Google answered the prayers of many iPhone users by releasing a native iOS app for Google Voice after being denied entry to the App Store over a year ago. The free official app, while lacking many preference settings found on paid third-party offerings, is otherwise slicker in every way.
The app is split into four tabs: Inbox, Dialer, Contacts and Settings. You’ll spend most of your time using the Inbox tab, where you can see incoming calls and messages, complete with a preview of your SMS or voicemail transcription (voicemails can also be played back within the app). Dedicated folders for Starred messages, History, Voicemail, Text, Placed, Received or Missed calls and Spam repeat the same functionality found on the Google Voice website.
Dialer apes the iPhone’s native look and feel and you also have the option to send text messages. You can access people already on your iPhone under Contacts, as well as add frequently dialed or recent numbers to a Quick Dial section. There’s a small Quick Dial display bug that sometimes makes photos appear on the wrong contacts, but tapping Edit and rearranging affected contacts clears things right up.
Settings contains your Google Voice account data, including available credit balance for international calls -- as low as two cents per minute in many countries. You can also select existing phone numbers to route Google Voice calls to (or add a new one), but you’ll have to hit the Google Voice website to remove numbers, verify new entries or access other preferences – something we hope will be addressed in a future update.
Built-in push notifications for missed calls, voicemails and SMS is the star feature of the Google Voice app -- none of the competitors have it, instead relying on other third-party apps like Boxcar or PushMail. Notifications are fast and get you into the app swiftly so you can act on them, thanks to iOS 4 fast app switching.
On the downside, Google Voice is strictly for the iPhone – users of other devices will have to rely on third-party solutions for now. Due to iOS restrictions, the GV app can’t neatly tie into the system dialer the way it does on Android, where you can choose to make calls through the service every time you dial out. Otherwise, this free app is a winner for anyone already using the Google Voice service.
The Bottom Line: Despite limited preference settings and a few bugs, the official app is a winner for anyone already using Google Voice.
The official Google Voice app for iPhone went live this week and our sister site SlashGear has already reviewed the app and offered up their judgment. The verdict is that the app is crazy simple to use and Google Voice fans will love it.
Whoever runs the Twitter account for Verizon has hinted that the iPhone is certainly coming to the network. The Verizon worker answered the question "does the iPad hint at the iPhone for Verizon" with the answer "yes that is the latest scoop."
Beatles Mania finally landed on iTunes yesterday after years of waiting by fans. The entire Beatles catalog is now on iTunes and can be downloaded. I'd be more excited if they scored AC/DC.
The heavens parted and the gods smiled upon tech fans this Tuesday, November 16. No, we’re not talking about The Beatles finally landing on iTunes (although that was also pretty cool) -- Apple has finally blessed the official Google Voice app for the iPhone, and you can download it for free right now.
It’s a big year for Google Voice -- the service finally went out of invitation-only beta and opened its doors to the public at large, followed by two third-party apps that take advantage of the service (GV Mobile+ and GV Connect) being blessed with admission to the App Store yet again. The only thing that remained was an official app from Google themselves, and now that wait is over.
Google Voice: Why You Want It
First things first, let’s explain why this is such a big deal. Google Voice is a web-based telephone service that offers you a free phone number capable of ringing you anywhere. It’s not a replacement for your existing service, but rather an enhancement to it.
Let’s say you have a home phone and an iPhone -- sign up for Google Voice and you’ll get a new phone number that, when called, can ring both of your actual numbers, allowing you to pick up from either place, transfer calls between handsets or screen incoming callers and voicemail (as it’s being recorded, and you can even join the call at any time).
But Google Voice doesn’t stop there: You’ll also get free SMS text messages to U.S. numbers (sorry, no MMS), online voicemail with transcription (and archiving) and free calls to anywhere in the U.S. and Canada, not to mention “super low rates everywhere else.”
iPhone users could always access this goodness from the Google Voice website, including a mobile version of the site written in HTML5. But it was never quite the same as having a fast, dedicated app to get the job done.
Google Voice on the iPhone
Fire up the official Google Voice app for the iPhone and you’ll be prompted to sign in with your Google address (the full e-mail, not just the username) and password. If you’ve already used Google Voice on the web or with a third-party app, you’ve likely got an existing number stored and you’ll want to select that on the next screen.
You can also enter additional custom numbers that you want calls to be routed to by entering a name and number. This will allow you to dial a call from the GV app on your iPhone, but actually use another line to connect the call. Note that the app doesn’t permit you to delete custom numbers from the app itself and you’ll have to visit your Voice settings online to verify these numbers before you can forward calls to them. It’s not an ideal solution, but thankfully you won’t have to bother with this too often.
Once inside the app, you’ll be greeted by your Inbox, which includes both incoming voicemails as well as SMS messages. If you want to see a specific folder, tap the Menu button and you’ll also have easy access to your Starred and History folders, as well as separate categories for Voicemail, Text, Placed, Received or Missed Calls and even your Spam folder (yes, Google Voice works hard to filter out junk calls!).
Text messages can be easily read and replied to right away; voicemails can be played right from inside the app, with the option to turn the speaker on or off. If you have voicemail transcripts active on your GV account, you’ll see them from the same screen, and as the voicemail plays back, the app will also follow along -- a nifty touch, although in general Google’s transcripts tend to leave a lot to be desired.
From any of these folders, you can easily remove (or in this case, move to an archive) unwanted messages by swiping right and tapping Archive on individual messages. You can also accomplish the same task by tapping the Edit button in the upper right corner which will bring up the familiar red “delete” symbol for each message; tap that and you’ll have the option to Archive, but there’s currently no way to do this with more than one message at a time either way.
Dialer and Contacts
To place a call through Google Voice, tap the Dialer tab at the bottom of the screen and you’ll be presented with a dial pad similar to the one built into the iPhone. Once a number is dialed in, you have the option to save it as a favorite by tapping the + symbol in the lower left corner (more on that in a moment), or tapping the Text or Call button. Third-party apps such as GV Mobile+ also include a quick Contacts button in the dialer -- it’s strange that Google didn’t do the same here, but Contacts have a dedicated tab all their own for easy access.
With a number entered, tapping on Text brings up a large text field ready to accept an SMS message. Tap Send and your message is on its way, or tap Cancel to return to the dialer. Thankfully, iPhone autocorrection is in full force here, which was missing from recent updates to the GV Mobile+ app, making typing more of a chore than was necessary.
Tap Call and the Google Voice app closes, then the iPhone’s call window opens -- you’ll see a random strange phone number appear here that’s not your own, since Google is using its server-side voodoo (known as known as Direct Access Numbers) to connect your call. The search giant claims this is much faster than the dialback option used by third-party apps, allowing GV calls to be placed as quickly as real calls. Fear not, the caller on the other end will still see your Google Voice phone number on their Caller ID, and you can use the Calls tab setting on the GV website to make sure the same number is displayed for outgoing SMS messages as well.
One caveat: Google Voice still uses your cell phone minutes to make calls. It’s not a VoIP service like Skype, where you can use 3G data to save on your contract minutes. That said, if you have access to a phone with unlimited minutes (at home, for instance), you can easily route your iPhone outgoing calls to there and save a bundle.
If you want to access your iPhone contacts, simply tap on the Contacts tab, which is split into two categories: Quick Dial and All Contacts. The latter button does exactly what you’d expect, and if you have your contacts sorted into groups, you can tap the Groups button to access just the ones you’re looking for.
To add numbers to your Quick Dial list, you can either open a contact and tap their number (which will give you the option to Call, Text or Add/Remove from Quick Dial) or tap the + button from the Quick Dial pane, which oddly switches you back to All Contacts anyway. Removing a Quick Dial contact is as simple as swiping to delete, and you can tap Edit to change the order of your Quick Dial contacts or also remove them entirely.
By the way, the Contacts tab isn’t completely bug-free: We discovered that after accessing it a few times, the app mixed up our contact photos at random. It cleared up after a device reboot, but we’re guessing this should be an easy thing for Google to fix with a future update.
Settings
Compared to third-party apps using the same service, the official Google Voice app is quite spartan when it comes to the Settings tab. At the top of the screen you’ll see your GV number and account, with the option to sign out if necessary.
Below that is your GV call balance -- new accounts are given $1.00 calling credit to try out, but if you’ve added more, it will be shown here so you can keep tabs on when it’s time to refill. Since calls within the U.S. and Canada are free, you’ll only need to top this up if you’re keeping touch with friends or family overseas, and Google’s rates are quite competitive.
Last but not least, the Settings tab allows you to change the actual phone you wanted GV calls routed to (usually your iPhone) as well as an About screen to get help, send feedback and see the usual legal mumbo-jumbo related to the service.
Ahhh, Push It
Because there is no official API for third-party developers to tap into, the unofficial apps, while getting the job done, always left room for improvement. In one particular area -- push notifications for incoming SMS messages or voicemails -- they fell down completely.
You probably noticed when you first signed into the Google Voice app that it asked you to confirm receiving push notifications. That’s because the official app is capable of notifying you immediately of missed calls, voicemails or SMS messages, which third-party apps were unable to do without using a separate app like PushMail or Boxcar (neither of which were a very elegant solution in this case).
The Google Voice app works as expected with push -- as messages pop up, you have the option to dismiss them or open the GV to read or respond to them, and the app supports iOS 4 multitasking and fast app switching to make things lightning fast. It’s not an intuitive as Google Voice on Android, but given that iOS lacks a polished notification system, it does a great job.
Google also hasn’t missed out on the little things -- if you receive a push notification on your iPhone but choose to ignore it, then later read it on the GV website (or even from another device), the badge disappears almost immediately on your handset, exactly as it should be. We were probably more impressed by this one tiny feat than anything else in the app, and that’s saying something.
More Than a Year Late and Worth the Wait
If you’re already using the Google Voice service, the official iPhone app will make great use of an already convenient service. After just a short time of using it, we’ve almost forgotten the length of time it’s taken to get to this point -- as you’ll recall, the official app was banned in the summer of 2009, and there was almost a year between Google Voice being completely MIA from the App Store and third-party apps making a triumphant return.
But you know what they say: Good things come to those who wait.
It’s been a wild ride for native Google Voice apps on the iPhone: After getting booted out of the App Store more than a year ago for reportedly “duplicating existing functionality,” they’re back with a vengeance this month -- and if the rumors are true, an official app from Google may soon join the fray.
TechCrunch is reporting that Apple has already approved an official Google Voice app, which could appear anytime within the next few weeks. That information comes direct from “a source close to Google,” although the app apparently needs to be reworked for iOS 4 and multitasking after languishing for over a year since its rejection last summer.
As you may recall, Google submitted an official Google Voice app to Apple in July, 2009 which never made it to the App Store -- Google claimed the app was rejected, while Apple denied that claim and said it simply needed additional review time. Whatever the case, the fracas carried over to a trio of third-party apps, including the popular GV Mobile from developer Sean Kovacs and VoiceCentral from Riverturn, all of which were yanked from iTunes, never to return. Or so we thought.
After Apple detailed new App Store guidelines back on September 9, they inadvertently paved the way for the triumphant return of Google Voice apps to iOS, first with developer Andreas Amann’s GV Connect and almost immediately after, a refreshed GV Mobile+ from Kovacs. (Riverturn is also exploring the return of VoiceCentral after retooling the app into an HTML5 “weblication” called Black Swan, which is still available.)
The return of third-party Google Voice apps to the iPhone then begged the question, “What about Google?” Officially the company didn’t have much to say on the matter, issuing a brief non-statement along the lines of: “We currently offer Google Voice mobile apps for Blackberry and Android, and we offer an HTML5 web app for the iPhone. We have nothing further to announce at this time.”
That may very well be the case, but it’s almost a no-brainer that Google will want a native app on the iPhone, and as TechCrunch notes, “it’s entirely possible that it will include functionality that the others don’t” -- namely push notifications for incoming SMS and voicemail messages, which have been difficult for third-party developers due to the lack of an official API from Google. Stay tuned!
Well, Autumn is officially here, gang, the beginning of the long indoor season if you live in a cold and rainy part of the country (hello, Seattle!). While the Mac|Life staff will be kicking back with 80 degree weather this week, some of the rest of you might be cuddled up indoors, listening to the rain, reading on your iPads, watching a movie or two, or at least fighting with some Angry Birds. Here's a full dose of our best of the week to help you make the most of your rainy days.
Features:
- How To Make the Most Out of VLC for iPad - Okay, this one was one of those dream apps we've been craving since the day the iPad came out. It wasn't everything we'd hoped (get on the format stick, guys!), but hopefully that'll improve. Until then, here's the skinny on your movie consumption.
- Four Augmented Reality Apps You Actually Want on Your iPhone - Smartphones get smarter and smarter every go-around, but we're not quite to Minority Report just yet (luckily). But for when you want information while out and about, here's four (plus a few more) apps that give you the goods.
How-Tos:
- How To Extract Audio from FLV Files - Sometimes the only place to find a song is on YouTube, which is unfortunate if you want to groove while you're on the move. But that's why we were all born with audio extraction software clutched in our grubby little fists. Of course you don't know how to use it yet, but that's what Mac|Lifers are for, getting those YouTube tunes into iTunes. You're welcome.
- iPhone and iPad Tips of the Week - Folders and High Contrast Mode - We bring you this feature every week, but every so often we go that extra mile and really give you the good stuff, not just the basics. Well, you asked for it, and we've got a few tips and tricks that go even beyond your phone this week.
Reviews:
Between the two reviews below, we're basically helping you figure out if you can ditch your cable in these perilous economic times, so dig in.
- Elgato EyeTV One Review - Now here's a handy device. If you've got a new-fangled digital antenna to pick up your local stations, plug this baby into your Mac and it becomes a TV, but here's where it gets good. EyeTV will let you schedule recordings of shows (one at a time) and there's even an app to make it happen. How about that for a solution?
- Hulu Plus Review - When you pair free local TV with Hulu, you're not missing out on much anymore, but how does their Plus service stack up? Well, on the desktop you get a lot more (still not everything for the completists), but there's troubling gaps in the mobile versions episode lists which are held up by licensing which is (hopefully) being negotiated successfully. Throw in a basic Netflix and your cable bill's topping out around 20 bucks. Now there's some real cash savings.
News:
Well, there's news, and there's NEWS, and this story falls into the latter category. Apparently someone took the stick out of the butt of the App Store because -- hello! -- Google Voice apps are showing up for the iPhone, so grab 'em now!...speaking of the once forbidden now arriving for your iPhone pleasures, may we recommend Napster? Sure, it's a shell of its former glory as illegal file sharing service, but it's a legend after all. Respect...things that once were not but now are seems to be a trending topic here, as the iPhone 4 plus two new Apple Stores are showing up in China...because the iPhone is HUGE in South Korea, HUGE!...but what's apparently not showing up, despite the rumor bandied about in this article, is a Facebook smartphone. Or is it?....but if they were, maybe they'd use something like Droidthing which helps choose the correct Android phone...but since you're not buying one of those gizmos, maybe you'd be interested in using your iPhone in a Mercedes or BMW prototype...we're sure plenty of those Android people would switch if it wasn't for AT&T, and guess what? The carrier's not all that worried about a Verizon version, so what's the hold up, kids?...I mean, apparently Apple's ready to start cranking out the CDMA models, sooooo? What's going on?...oh, it's like that is it, Verizon CEO? Really? Really, really? Man, you people know how to crush dreams....
As long as we have our iPads to keep us warm while we await the hopefully inevitable Verizon iPhone, it's nice to know Apple's adding retailers, like Target to the mix...because Munster's predicting big sales in 2011. How big? Well, how does 21 million sound? Pretty big...and with improvements like exporting and MobileMe integration into the iWork for iPad suite, these babies are going to get even more attractive to the enterprise market...plus apps like Fuze Meeting that lets you host a meeting, not just join in one, actually be the host of one and manage it straight from your iPad...of course, many businesses are still pretty tied to their Blackberry action, so maybe this new tablet from RIM might be more their speed, not that we'd be all that interested ourselves...oh, the MobileMe, what can't it do? Well, it definitely can find your lost or stolen iPad, just like in this heartwarming tale of a family reunited. It's almost like Home Alone...and MobileMe might be even more valuable if Apple makes these smaller 7" iPads, because we're thinking forgetting one of these itty bitty guys will be a little easier than the big brother.
It was an exciting weekend for Google Voice fans who use the iPhone, with not one but two native apps back in the App Store after being unceremoniously outlawed by Apple more than a year ago.
TechCrunch is reporting that developer Sean Kovacs has made a triumphant return to the iOS platform with GV Mobile+, an updated version of the Google Voice client that was dumped from the platform last year. The app was made available again late Saturday night, a byproduct of the new, looser App Store guidelines that Apple recently put in place.
GV Mobile+ is a front-end client for the free Google Voice service, which essentially allows you to have “one number for life” and route those calls to multiple phones (be they landlines or cell-based), including SMS, voicemail and more. After being dumped by Apple, the app found a new home on Cydia, where it has continued to be updated for users with jailbroken devices. But now it’s back where it belongs, in the App Store.
Apple must also be feeling extra generous to Google Voice users, since GV Mobile+ actually wasn’t the first such app to return to the App Store this past week -- on Friday, a new app called GV Connect from developer Andreas Amann actually beat Kovacs to the punch, although GV Mobile+ is the better-known app given its troubled history, which has been widely documented in the tech press.
As you may recall, GV Mobile+ and a competing app from Riverturn called VoiceCentral were both available for sale prior to July, 2009. When Google submitted their own Voice app to Apple, it was effectively banned from the App Store, and the two third-party solutions were banished as well. To this day it’s still not clear what happened, since none of the apps actually broke any App Store rules; TechCrunch and many others have been left to assume that the Google Voice clients simply got “caught in the crossfire of the growing rivalry between Apple and Google.”
Whatever the reason, we now have two native Google Voice clients available for the iPhone, and a third solution has been available for months as well in the form of Riverturn’s VoiceCentral Black Swan, which is essentially a souped-up HTML5 bookmarklet that circumvents the App Store entirely and does a fine job of offering Google Voice functionality on its own terms. Riverturn claims that they will likely revise and resubmit their own native VoiceCentral app in the near future.
GV Mobile+ and GV Connect are each $2.99 and both offer similar functionality; neither app currently offers push notifications for SMS text messages, but Kovacs plans to implement them in GV Mobile+ with a future update. A free Google Voice account is required to use either app.
Now the real question is, where is Google’s own, official Voice app? After being denied a spot in the App Store and sparking an infamous FCC inquiry last year, the app remains a no-show. Google only offers the following non-statement: “We currently offer Google Voice mobile apps for Blackberry and Android, and we offer an HTML5 web app for the iPhone. We have nothing further to announce at this time.”
GV Mobile, the unofficial Google Voice application, may actually make it back to the App Store after all. After the GV Mobile application was pulled by Apple almost 2 years ago, along with the Official Google Voice application (which never made it past the approval process), many Google Voice users wondered if they would ever see the Google Voice functionality in an app on their iOS devices. But a recent tweet by GV Mobile application developer, Sean Kovacs, revealed that Apple has finally broken their silence about Google Voice on the App Store.
"Good news: I did get confirmation back from Apple that it will most likely get back in once I resubmit," tweeted Sean Kovacs.
This definitely is good news for the many Google Voice users who patiently await either an official or unofficial solution for dialing numbers through Google Voice. GV Mobile allows you to call contacts in your Google Voice address book or your iPhone address book through your Google Voice number, send and receive text messages through your Google Voice number, and retrieve your voicemail.
There's no word yet on when (or even if) Apple will approve the app for the App Store, but Kovas remains hopeful that the application may be back on the App Store in a week.
Apple's change of heart may be linked to the new developer guidelines that were published yesterday, but there's no word yet on if this is the case.
Following in the wake of Apple's rejection of the Google Voice app about six months ago, the cool cats at Voice Central went a different route and created Black Swan, an app with similar functions to Google Voice, though instead of functioning as a web app, Black Swan is stored locally on the iPhone.
According to The Unofficial Apple Weblog, jailbroken iPhone users can simply go here and download the software, which supports features such as easy access to voicemails and quick access to the call or SMS buttons. Other features include a link to a list of recent calls, just like the iPhone OS app while other nice bells and whistles include landscape mode functionality.
AT&T is gaining a bit on Verizon thanks to the iPhone. Last quarter AT&T sold 3.1 million iPhones and now has 85.1 million total subscribers.
Apple may have denied the Google Voice App for the iPhone, but Google has a workaround in place. The search giant has made a GV Web App that works with HTML5 mobile handsets including the iPhone.
iPad Forums
If you are looking for a new free game app for your iPhone today, the game iStunt is available for free. The app is only free for today though so hop over and get it now.
In December of last year, Riverturn launched Black Swan, a web version of VoiceCentral, their since-banned native Google Voice application. It was the first app of any kind to bring Google Voice back to the iPhone through legitimate means after Apple removed all traces of Google Voice functionality from the App Store. Now Google is following suit, offering their own official Google Voice web app for the iPhone.
