Google Hangouts SMS trouble
September 22, 2020 1:57 PM Subscribe
My SMS messages are disappearing on Google Hangouts. Help.
I have a Google Voice number local to where I live now that I use 99% of the time. I have held on to the number I've had since high school that was local to where I grew up mostly so that I can stay in touch with family and old friends without making them change their contact info from me. When people text me on my GV number their messages come through the Hangouts app as an SMS.
Over the past few months I have noticed that after a week or so these Hangouts SMS text conversations disappear from the Hangouts app. This is a problem because I often need to refer to info from older texts (for work stuff, etc) but those messages are totally gone, I can't find them anywhere. They aren't even in my Gmail account in the chats folder.
What is going on? Is there a setting I need to change? Losing these messages is becoming a real problem. Is there a way to recover the disappeared messages? Help!
I have a Google Voice number local to where I live now that I use 99% of the time. I have held on to the number I've had since high school that was local to where I grew up mostly so that I can stay in touch with family and old friends without making them change their contact info from me. When people text me on my GV number their messages come through the Hangouts app as an SMS.
Over the past few months I have noticed that after a week or so these Hangouts SMS text conversations disappear from the Hangouts app. This is a problem because I often need to refer to info from older texts (for work stuff, etc) but those messages are totally gone, I can't find them anywhere. They aren't even in my Gmail account in the chats folder.
What is going on? Is there a setting I need to change? Losing these messages is becoming a real problem. Is there a way to recover the disappeared messages? Help!
This post was deleted for the following reason: posters request -- frimble
I use GV extensively almost exclusively. I do not, however, use it through hangouts. I use the GV app and the GV web interface. Like GMail, they do not delete old messages. If you look for them in the GV app, they WILL be there. +1 to what yohko wrote above.
What I also do with my GV messages is have them sent to me as emails. One, you can actually respond to sms by replying to the email, but, two, it is a backup copy of my texts if I ever need to search for one.
Maybe in Hangouts they are auto archiving somehow. If Hangouts has an archive feature, check there.
posted by AugustWest at 8:07 PM on September 22, 2020 [1 favorite]
What I also do with my GV messages is have them sent to me as emails. One, you can actually respond to sms by replying to the email, but, two, it is a backup copy of my texts if I ever need to search for one.
Maybe in Hangouts they are auto archiving somehow. If Hangouts has an archive feature, check there.
posted by AugustWest at 8:07 PM on September 22, 2020 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I used to be a Hangouts user that had Google Voice worked through it. However, Hangouts had started to act pretty wonky about a year ago and I checked out the Google Voice dedicated app. SOOOOO much better. Cleaner, always works as needed. Even call quality has increased. Ditch Hangouts and get the dedicated GV app. It's also updated every few days, so Google is paying a lot of attention to it these days.
posted by wile e at 1:09 AM on September 23, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by wile e at 1:09 AM on September 23, 2020 [2 favorites]
Best answer: I actually thought they got rid of SMS support in Hangouts. I just checked and looks like it's still there but I turned it off years ago, possibly due to lack of MMS support. Hangouts hasn't gotten the support it deserves for years, so I wouldn't be surprised if something were broken or just poorly designed (e.g., Maybe Hangouts only looks back so far for messages, or maybe it has a problem handling MMS), and I wouldn't hold my breath for it to be fixed.
Anyway Google Voice has been getting more support recently and the app is pretty good now, so the only solution I can think of is to switch over to the Google Voice app. I know it stinks to have another app to deal with but it works really well so the trade off might be worth it.
posted by Tehhund at 8:43 AM on September 23, 2020
Anyway Google Voice has been getting more support recently and the app is pretty good now, so the only solution I can think of is to switch over to the Google Voice app. I know it stinks to have another app to deal with but it works really well so the trade off might be worth it.
posted by Tehhund at 8:43 AM on September 23, 2020
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posted by yohko at 2:16 PM on September 22, 2020