Big update on its way
Guess who’s back, back again? Google Voice is back, tell a friend. After a five-year hiatus, Google announced a huge update for its Google Voice apps.
The initial launch aimed to give people a phone number associated with the person associated with it rather than tied to a single device or location. With Google Voice, you can call, text, and get voicemail across all your devices. The app aimed to create “one number for life.” Millions of people were like, yeah that sounds cool, and downloaded the app.
Where did it go?
Except then Google failed to keep up with the app, letting it fall to the wayside. Most of us probably forgot that it was ever a thing.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Rather than let the app join the graveyard, Google necromancers have released it from purgatory.” quote=”But rather than let it join the Google Graveyard, the necromancers at Google decided it was time to grant the app release from purgatory.”]
Product manager Jan Jedzejowicz announced on Google’s blog that there’s a now “fresh set of features.”
The new features
Most notably, Google changed up the interface, opting for a more modern, intuitive, and clean design. The inbox now has separate tabs for texts, calls, and voicemails. This makes me wonder how anyone kept track of messages before this separation. Conversations with each contact are now in continuous thread as well, keeping all your messages from one person in a single place.
Additionally, Google Voice now has support for group and photo MMS, plus in-app notifications. If you’re on Google Hangout, rejoice. You can connect Google Voice to get voicemails and texts through Hangouts.
You don’t even have to download the app if you already have Hangouts.
Probably the coolest feature is the ability to sort through transcribed voicemails and read them like emails. You can also personalize voicemail greetings for different family and friends. Right now transcription abilities are all in English, but a Spanish voicemail transcription is in the works.
A great start
Google promises they’ll keep rolling out updates, so feel free to check out the refurbished app on web, Android, or iOS.
#GoogleVoice
Learjet
January 25, 2017 at 2:40 pm
I got the update two days ago and I love it. To be able to send pictures directly from my computer is simply awesome and finally my non-Voice number won’t show up when I send MMS’s, which is confusing to the receiver. I love the new look, too.
I use Google Voice almost as much as Gmail on a daily basis, so I was already happy with it, but these updates are just the cherry on top of the cake. I’m so relieved Google isn’t abandoning it!
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