"Google Voice" app on Canadian Nexus 7?

January 20, 2013 8:45 AM

I have a Google Voice account and phone number, and from my desktop I am able to send & receive SMS (google.com/voice) and even make outgoing calls (gmail.com). I just got a Nexus 7, and would like to find the 'Google Voice' app, but I'm not able to. What am I missing?

I lived in the US for the past couple of years, and while there got a Google Vocie phone number. I happily used the Google Voice app on an Android phone while I was in the US to manage voicemail and send/receive SMS. Now I'm back in Canada, and I'd like to use that same app (or an equivalent) on my newly-purchased Google Nexus 7. The app store seems to be denying the existence of such an app, which is crazy to me 'cause I know I've used it on another Android device.

What am I missing here? Is the app store discriminating against my tablet? The fact that I'm in Canada? Is this as easy as just getting an .apk from somewhere?

posted by jpziller to technology (5 answers total)

Google Voice doesn't exist in the Canadian Android Store. Actual access to the Voice service in Canada can be patchy: a couple of times I've been able to set up US numbers, but they disappear fairly quickly. It's been coming soon for years, but from what I understand, Google doesn't have nearly enough Canadian ownership for the CRTC to even think about allowing the service here.
posted by scruss at 9:06 AM on January 20

Scruss, I set up Google Voice when I lived in the US and had a US number. I still use it regularly in Canada via google.com/voice and it's the primary way that I text. Most problems people have when it comes to Google Voice in Canada are in setting up the service, as it requires verification from a US phone number.

I've already done this and my US number is the primary way that I communicate with friends in the US. I'm just looking for a way to get the google.com/voice functionality working on my tablet.
posted by jpziller at 9:22 AM on January 20

If your Nexus 7 is rooted you can install Market Enabler, which allows you to change your market location to the USA, which should let you install google voice.

Alternatively you can find the APK on the web and sideload it, but you need to enable the installation of non-market apps.
posted by Harpocrates at 9:46 AM on January 20

Maybe it is a little bit much, but you could ship it to a friend in the US to download and then have them ship back. Or, go to one of those sites that can give you a local US ip when loading the Google Play store.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 10:24 AM on January 20

Do you have it on another device?

I have the same issue whenever I get a new device, however, I found out that if I use NFC or S-Beam to send it from one device to another, my new device finds it on the Play store immediately, even when it previously could not find it.
posted by dobbs at 6:25 PM on February 25