Podies

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.

Review Synopsis

Product: 

Google Voice

Company: 

Google Mobile

Contact: 

Google.com/voice

Price: 

Free

Requirements: 

iOS 3.0 or later

Positives: 

Faster than paid third-party apps, instant push notifications for text messages, missed calls and voicemail, key functionality from website is present and accounted for, and it’s all free.

Negatives: 

GoQuick Dial section has minor display bug, preference settings are sparse (and some require a trip to the website), no Android-style dialer integration with operating iOS, limited to iPhone only.

Score: 

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.

Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter

If you're an iPhone-loving Google Voice user, you're probably lamenting the absence of any native apps available to use the service with your device. Maybe you're even glancing jealously upon your Android-touting bretheren, all with their own native Google Voice application.

Well, covet your brothers no more, for your prayers have been answered! There's an app that acts just like that! But, don't go looking in Apple's App Store, because Riverturn's VoiceCentral Black Swan (currently in beta) is a new kind of "weblication" that taps into the power of Google Voice in a whole unique way. We were able to get in on the beta process and give MacLife.com readers a first look at the innovative new software, which basically brings Google Voice's coveted features to your iPhone without any gimmicks. Read on to find out more.

So, What is Black Swan?

VoiceCentral Black Swan is the next generation of Riverturn's former VoiceCentral app, which was removed by Apple from the App Store (along with a couple of competing apps) following a controversial rejection of Google's own Voice app submission (more on that in a moment). Black Swan is unique because it totally bypasses the App Store, as well as the need to jailbreak your device (which is currently the only way to run competitor Sean Kovacs' GV Mobile). Riverturn has taken the HTML5, JavaScript and client-side database abilities of Mobile Safari and mixed in their own “middleware” layer powered by the Google App Engine. The result is an extremely streamlined Google Voice app that looks and acts almost exactly like the real thing, yet allows immediate upgrades without having to use iTunes or Apple's proprietary App Store.

What Does it Do?

Almost everything that the Google Voice website allows, including placing calls through Voice, browsing your recent call history, listening to your voicemail, read & send free SMS messages and review your billing & transaction history. You can even use the service offline to browse your contacts, call history, voicemail and SMS messages (although listening to voicemails still requires a data connection).

How Do I Install it Without the App Store?

Installing Black Swan is a snap: You simply go to an installer website, add the resulting “weblication” to your home screen and then click to open it like any other app. Enter your Google Voice login & password information, select your desired callback number from the ones already set up in your account, and you’re ready to go.

How Does it Work?

The app will automatically refresh your recent calls, SMS messages and voicemail. You’re given the option in the app’s settings to auto-refresh this information every 15, 30, 45, 60 or 120 minutes, or never. The settings page also gives you easy access to helpful instructions and an FAQ from Riverturn, how many history items to fetch from the server (up to 50, in increments of 10) and it also shows a running tally of your Google Voice billing credit.

In order to play your voicemails, click the arrow to the left of the caller’s name and Black Swan opens the audio in a standard Quicktime player on your device. Click the blue arrow on the right and you’re taken to details of the call (date, time & length) as well as the option to call or SMS the contact back via the iPhone or Voice. You even have the option to display your own Notes about the call as well as the Transcript, although neither of those are editable from the device itself. Recent calls show the same details, sans the Transcript option, of course.

Click on an SMS from within the app and you’re taken to a familiar iChat-style bubble of your conversation, just like the stock iPhone Messages app. Click on the button in the upper left to create a new SMS message, then click the “+” button to add your contact (or type one in yourself).

It’s here where Black Swan faces its biggest obstacle: Because the app is really a souped-up bookmarklet and not a true app created with the SDK, it can’t access your device contacts. Thankfully, the folks at Riverturn have addressed this shortcoming as best they can, by using the Voice service itself to import your Google address book. If you happen to use Mac software such as Spanning Sync, you can easily sync (and automatically update) your Mac Address Book with your Google contacts and vice versa. You can also use iTunes 7.7 or later to sync in a similar way, although it’s not quite as streamlined.

 

A Few Caveats

The biggest downside to Black Swan’s use of Google contacts is actually a fault with Google -- rather than the option to sort your contacts by last name as the Mac Address Book and iPhone Contacts allow, everything is sort by first name only, which will produce a few frustrating moments for iPhone users used to having them the other way around. Also, because this not a true SDK-developed app, the earpiece of your device is off-limits, so voicemails can only be played back through the speaker or headphone jack. (Calls are not a problem, since Google Voice is actually a callback service and not VoIP.)

Besides those two caveats, VoiceCentral Black Swan -- even in its present beta form -- works great and delivers as promised. It installed quickly and easily on both our first-gen iPhone as well as our iPhone 3GS, and in most cases seemed even a bit faster at pulling data from Google’s servers than the competing GV Mobile + jailbreak-only app.

A Controversial Beginning

Google Voice was born in 2006 as a free, web-based service called GrandCentral, giving users a new telephone number capable of ringing multiple phone numbers at once -- home, cell, work, you name it -- and even lets you take a call at one number, then shift it seamlessly over to another (for instance, from home phone to cell phone) so you can continue the call on the go, uninterrupted. The service promised “one number for life,” including a unified voicemail box, call screening and much more.

Google purchased GrandCentral in July, 2007 and it seemed for some time that nothing would be done with it -- until 21 months later, when the service relaunched as Google Voice (free, but currently available by invitation only). Among the many new features added to the Voice service were voicemail transcription, free calls in the U.S. & Canada and cheap international calls.

However, like GrandCentral before it, the Google Voice service itself was still tied to a website, and despite a respectable attempt at a mobile version of the site, it was clear that a dedicated iPhone app would make the service even more worthwhile.

That’s where third-party App Store developers came in. For whatever reason, Apple allowed a handful of third-party Google Voice apps in the App Store for months prior to Google attempting to release their own version, which was promptly rejected. But after rejecting Google Voice from the App store, Apple began pulling all the third-party apps, resulting in a veritable firestorm of controversy -- as well as a pending FCC investigation -- that’s been well documented in the media.

Thankfully, independant developers have since managed to figure out a way to bypass Apple's stringent App Store approval process by writing an application that could be used through the iPhone's native web browser. Finally, a way to put that Google Voice invitation to good use. Our only hope is that Black Swan is here to stay, though it's obviously a temporary solution to a bigger issue. 

Well, this all sounds pretty awesome. When will Black Swan be available?

Riverturn’s beta program for Black Swan is currently limited, but promises to open up to more users throughout January and February. If you’re a Google Voice user who doesn’t want to jailbreak your device and is tired of waiting for Apple to get its act together, head over to the Riverturn website and sign up for beta access. While there’s no word yet on what the service may eventually cost, for now the beta is an excellent peek into the future of how developers may get around some of the App Store approval nightmares, and an extremely capable Google Voice app to boot.