No good.
Google Voice does not work in Canada. You better fix it so it does or people will not be downloading the app.
Great in theory, so-so in practice
I love the idea of having a second phone number that’s separate from my mobile but accessible on it. I’ve used Voice for years for all kinds of things that I want to keep one step away from my “private” number. In the last couple of years, though, I’ve found it periodically stops working with iOS. I have no idea if this is Google’s fault or if it’s something Apple does in its updates, but I hit these patches where I can’t get it to ring through the app or through call forwarding if I delete the app. I do all the suggested fixes online, and it still might or might not work. I just have to wait for an update. I’ve missed a couple of important calls this was and have to say I don’t think I can rely on it for everything anymore. I’ll still use it for things like making calls through my laptop (great for conference calls - the sound seems to be much better than speakerphone), but I can’t recommend this for anything really important if this issue keeps happening.
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Horrible
This doesn’t work in Canada! Why can’t google put on the Canadian App Store?
Favorites gone ?
Update Oct 2, 2019: Are there any plans to implement feature for favorites? Many, if not most, use the app from the car, and it’s difficult to browse the contacts or call history...
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Nice look and feel - but would say a D grade on functionality. The favorites feature was already barebones- with “suggestions” having to suffice as “favorites”. But now, it’s completely gone!?! Like many others, I use this while driving and I want to be able to call someone with just a tap, rather than search. Why not have a tab with 3x3 (say) tiles for your top 9 favorites, and set another tab for “suggestions” or leave it incorporated with “contacts” ?
Please (re)design a functionality for favorites, pretty please!!
UPDATE 10/8: Things seem to go from bad to worse. Now the suggested contacts are gone, and I have to constantly scroll through the contacts list, find the person I need, open the contact screen and the choose the number. In the iPhone app, it then asks you to confirm the call. Given that I (and many others, based on the reviews I read here) use this to make calls while driving, using this app has become a very hazardous task. While I really love the app for its cheap rates and simplicity, the lack of valuable (and commonly available) features is very disappointing. Please implement a “favorites” option.
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Nice look and feel - but would say a D grade on functionality. The favorites feature was already barebones- with “suggestions” having to suffice as “favorites”. But now, it’s completely gone!?! Like many others, I use this while driving and I want to be able to call someone with just a tap, rather than search. Why not have a tab with 3x3 (say) tiles for your top 9 favorites, and set another tab for “suggestions” or leave it incorporated with “contacts” ?
Please (re)design a functionality for favorites, pretty please!!
UPDATE 10/8: Things seem to go from bad to worse. Now the suggested contacts are gone, and I have to constantly scroll through the contacts list, find the person I need, open the contact screen and the choose the number. In the iPhone app, it then asks you to confirm the call. Given that I (and many others, based on the reviews I read here) use this to make calls while driving, using this app has become a very hazardous task. While I really love the app for its cheap rates and simplicity, the lack of valuable (and commonly available) features is very disappointing. Please implement a “favorites” option.
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Appalling
Our small charity spent hours trying to make this work even on the phone with excellent google support person. It turns out that you can only use it in the UK if you have g suite, which we do. Also the text message function isn’t available in UK at all. Also we couldn’t add contacts. Incredibly poor communication if even their own support team don’t know this basic functionality issue. We asked for a refund and were refused. Pretty pathetic really.
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The reason it’s in the UK App Store...
There are about 200,000 Americans living in the UK. Having a free US phone number to call back to and receive calls from the States makes sense. Google is extremely clear in their listing in the UK App Store that this is a US-centric product.
That said, it would seem Google has a difficult time managing bandwidth for all their Google Voice users. Even via our home WiFi (350Mbs down and 35Mbs up) audio drops in and out. Over 4G the product is even less stable.
As an alternative to the clunky Google Voice app, there’s the slightly less-clunky Google Hangouts App (telegraphed by Google to be going away soon) that’s fully compatible with one’s Google account. A better option while it lasts.
That said, it would seem Google has a difficult time managing bandwidth for all their Google Voice users. Even via our home WiFi (350Mbs down and 35Mbs up) audio drops in and out. Over 4G the product is even less stable.
As an alternative to the clunky Google Voice app, there’s the slightly less-clunky Google Hangouts App (telegraphed by Google to be going away soon) that’s fully compatible with one’s Google account. A better option while it lasts.
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Voicemail playback is losing its user-friendliness
I love the service and have used it since about 2006 or 2007 (I think). My only issue is that the app is making it harder to listen to voicemails. Oftentimes the voicemails play back on a low volume, which is on me because I have to wait until a message is playing before I can increase the volume. That isn’t the app’s problem... Because it starts at a low volume I have to replay the message after I am able to turn it up, and I don’t mind doing this. The problem is that it is almost impossible to scroll the voicemail bar back to the left now that they added a feature to delete the message, by swiping left on the message. When trying the drag the voicemail bar back it ends up sliding the message over for the delete feature. Frustrating because if I have a long voicemail (1min+) I don’t want to have to wait until it’s done before I replay it. Especially when I have multiple voicemails to listen to. FWP
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Fantastic
I’ve been looking for a way to have the type of functionality iMessage gives you on iPhone/iPad/Mac, but with Windows instead of a Mac. This is literally perfect for that. I get messages, calls, and voicemails on any device, any OS, truly what I needed. Would love some of the silly niceties of modern messaging apps like stickers, read receipts, message reactions, end-to-end encryption if it isn’t already present, etc etc...
If there were any way my non-GV contacts could see my messages as if I were on an iPhone, like if Google Voice were able to send my messages through iMessage servers via some kind of deal with Apple, then that would just be icing on the cake. My communication on any OS, but without my iOS friends having to deal with the green bubble issues like insecure communications and low res images and such. But for now, I really do love this.
If there were any way my non-GV contacts could see my messages as if I were on an iPhone, like if Google Voice were able to send my messages through iMessage servers via some kind of deal with Apple, then that would just be icing on the cake. My communication on any OS, but without my iOS friends having to deal with the green bubble issues like insecure communications and low res images and such. But for now, I really do love this.
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Completely Useless
Completely useless in Canada.
This app doesn’t work in Canada
This is so pointless for Canadians when they can download the app from the store but cannot use it. Come on Google, Americans and Canadians are brothers and should be in the same North America market.
