iPhone + Google Voice = Sucky or Not?

October 28, 2010 6:27 PM

Google Voice on iPhone: Help me make it not such a kludge?

So Google Voice seems like a great idea. I have an iPhone 3GS. How the hell do it make them play together?

I've been trying to switch to my Google Voice number, instead of the AT&T number that my phone came with, but it just all seems like a hack that's not really supposed to work. For instance, here are two big problems:

1) Whenever I'm in another app that has links to "call this number" or "text this person", they open up the iPhone "Phone" and "Messages" apps, which are of course associated with my AT&T number.

2) When I get SMS messages sent to my Google Voice number, they still show up in the phone's Messages app. This is annoying.

I'm guessing there's no way to fix this, since you can't change the default dialing and sms apps. So, if not, why the heck do you (or should I) even bother with trying to use Google Voice on my iPhone? I don't think that custom voicemail greetings and transcriptions are really worth the trouble.

Am I missing something?

posted by buckaroo_benzai to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

You don't need to use your google voice number to use the google voice custom voicemail greetings and transcriptions -- you can set that up to work whenever someone dials your regular phone number. Unless there's a reason for you to use the Google Voice number (like you want it to ring multiple phones, or your phone number changes often for whatever reason but you don't want people to have to learn your new number), there isn't really a huge amount of point to using the google voice phone # on your phone.
posted by brainmouse at 6:30 PM on October 28, 2010

Have you taken a look at GV Mobile + in iTunes? It may help Google Voice work for you better. Read the reviews before you decide to buy it, though. I think you can set up GV so it doesn't forward all calls & texts to your iPhone...that way you wouldn't use your minutes or have the text messages ding your AT&T allotment.

I have GV Mobile + on my iPod Touch and I mostly use it for free text messaging. (I can also make calls with GV Mobile + in conjunction with Skype and my Skype Out number).
posted by dragonplayer at 6:51 PM on October 28, 2010

The point of google voice is the fact that you can have it ring multiple phones.. So i have very limited minutes on my phone, but I can have it ring my Gmail account and talk for hours. Sounds like you don't need it.
posted by lakerk at 7:05 PM on October 28, 2010

Unless there's a reason for you to use the Google Voice number (like you want it to ring multiple phones, or your phone number changes often for whatever reason but you don't want people to have to learn your new number), there isn't really a huge amount of point to using the google voice phone # on your phone.

I don't use my google number for any of those ways. I use it as the number I give to any business, or form, or basically anyone that isn't a personal friend. Because of that I very rarely give out my personal number. I prefer it that way.

Now if I change my personal number I no longer have to remember what businesses have that number (godaddy, delta, ups...). They still have my google number. And if for some reason I no longer want to hear from that person/business, google makes it easy to block that number.

Sorry that doesn't really answer the question. Just pointing out that although I find google voice clunky (even when used with gv mobile), and I don't use it for the one number rings multiple phones feature, I still find it quite useful.
posted by justgary at 7:40 PM on October 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

I use Google Voice in my iPhone too.

You can set up Google Voice so that it no longer forwards text messages to your mobile phone number. This will keep the SMS out of your "messages" app.

There are a few Google Voice apps in the App store now, one of them may fit you better.

I honestly don't have many occasions to text/call from another app very often. I think the only time I do it is when Google Maps has a phone number for a restaurant I'm looking up. In that case, I just call it directly -- it doesn't matter if the restaurant has the direct number for my cell.
posted by polexa at 8:15 AM on October 29, 2010

I use Google voice for all calling and texting from my iPhone. It's a hassle, yes, but it saves me $20/mo in texting costs. You can make a perma-link for Google Voice's website (bring it up in Safari, press the pluls key, "Add to Home Screen") that I use for texting and making calls. I have my texts forwarded to a Yahoo email address, because Yahoo is the only web mail provider that will push emails to the iPhone. The push doesn't seem to work all of the time, which is super annoying. If it worked 100% of the time then I would be super happy with GV. There is an app called PushMail that allows you to push from other email providers (gmail, etc). I bought it but haven't messed around with it. I got GV Mobile + and it was a waste of money.

Yeah, basically, GV is annoying as heck on an iPhone. There doesn't appear to be any way to use it that doesn't take for freakin' ever or requires you going through a bunch of extra steps.
posted by sacrifix at 2:22 PM on October 29, 2010

sacrifix,

Actually Gmail provides push email if you use Google Sync (set it up as an exchange account).

The push works all the time for me, the only problem I've had so far is that I think the battery runs down more quickly -- but it could be subjective.
posted by polexa at 4:59 PM on October 30, 2010

@Polexa: Was not aware of that. Thank you very much!
posted by sacrifix at 1:34 PM on November 7, 2010