it for their own professional benefit, sucking the value out of it to achieve personal career advancements leaving users in the dust once it all falls apart and the next iteration begins.

My phone number isn't a product that's ripe for Google-style innovation. I value stability and want to depend on it. I'm really unhappy about all this.

lightedman 9 years ago | |

"Google's never ending iteration of messaging products comes across as schizophrenic"

I guess Google needs a cigarette or ten.

komali2 9 years ago | |

I don't understand why they did this. I have used Voice as my primary number for maybe 5 years now. Hangouts was working fine with it. Now I need to decide between using hangouts or google voice? Honestly google, what the fuck.

xales 9 years ago | | |

Hangouts is now being marketed as a business product, they'll probably take it away from non-org accounts soon enough; perhaps this is the alternative.

tgb 9 years ago |

Just to add a counterpoint, I've been using Google Voice for, I think, 7 years. I've never had any issues with it and the lack of updates always felt like "don't fix what isn't broken." It's gotten slowly better and better with the Hangouts app. I never really needed anything more complicated than texts and voice, but the transcribed voicemail is a godsend.

BHSPitMonkey 9 years ago | |

You probably haven't had to use it very much, then. I've been using for as long, and it took so many of those years just to be able to finally receive pictures and group texts. (I think those two have only really worked for a year or two now.) When group messaging was broken, it was really broken; I missed out on conversation entirely, or received the messages such that each participant had their own individual thread.

And even today, I still often find situations where I have a new voicemail despite my phone never ringing. I even check the call log on my phone and nothing ever came in.

The MMS updates and this new suite of UIs are definitely welcome additions if you ask me, and hopefully indicative that the service isn't circling the drain after all (which I've been anticipating for some time now).

rch 9 years ago | |

I had the same positive experience until I got a Nexus 6P and decided to try Fi (living in a remote area w/ only wi-fi). The new phone and services were outright hostile to Voice, so I created a new number and left voice alone. Really glad I did, but it will probably be a year before I start handing out the voice number again.

sjs382 9 years ago | | |

I've been using it for at least 6 years and have had a very positive experience. It's been a set-it-and-never-think-about-it experience for the most part.

I think I avoided the issues that you have just do to a nice (accidental) little quirk, though.

I have my Google Voice account associated with my (grandfathered-in) G-Suite address, and Project Fi only allows you to sign up wiht a Gmail address. Therefore, I was able to port my old Verizon number to my @gmail address (which rarely gets used) that's associated with Project Fi and keep my GVoice number where it was, at my G-Suite address.

So I'm currently using my Nexus 5X on Project Fi with both my carrier number (which I've had for probably 15 years now) and with my GVoice number (which I've had for 6+).

Animats 9 years ago |

Google didn't "introduce Google Voice" years ago. They bought Grand Central and rebranded the service.

If H.R. 460 passes (unlikely), Google may have to become a real telephony provider, with service standards.[1]

[1] https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/460/...

accountface 9 years ago |

First they pushed me to Hangouts from Voice and now they're telling me Voice will be updated more often and I should switch from Hangouts? Also that one time you tried to get me to switch to Allo?

Get your shit together Google.

pixie_ 9 years ago | |

Same here. They pushed me from voice to hangouts for all the group SMS and MMS support. So now I have some chat history in voice and some in hangouts which is impossible to search through unlike with voice. Now they want me to go back to voice.

What the hell is going on at Google? Is there anyone with an actual strategy for anything? I thought about getting Google Fi, but right on their page they said if you move from Voice to Fi you can't go back.

I would easily pay $5 a month or more for a company that could give me a single number and not be terrible. I think if Google actually charged for a lot of their free stuff it wouldn't be so shit/never updated/abandoned/etc.. - like an Amazon Prime type thing.

saurik 9 years ago | | |

There are tons of companies in this space; have you considered actually doing the "pay for the service" plan and evaluate these options? What did they not do that you wanted?

derelk 9 years ago | |

Agreed, I'm more confused than ever. I've been really sad to watch Voice die, and begrudgingly migrated towards Hangouts. Now I don't know what app I'm supposed to be using. Do I opt-out of having SMS go to Hangouts now? This is ridiculous.

stormbeta 9 years ago |

I wish Google would make up their minds.

They kept pushing Hangouts, and right when it was actually somewhat usable and represented a unified interface to messaging, they started abandoning it and trying to fragment the functionality off into separate apps again.

I'll continue to use GV, but Google's track record of confusing moves in this space guarantees I will always keep it as a separate number. It's still very useful like that, since it allows me to text and call from any device or service.

hackcrafter 9 years ago |

The killer feature I still keep Google Voice around for is transcription of voicemail sent to your inbox, even for direct calls to your cell (non GV #).

I stopped giving out my GV number, but you can set up your Verizon cell phone to use Google Voice as your voice mail service, and I love getting transcriptions to my email inbox of missed phone calls!

The app update is welcome, as you still have to use the app to listen to the voice message on the rare occasion when the transcription didn't pick it up.

nol13 9 years ago | |

Same, don't want any of the other functionality but sure hope they don't mess this up.

saurik 9 years ago | |

There are tons of companies that provide this service, and while it is likely that Google has worked on improving this since I last cared, back when Voice launched and for at least a couple years after aome of them had better quality transcriptions than Google (which were comically bad). I have friends who use YouMail. I use PhoneTag, which predates Google Voice. How is this a "killer feature"?

criddell 9 years ago | |

The voice transcription has never worked for me. I've had my number since 2009 and I've never received a single voice transcription.

mynameisvlad 9 years ago |

So, is this the death of Hangouts and rebirth of Google Voice then? They had previously been transitioning the UX off of GV and onto Hangouts.

jfoster 9 years ago | |

It's absurd that consumers are left guessing which of Google's services are around for the long-haul and which are doomed.

There was a time when success was the default outcome for a new Google product/service. Now it's the opposite, and the crazy thing is that Google did it to themselves.

jitl 9 years ago | | |

Exactly. Where does this leave Allo? Is GVoice + Allo the intended product combination?

hendersoon 9 years ago | | |

Google needs to focus on the products and services their customers love.

Google Reader is the best example of this. People LOVED it. It was even a successful social network!

pbhjpbhj 9 years ago | | |

Was that a move from adoption to profit as the metric for success. Now they 'have' to maximise profit and search for the maximal mode of doing so, previously they were content to create useful apps?

saurik 9 years ago | | |

When was this "a time", and did it include more than Mail, Maps, and Docs?

JoshGlazebrook 9 years ago | |

So is Hangouts the new Google Voice? The focus shifted from Google Voice to Hangouts (it receiving MMS, etc), and now it's shifted back to Voice? Why can't they just combine it all into a single app and be done with it.

JshWright 9 years ago | |

As a Project Fi user, that makes heavy use of Hangouts, I sure hope not (as Voice and Fi are incompatible).

mynameisvlad 9 years ago | | |

Who knows, maybe the Voice improvements over the coming months includes Fi compatibiltiy?

lutorm 9 years ago |

"One number for life" ... unless of course you want to use our other service, Google Fi, in which case you will be forced to relinquish it. No improvements on that small problem, it seems.

colechristensen 9 years ago | |

You can port your number from Voice to Fi, you just can't use both on the same account.

jotux 9 years ago | | |

>you just can't use both on the same account.

But that was the whole reason I wanted a voice number. I had my regular number I only gave to my close friends and family and would give my voice number to anyone who asked. After I got Fi I could no longer make or receive calls on my voice number.

bjt 9 years ago | | |

And if you do, you no longer get text-to-email or voice-message-to-email features.

lutorm 9 years ago | | |

Exactly. But, as I understand it, you can't port your Fi number back to Voice if you decide you don't want Fi.

morgante 9 years ago |

I'm really happy they're showing Google Voice some love.

It's certainly been neglected over the years, but despite that I've stuck with it (all the way since the GrandCentral days) because the alternative is so much worse. I've changed phone providers numerous times and also travel internationally: the fact that each of these moves would've otherwise required either complex number porting or letting people know about my new number is enough to make me put up with Google Voice's inadequacies. Plus, I love being able to manage SMS from my computer, just like it's another inbox.

I hope they're serious about maintaining and updating GV going forward. It's conceptually essential.

panda88888 9 years ago | |

Hi, sounds like you have experience with Google voice and international numbers. I haven't tried in a long time, but does google voice support forwarding to international number?

morgante 9 years ago | | |

I've never tried, since when I'm traveling internationally I always have data and just use the Hangouts app. The important part is it's totally seamless: contacts don't need to know I'm traveling and I avoid any huge roaming fees.

joecool1029 9 years ago |

Oh great, announce the fucking update that may or may not come this week. They already leaked a banner some weeks ago by accident that linked nowhere. Meanwhile I'm pulling in the 6th update in two months on T-Mobile DIGITS, which will hopefully be the service to replace Google Voice. Oh, and when DIGITS has bugs I can pick up the phone and speak to a person, get it assigned and fixed.

It's been around 3 years since Google started to scare all its users into thinking Voice would be shut down or merged with another service.

I need a working commercial solution and I don't mind paying for it. I'm sick of Google halfassing every product they work on that isn't Search or AdWords.

mmanfrin 9 years ago |

Voice, Hangouts, Messenger, Allo, Duo.

Which one should I use, Google, for fuck's sake.

remir 9 years ago | |

I'd say Messenger, because of SMS which is everywhere but also its compatibility with RCS. Of course, your carrier must support RCS, but most of them will eventually.

Andrex 9 years ago | | |

Voice is also confirmed to support RCS in a near-term update. Will be exciting when the happens.

xd1936 9 years ago |

My main number is in Google Voice, and has been since 2010. I've lived every day in fear that they would 'spring clean' the product, like they did for Google Reader.

I'm just happy to see a commitment to the product, and to future updates. There really isn't anything else like it out there. I love it.

tomcam 9 years ago | |

This week, anyway!

CodeSheikh 9 years ago |

Long time coming! I use Google voice very often to make international calls (I was a Grand Central subscriber before Google acquired them). Their iOS app was just a design nightmare (ios 6 UI aesthetics). Functionality of the app was also limited. Setting section of the app was just passive, you can't change much and you have to login ona desktop version.

I am not going to lie but as a Google Voice customer for a long time, I am very disappointed with this update. It is just a design change and I hope they will roll out several new features slowly.

For example I still would like them to add a feature where I can add credit to my Google Voice account through the phone app.

Among the top three features they have listed as new in the blog post, I feel like that those functionalities already exist on the current iOs app. Lets see.

1: Easily check messages, calls and voicemail(s)

Already there. Using the same top left corner main menu.

2: Keep in touch with group messages

This already exists as well. You can start message threads with multiple people. Except the media support I guess.

3: Save time with transcribed voicemail

This feature is already available. In current version, go to Menu -> Voicemail and you will see transcribed messages in your inbox.

I am honestly very confused if this just a teaser in to what is about to become a major project within Google or just a marketing team being busy.

philip1209 9 years ago |

As a current Fi user and former Voice user, I'm still unclear on the relationship between the two. Hangouts for Mac still rings when I get a phone call, but I can't answer the call.

bane 9 years ago | |

The thing that really tees me off, and wasn't explained when I migrated my cell to Fi was that it both killed off the voice account and # that I had with that google account, but also messed up support for one of my other Voice accounts. I can't even install Voice on my phone to use the second account so now I have a Rube goldberg machine where that number forwards to a SIP # I have that rings my phone. I can't even get my 2nd Voice number to ring me on my Fi cell.

Their answer to questions is pretty much "of course they're the same system!"

lutorm 9 years ago | |

As a current Voice user and would-like-to-be Fi user, the fact that I have to give up my Voice number to use Fi is a dealbreaker. The whole point of Voice was to not tie your number to a specific provider.

beambot 9 years ago | |

Not sure if this is still the case... but Google Voice cannot forward calls to any Fi numbers. So if (for example) your business uses Google Voice to route calls for customer service, you will not be able to receive them. This was an unpleasant little "feature" when we made the switch to Fi.

philip1209 9 years ago | | |

Uber Eats thinks that my former Voice number (now Fi number) is not a real cell number, so it does not let me order. After repeated support tickets, they still assert that it's a virtual number and will not let me order.

mrbill 9 years ago | |

I'm a fi user and I can make/receive calls and send/get texts via Hangouts on both my phone and on the web/desktop.

philip1209 9 years ago | | |

Ah, I think that I elected to use the native Messages app rather than Hangouts on Android for SMS. This may be the root of my issue.

I found hangouts on Android tough to use for SMS.

frankydp 9 years ago |

I am glad that I am not the only person that saw this headline and thought "OH NO" they remembered GV is still running. Updates on older services seem to be the kiss of death at Google. Lets spend a little money on an update, if it doesn't grow like (insert cool new thing) kill it.

Internal investment in any established Google service seems to be a liability not a benefit, when all of a sudden the balance sheet is worse.

MrMetlHed 9 years ago |

Why didn't they just improve Hangouts? I don't know anyone that uses Allo and as far as I know there's no desktop client. I linked Voice to Hangouts so I could get all of my messages in one app on both my phone and within gmail. Now it seems like they want me to split everything up between 3 apps (Voice for SMS, Allo for chat on mobile, and Hangouts for chat on my computer) that fewer and fewer people are using.

Why on earth didn't they just improve Hangouts?

brianjking 9 years ago | |

I'm a Voice and Hangouts user that would love to use Allo. Well, actually, let me rephrase - I'd love to have Hangouts have Allo's features such as the Google Assistant integration and emoji. Allo just added to the segmentation mess that is Google Messaging, who knows what is going on anymore.

awiesen 9 years ago | |

We did a user survey a year and a half ago, got a flood of feedback, and overwhelmingly users asked us to invest in the Google Voice standalone experience. It didn't mean that there aren't passionate users who want the Hangouts version.

Despite what a lot of the threads here are saying, honestly we did this based on user feedback and user research. Most people wanted this, even if they're not all on HN.

hendersoon 9 years ago | |

I only use Hangouts for google voice, but I would prefer this as well-- I want one unified messaging platform that also handles SMS and POTS phonecalls. That was the promise of Hangouts.

altometer 9 years ago |

Can we just get them to stop screwing with all the different services? I have tried for years to use Google apps as my main communication routes, but their reliability is a joke.

My wife just texted me, "Hey, I got two calls today that went straight to voicemail?" I switched her to google voice a month ago, and it generally works. Stuff like this, the syncing issues with their messenger platforms, delayed or randomly missed messages, are just not acceptable.

abrodersen 9 years ago |

There has always been a lot of uncertainty over the future of Google Voice, given the lack of updates. While this does give reassurance that the project is still alive, it puts another nail in the Hangouts coffin. It was widely assumed Hangouts would subsume Google Voice, but now that looks very unlikely.

scrollaway 9 years ago | |

But really? I live in Europe and I'm still not able to order a Google Voice number... and god damn, I tried. I move between countries very regularly, having a single international number would be fantastic.

I've essentially stopped using hangouts anyway. Everybody I talked to on there is on Discord now (https://discordapp.com/). Screenshare and video calls coming soon to it too, at which point I'll permanently log off Hangouts. If I'm going to use a proprietary system, it might as well not suck.

CaptSpify 9 years ago | |

Honestly, I'm glad.

I signed up for Voice to use Voice. Not to use Hangouts.

akhilcacharya 9 years ago |

> If you currently use Hangouts for your Google Voice communication, there’s no need to change to the new apps, but you might want to try them out as we continue to bring new improvements.

Oh dear. And here I thought that Voice was just abandoned.

komali2 9 years ago | |

I wish. Now Google is aware of it again, it'll be gone within a year.

SwellJoe 9 years ago |

Google has kinda proven themselves untrustworthy when it comes to relying on their services; sometimes, they just kill products off. That'd really suck for a phone number.

Nonetheless, I find Google Voice so valuable that I overlooked the potential hassle of it going away. It's just amazingly convenient to get my texts on my computer, tablet, and phone. It's so nice to get voicemails transcribed and in my inbox...I hate making phone calls and I hate listening to voicemail.

So, for all of Google's long neglect of the product, I don't know of anything as good, even among products that cost money. So, I'm not gonna trash talk them now, after they've finally done an update and exhibited some evidence that the product has a future. I'm just glad they seem to plan to keep it alive.

And, for all of Google's neglect of the product, it is still the Google product I recommend more than any other (I think). I may use GMail/Inbox more often, and I may interact with more people via Docs/Drive, but so few people know about Google Voice that I end up recommending it a lot more than anything else.

tapsboy 9 years ago |

So in the brand new blog post, they link to this page: https://www.google.com/googlevoice/about.html

When you click around, you get to see icons and screenshots from a bygone era

rconti 9 years ago | |

That's fantastic.

https://www.google.com/googlevoice/images/sms-to-email.gif

ibejoeb 9 years ago | |

Interesting. What's the conference/merge feature? I've never seen that. I've used the service since GC.

Analemma_ 9 years ago |

Somebody stop Mr. Google's-Communication-Strategy Wild Ride, I want to get off.

jdeibele 9 years ago |

Google Voice is GREAT for non-profits. For my son's Cub Scout Pack and my kids' soccer club I paid the money to get permanent numbers for them both.

Now they each have a permanent number that goes just to voicemail. The messages are transcribed, sent to a gmail account set up for just that number and then forwarded to the people that need to receive it.

Personally, I have a lot less trust in any organization that won't put a phone number on their website. But I also understand why people aren't anxious to give out their own cell or home phones.

PS: It was $20 for one (because I transferred a number) and $30 for the other (because I requested a second number). The gmail accounts are free. It takes some knowledge to make this happen but it's a much better deal than $9.95/month to a voicemail provider.

joshmn 9 years ago |

Google Voice has been a life saver to me in more ways than one.

I have Sprint, which integrates with Google Voice so I can use my Sprint number on Google Voice, with all my texts and all my calls sitting nicely in Google Voice. I have the Google Voice Chrome extension installed, which allows me to tell my girlfriend I'm still at work whenever she texts me, allowing me to maintain some sort of focus for the next 9 minutes until she texts me again.

bsharitt 9 years ago |

I guess I can unlink from hangouts and go back to Google Voice? I've basically stopped using my Google Voice number(but keep it around because people still had that number) because the future seemed so uncertain.

CPLX 9 years ago |

It doesn't appear to actually have changed in the iOS app store as of this writing.

hobarrera 9 years ago | |

The web app is also still the same.

bearcobra 9 years ago |

Anyone know of a decent self-hosted alternative? I ported my number to Voice after I moved from the states, but have been frustrated by the lack of support up until now. I tried running something similar with Twilio and openvbx, but that project seems to have been pretty much abandoned.

xur17 9 years ago |

I'm very curious to see if Project Fi gets some of these upgrades as well since it currently uses parts of the Google Voice integration, especially the integration into Hangouts.

pspeter3 9 years ago | |

Yeah, I'm really unclear what the relationship with Fi is since I use Hangouts for everything. I wish there was more clarity.

codebook 9 years ago |

As a Fi user (and the number was used from Google Voice), still Fi/Google Voice has problem that the phone doesn't ring even the call goes to Voicemail. Phone has no 'missed call' and suddenly voicemail is received.

This issue has been addressed a few years ago but still they never give any option to extend ringing time. What a poor service.

dannyrosen 9 years ago |

There's someone very high up at Google who believes that Google can disrupt telephony. Fi and the lifeline of Voice are proof of this.

The fact that this project got refunded is also a tell that Google finds value in Voice (maybe). The question I'd ask is what value is it that they see? A couple of thoughts:

* Move voice users out of Hangouts to reduce users of the monolith.

* Test the current user bases' interest in updates - maybe there's something bigger brewing and this update is an experiment to learn about user habits.

* Create a pipeline program to covert users to Fi.

* Release work done over the holiday vacation that was cheap enough / good enough to release.

usaphp 9 years ago | |

I wanted to switch to Fi many times, but I have an iPhone and when you use Fi on iPhone, only t-mobile network is accessible and they don't have an app for iOS like they do for android.

jdeibele 9 years ago |

Google Voice has been awesome for us with a little Obihai box. I use it every day to check on my mom (who has medical issues) and we have glitches occasionally but they are almost always cleared up by re-dialing.

It let us replace our $40/month CenturyLink landline (including taxes and caller ID) with a one-time purchase of the Obihai box ($40 on special) and the $20 porting fee to make the number permanent with Google Voice.

Our school district uses automated phone calls. Having Google Voice answer them, transcribe them, and send them to both me and my wife has been awesome.

daveloyall 9 years ago |

Over the years, I have sent the GV team various strongly worded reminders of the promises they made me.

Personally, I choose to interpret these updates as a their response to me. Finally!

Thanks for making good, big G. Keep it up.

quantumpotato_ 9 years ago |

Bug: (where do I report this?) Number A, Number B. A receives text. "B" is set as my default but I see A's message in my inbox. I reply. The reply is sent from "B".

peterwwillis 9 years ago |

Am I the only person here who is happy with Google Voice?

The whole point of GV has always been to be a free PSTN<->VOIP gateway. That's a very valuable feature by itself. AFAIK, only FreedomPop offer mostly the same functionality for free (though not unlimited). Aside from carrier issues, I haven't had any problems with GV.

It just works, it's very useful and it's free. I'm happy with it, and I hope they improve the existing functionality before they add features.

ikeboy 9 years ago |

Someone remind me again why Google Voice and Google Hangouts co-exist? I'm sure there was an amazing answer that got lost in the margin of my brain, anyone remember?

hobarrera 9 years ago |

Looks like the iOS app is only available inf you're in the US - even if you've already enabled and used google voice on the web (or on a different device).

hendersoon 9 years ago |

Oh thank GOD. I live in terror that Google will kill Voice. I _live_ in Voice. I dread that day.

Instead, they release updated apps... this is about killing _Hangouts_, which I don't particularly care about. Whew!!

Honestly, I would be _ecstatic_ if Google started charging for Voice. $1/month, $12/year seems about right. I want confidence the service is going to be around for years to come.

Also, ios10 call integration would be very sweet. Hopefully this new update has it.

apeace 9 years ago |

Wow, what a shocker! I used GV for _years_ as my primary number, but had to stop recently because the apps were so terrible.

Something else I hope they've fixed: many web sites could not send SMS to GV numbers. For example my Chase bank account. I could never get a text code to login with a new device, so had to use email to verify instead. I experienced probably a dozen services that could not send to GV.

Refresh looks great! Can't wait to try it out.

nagarjun 9 years ago |

Has anyone been migrated to the new web version? I still see the old interface and it looks like the Indian Play Store hasn't received the new app either.

midnitewarrior 9 years ago |

Fool me once Google Voice...

nialv7 9 years ago |

The fear that Google Voice would be cancelled soon has always been in me. (There apps hadn't been updated for a long time).

This news is a relief.

altendo 9 years ago |

I'm actually surprised at the dearth of updates. The cleaner interface is nice for sure, and transcription in Spanish is great (yay internationalization!), but the post is underwhelming overall. There's just vague messaging about future updates. Was hoping for more of a splash (and better app store availability, based on some comments here).

vowelless 9 years ago |

Are there alternatives to Google Voice? I am looking for a phone number, web based interface for sms, vm, etc.

JustSomeNobody 9 years ago |

If anyone has received the update on their iPhone, can you say whether or not it now supports CallKit?

cva 9 years ago | |

The Google Voice app is not a VOIP app (it just makes and receives regular phone calls), so I'm not sure how it would integrate with CallKit

hendersoon 9 years ago | | |

It could, as Google allows VOIP calls with the Hangouts app and gmail website. I hope they add this functionality too.

JustSomeNobody 9 years ago | | |

Oh, well, that's disappointing. Was hoping it could take advantage of CallKit.

cft 9 years ago |

If someone from Google is reading this: there's a need for a business version, that has paid features: multiple lines with a single number ( "press 1 to talk to billing, press 2 to talk to support"), multiple numbers tied to one account, etc.

nickyman 9 years ago | |

http://www.dialpad.com

Xunxi 9 years ago |

I have the old google voice app as well as a google voice number, granted MMS didnt work but other features such as spam filtering is the reason I adopted for official use. I routed 2 numbers to each (landline) account and havent looked back

vit05 9 years ago |

Facebook has recently added audio options. Google will invest more in voice and audio. It is clearly, for me, that we will see something great happen in audio as we saw before in video and photo

dirkg 9 years ago |

What does this mean for Fi users? I guess someone inside Google must have a soft spot for Voice, neglecting an app for 5 years and then resurrecting it is very unGoogly.

plorg 9 years ago |

Maybe now they'll address the Takeout format to return a sane, digestible form of GV data, rather than the frequently-broken HTML form that it currently returns.

ashurbanipal 9 years ago |

It looks like Hangouts can make free calls, but GV cannot. At least according to their respective descriptions in the Play store. That seems like a major downgrade.

senorerik 9 years ago | |

GV could never make calls. It is primarily a call forwarding service (with tacked on free SMS and now MMS) which allows you to make calls to numbers in other states with no additional cost and make international calls for a low rate. You still need to go through your phone service; as far as your service is aware, these calls are going to a local number (the area code of your google voice number).

hendersoon 9 years ago | | |

That's true, but deceptive. Google Voice itself can't make calls in the app or website, but Gmail (web only) and Hangouts (web and app) can. They're offered this service for a very long time.

CharlesW 9 years ago |

As part of this they're touting much-improved transcription. Does anyone know if the the transcription system used for this is available for developers?

skoocda 9 years ago | |

https://cloud.google.com/speech/

dcow 9 years ago |

I just ported my voice number over to fi because as far as anyone could tell that was the direction Google was headed. Now this.

ksk 9 years ago |

Q: Does GV have 'access numbers' that you can make calls via so that it looks like the call came from your GV number?

callalex 9 years ago | |

Not exactly, there are a few ways to establish a call and have your GV number be the "from" number

1) Use the app on your phone which will transparently create a temporary number that your device calls that then connects you to the other party. 2) Use the website/apps/apis to do a "Callback" where your GV number calls you, and once you answer, calls the other party 3) Call your own gv number, hit a key, enter your pin, then enter the number you want to dial (no internet required)

balls187 9 years ago |

International SMS support plz.

BugsJustFindMe 9 years ago |

[edit] I guess it's not updated in the play store yet?

Mindless2112 9 years ago | |

When Google does these rollouts, you can usually find the new APK on APKMirror [1]. (If you sideload the APK and it ask you if you want to upgrade the app then you can be sure that the signature matches the one used to sign the previous version.)

[1] http://www.apkmirror.com/apk/google-inc/google-voice/google-...

mherrmann 9 years ago |

I didn't know there was a .google TLD. Scary.

aditya 9 years ago |

Where in gods name are these new apps anyway

wnevets 9 years ago |

voice and gmail are really the only two google products I can't live with out. Just dont fuck voice up.

matthberg 9 years ago |

An extremely relevant (and timely) XKCD about having too many phone numbers: https://xkcd.com/1789/

swagv1 9 years ago |

Awesome

pokemongoaway 9 years ago |

The guy on this page is, "Jan Jedrzejowicz." I'm going to hit him up on LinkedIn and ask him if he can ask his superiors about their focus or lack thereof on GV's future. And if they're not willing to give a detailed answer, then whether they believe their GV customers are entitled to one...

nkkollaw 9 years ago |

Is it still not supported in Europe?

It doesn't even show up in Google Play...

dcdevito 9 years ago |

It's nice to see GV isn't dead (yet), but unless I can make it my default SMS app it's pointless - so I am keeping my GV number integrated into hangouts.

draw_down 9 years ago |

Cool. I use the app from time to time and it was really decrepit.

tn_mobile 9 years ago |

Google voice for iOS is garbage. I would never want to hire the engineer(s) who made the front-end for that app.