Google Data » Google Voice

Google Ideas develops citizen engagement pilot project for Somalia

Stephanie Taylor — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 18:30:00 +0000

When a country is unable to hold regular elections, how do people make their voices heard? That’s the challenge today in Somalia, which hasn’t had a permanent government since 1991. Somalia is in the middle of drafting a new provisional constitution which will be ratified later this summer, and with this process has come new opportunities to increase citizen engagement.

As the draft constitution has undergone revisions in recent months, Google Ideas developed a pilot project with the Somali service, Africa Division of Voice of America (VOA) to help Somalis register their opinions. Using Google App Engine, Google Voice, and Google Docs, we built an internal site for VOA to conduct public opinion polling:

Starting in April, with just a few clicks, VOA pollsters could call and survey Somalis for their thoughts on a new constitution, asking questions such as: Should there be a strong central government? Should Sharia law be the basis of the constitution? And should there be a requirement that women be included as elected officials? Over three rounds of polling, VOA used the internal site to collect the survey results. The last round concluded last week, and VOA published the aggregate results on its public Somali site, as well as broadcast them across the country on its new radio program, “Constitution Square.”

We’re pleased to make this small contribution in helping Somalis participate as they draft a new constitution, and hope that others might benefit from this as well. This open source project can be modified for use in any country or context, and anyone interested in downloading the source code can click here.

By Brendan Ballou and Yasmin Dolatabadi, Google Ideas

Two new groups of callers to help you manage your privacy

Vincent Paquet — Wed, 30 May 2012 15:56:00 +0000

Google Voice helps you customize how you treat callers by giving you the ability to play a custom greeting for your parents or send your chatty neighbor straight to voicemail.

Many users have asked us for controls aimed at people who are NOT in their address book. So today, we’re adding two groups of callers for Google Voice users:

People in your address book: this allows you to customize the experience of all contacts in your address book. This also works by exclusion. For example, you can set a special greeting just for people in your address book, or screen anyone not in your address book.
For anonymous callers: these are callers who do not have a caller ID. They sometimes appear as unknown, or restricted, depending on why the caller’s number is not shown. You can use this group to for example screen any call without a caller ID.

Those two new groups are specific to Google Voice and can be managed from the group tab.

As always, we hope you like this new feature and welcome your feedback.

Posted by Tom Ford, Software Engineer

Google Voice expands to new markets

Vincent Paquet — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 07:01:00 +0000

When we asked our users what features they’d like to see in Google Voice, we heard a lot of different answers. And we listened very closely to all of them. A few themes stood out for us: you’d like to see us bring more awesome features to your phones, and you’d like to see Google Voice in other countries. But we asked ourselves: is this ambitious enough? Surely we can do something even better than that. And that’s when the future became clear to us: Dogs and cats. Texting. Together.

Introducing Google Voice...For Pets.

You might ask yourself, “Google Voice? For my pets? How is that even possible? There’s only a few bluetooth headsets that can fit my dog, and they’re so expensive!” The secret is in our special Voice Communication Collars. The collars fit around your pet's neck and use a series of sensors to record audio directly from your dog or cat’s vocal cords, using technology originally developed for NASA spacesuits. Using your WiFi network, audio messages are uploaded to your Google Voice account within seconds. Alternately, a tiny micro-LED emitter built into the collar can project a keyboard onto the floor, so your pet can tap their front paws to send text messages. With a little training, your beloved Fluffy will be able to let you know exactly what she wants every minute of every day. Wherever you go.

We didn’t just stop there. Voicemails from your pet would be pretty silly if you haven’t been trained how to understand cat or dog. Thankfully, we’ve solved that problem too. We took our voicemail transcription engine and combined it with millions of adorable pet videos from the Internet, training it to understand our furry friends. Now our transcription engine can now translate cat meows or dog growls into English!

Thanks to our mobile apps, you can always keep in touch with your pets, no matter how far away they are.

We’re rolling out Google Voice for Pets in a limited beta. Click here to apply to be one of the first pet owners to try our special communication collars.

Posted by Alex Wiesen, Software Engineer

Google Voice for Android, now with Ice Cream Sandwich voicemail integration

A Googler — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 18:53:00 +0000

Since we launched Google Voice back in 2009, we’ve supported visual voicemail so you could open the Google Voice app, see all your voicemails with text transcripts, and play them on-demand. But sometimes when I get a missed call, I don’t want to jump between my call log and the Google Voice app to see who has called me and what message they left.

So, today, we’re updating our mobile app so you can view and listen to your voicemails on demand directly from the call log on your Android phone. Your voicemails will appear alongside your outgoing, incoming, and missed calls in your phone’s call log and you can just simply touch them to play them. You can slow down the playback of the message which is great for when someone is telling you their callback number, or you even speed playback up, so you can quickly listen to longer messages.

To turn this feature on, download the latest app from Google Play and check “Voicemail display” under settings. This new feature requires Android 4.0+.

Posted by Yong-Hoon Choi, Software Engineer

Your Circles, now in Google Voice

Vincent Paquet — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 17:46:00 +0000

To help make it even easier for you to organize your contacts, today we’re adding Google+ Circles to Google Voice. Circles give you more control over how you manage your callers; for example, calls from your “Creepers” circle can be sent straight to Voicemail, only your “College Buddies” circle will hear you rap your voicemail greeting, or you can set your “Family” circle to only ring your mobile phone.

You can customize your Circles settings by visiting the Groups & Circles tab in your Google Voice settings.

Give it a try and let us know what you think.

Posted by Tom Ford, Software Engineer

Google Voice Android app – now with offline texting

Vincent Paquet — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:52:00 +0000

Sometimes the times that we’re offline can be our most productive times. However, whether on a plane or out of range of coverage, it’d still be nice to be able to draft text messages. With this new app, you can now compose new messages (single recipients for now) while offline and the app will automatically queue them and send them out when you’re connected again.

We hope you enjoy this new feature.

Posted by Yong Hoon Choi, Software Engineer

Free calling within the US and Canada through 2012

A Googler — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:24:00 +0000

(Cross-posted from the Gmail blog)

As the holiday season approaches, we're happy to announce that we've extended free domestic calls within the US and Canada for 2012. This is our way of helping you connect with friends and family across the country. And you can still call the rest of the world from Gmail at our insanely low rates.

Posted by Vincent Paquet, Group Product Manager

First steps Towards MMS support

Unknown — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 19:54:00 +0000

MMS has been one of the constant feature requests since we launched Google Voice and we’ve been hard at work trying to make this happen.

Today, we're happy to announce that we've made the first step in our efforts to bring this feature to our users. Google Voice users are now able to receive pictures and other multimedia messages from Sprint subscribers. The multimedia attachments will display on their mobile forwarding phone and in their email inbox when they enable text to email forwarding in their Google Voice settings. We are also planning on making them display in the Google Voice inbox.

We are working with other mobile operators to make this work across all mobile phones and will update our users as more and more operators offer support for this.

Posted by Ilya Frank, Senior Software Engineer

Trying on the new Dynamic Views from Blogger

Emily Wood — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 22:11:00 +0000

As you may have noticed, the Google Voice blog looks a lot different today. That’s because we—along with a few other Google blogs—are trying out a new set of Blogger templates called Dynamic Views.

Launched today, Dynamic Views is a unique browsing experience that makes it easier and faster for readers to explore blogs in interactive ways. We’re using the Classic view, but you can also preview this blog in any of the other six new views by using the view selection bar at the top left of the screen.

We’re eager to hear what you think about the new Dynamic Views. You can submit feedback using the “Send feedback” link on the bottom right of this page, or just send us a message.

If you like what you see here, and we hope you do, we encourage you to try out the new look(s) on your own blog—read the Blogger Buzz post for more info.

Posted by Michael Bolognino, Product Marketing Manager

Never run out of calling credit with auto-recharge

Unknown — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 21:25:00 +0000

(Cross-posted from the Gmail blog)

If you're calling internationally a lot, you may have noticed that your calling credit goes a very long way... which makes it easy to get caught off guard when it runs out.

So based on your feedback, we implemented the ability to auto-recharge your account: just go to your billing page (click on the add credit link next to your balance) and select the recharge amount. When your calling credit dips under $2 or 2€ we will automatically charge your credit card on file for the selected amount.

This feature becomes available after your first purchase and can be changed or disabled at any time.

Posted by Ilya Frank, Senior Software Engineer

Google Voice for Takeout

Lauren Fraley — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 16:20:00 +0000

At Google, we believe that our users should be able to export any data that they create in (or import into) one of our many products, and we've created a project called Google Takeout to make this process as easy as possible.

We're happy to announce that Google Voice is the latest product available for Google Takeout. This means that all of the data associated with your Google Voice account, from your call history to voicemail messages, greetings and call recordings, is now available for download. Voicemail messages and greetings are exported as mp3s, text messages as microformatted html, and forwarding phone numbers as a vcard.

Posted by: Anthony Jawad, Software Engineer

Free calls home from Gmail for all U.S. service members

Lauren Fraley — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 18:54:00 +0000

(Cross-posted from the Gmail blog)

We understand that it’s not always easy or affordable for our troops serving overseas to call friends and family at home, so starting today we’re making it completely free for or all uniformed military personnel with valid United States Military (.mil) email addresses to call the United States, right from Gmail.

There are two easy steps to enable free calling from Gmail (detailed instructions):

Add your valid .mil email address to your Google Account
Click on the Call phone link at the top of the Gmail chat roster and install the voice and video Gmail plugin if you haven’t already.

And don’t forget that for friends and family at home in the U.S., calling troops abroad is as little as $.02/minute. Similar to free calling within the U.S., free calling to the US for service members will be available for at least the rest of 2011.

We recognize and appreciate the sacrifices U.S. troops make when they serve abroad, and we’re proud to help make it a little bit easier for them to stay connected and hear a familiar voice.

Posted by Ilya Frank, Senior Software Engineer

Calling from Gmail now in 38 languages, with lower rates to over 150 destinations

A Googler — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 16:01:00 +0000

(Cross-posted from the Gmail blog)

We’re always trying to make it easier for people to connect—whether that means sending an email, chatting or video chatting, you can reach the people you care about from right inside Gmail. Last year, we made it possible for those of you in the U.S. to call any mobile phone or landline directly from Gmail and starting today, we are making this available to many more of you who use Gmail outside the U.S. by offering calling in 38 new languages.

You can now buy calling credit in your choice of four currencies (Euros, British pounds, Canadian dollars or U.S. dollars) and there are no connection fees, so you only pay for the time you talk.

To help reduce the cost of staying connected, we’re also lowering our calling rates to over 150 destinations around the world. For example, it’s now only $0.10 (or €0.08) per minute to call mobile phones in the U.K., France or Germany (landlines are $0.02/min), $0.15/minute to call mobile phones in Mexico and $0.02/min to call any phone number in China and India. The complete list is available on our rates page.

We’re rolling out this feature over the next few days, so if it’s available in your country you’ll see a little green phone icon show up at the top of your chat list and you’ll be ready to make calls (you’ll need to install the voice and video plug-in if you haven’t already). If you're a Google Apps user, your domain administrator must have Google Voice and Google Checkout enabled in the administrator control panel in order to be able to use this feature.

Calls to the U.S. or Canada placed within those countries will continue to be free at least for the rest of 2011. Calls to the U.S. or Canada placed from outside these countries will be charged $0.01 per minute (or €0.01, £0.01, C$0.01 per minute). .

Posted by Pierre Lebeau, Product Manager

Make multiple calls in Gmail

A Googler — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 00:54:00 +0000

(Cross posted from the Gmail blog)

Over the years, we've expanded Gmail's communication abilities by allowing you to make voice and video calls to other computers and more recently call phones. Until now, though, you were limited to making one call at a time. Today we're excited to relax that restriction and allow you to make or receive multiple calls in Gmail.

If you’re in a call and make a second one, your first call will be put on hold while you talk on your new call. You can switch between calls by pressing the “Resume” button on the call you want to talk on, which will automatically put the previous call on hold.

Receiving incoming calls while you're in another call is just as easy: you'll receive a notification of the incoming call and can choose to accept it or not. If you take the new call, the previous call will be put on hold.

Whether you make a second call or not, you can now put any call on hold -- useful in case you need to talk to someone in the room or grab something off the stove. Just press the “Hold” button and then “Resume” to start talking again.

This feature works across all call types (voice, video, and phone); the only restriction is that a maximum of two outgoing calls to physical phones can be placed at once.

Posted by Richard Dunn, Software Engineer

Global SPAM filtering

A Googler — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 17:00:00 +0000

If, like me, you have more interesting ways to spend your time than talking to telemarketers, the “Report Spam” button in Google Voice is probably your best friend.

But wouldn't it be great if the filtering could happen automatically, before unwanted calls even reach your phone, the same way Gmail filters spam before it gets to your inbox?

Thanks to the help of the thousands of Google Voice users who mark calls as spam everyday—and our own spam identification tools—it is now possible to automatically redirect calls, texts, and voicemails from any of the numbers in our database directly into your spam folder.

You can enable this feature on the Calls tab of Google Voice settings by checking the box next to Global SPAM filtering. And if a number ends up incorrectly marked as spam, you can easily unblock it by selecting the message and clicking the “Not Spam” button in your spam folder.

With your continued help marking spammy numbers (and correcting mis-labeled spam), we can continue to refine our filter and prevent annoying unwanted calls from making it to other Google Voice users.

Posted by Alexander Rybak, Software Engineering Intern

Give Dad a ring with free calling from Gmail in the U.S.

A Googler — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 14:01:00 +0000

(Cross posted from the Gmail blog)

Today is Father’s Day in many countries around the world, so whether your dad lives across the street, across the country or across the ocean, it’s a good day to let him know you’re thinking about him. Of course, email is a simple, quick way to check in with your old man, but it’s just as easy—and maybe even more meaningful—to call him right from Gmail.

If you’re in the U.S., you can use Gmail to make free domestic calls and calls to Canada. If your dad lives abroad, we have some of the best rates around, like two cents per minute to Australia, Argentina, France and many other parts of the world. (Unfortunately, those of you outside the U.S. will have to phone Dad the old-fashioned way.)

And in case you don’t read this post in time, we've added a small note in the Gmail chat roster, right under the “Call phone” link, to remind you to give him a ring.

Happy Father’s Day from Gmail!

Posted by Michael Bolognino, Product Marketing Manager

Make your secondary Google Voice number permanent

A Googler — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 21:35:00 +0000

Until now, if you changed your Google Voice number, ported your number to Google Voice, or opted in for the Sprint Option 1 integration (where your Sprint number becomes your Google Voice number), your previous Google Voice number remained on your account for 90 days before it was returned to Google.

Since many Google Voice users grow attached and become closely associated with their Google Voice numbers, we’re making it possible for users in any of the scenarios above to permanently keep the previous Google Voice number on their account.

This means that calls made and text messages sent to your previous number will still reach you, however, your new primary Google Voice number will display on caller ID when you make calls or send text messages.

To keep a previous number on your account, log in to Google Voice, visit the Settings tab, and click “make permanent” next to the number that you want to hang on to. There’s a one-time $20 administration charge to make it permanent, and the process is instantaneous.

Visit the Google Voice Help Center to learn more.

Posted by Eugene Goldfarb, Software Engineer

Google Voice and Sprint integration is live

A Googler — Tue, 03 May 2011 17:00:00 +0000

It’s official, the Google Voice integration with Sprint is now live!

As we mentioned when we first announced the integration, there are two ways to bring Google Voice to your Sprint mobile phone:

Option 1: Keep your Sprint number: Your Sprint number becomes your Google Voice number so that when people call your Sprint mobile number, it rings all the phones you want.

Option 2: Replace your Sprint number with your Google Voice number: All calls made and texts sent from your Sprint phone will display your Google Voice number.

In both cases, Google Voice replaces Sprint voicemail and international calls made from the Sprint phone will be connected by Google Voice.

For detailed instructions on how to get started with either option, visit google.com/voice/sprint.

This integration is currently only available to Sprint customers in the United States.

Posted by Patrick Moor, Software Engineer

Google Voice User Story: A Way with Words

A Googler — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 19:58:00 +0000

For the third installment of Google Voice user stories, we heard from Grant Barrett, the co-host of A Way with Words, a radio show about words and language.

Tell us about your organization
A Way with Words is run by a nonprofit with an educational mission: to further understanding of language, to encourage life-long learning, and to promote human understanding through better communication. It airs in 73 different cities and at a lot of different times, so, our toll-free number is a necessity. We can't be there at all hours to answer.

How are you using Google Voice?
Calls go from the toll-free number to a local number to voicemail -- Google Voice -- where we archive them and use them to plan future shows. Five of us look at the transcripts and listen to the calls. We use the notes field to indicate which are feedback for follow-ups, which are new questions that we might want to turn into segments, and which are stories from listeners who want to be heard but maybe don't want to be on the air. We mix those with what we get via email and social media, and in that way put together a show.

Now that we have more than 2800 calls saved on Google Voice we can use it like we already use our email: as a repository of questions and comments from listeners. So if one person asks about, say, why bell peppers are called mangoes in part of the country, we can search through the voicemail transcripts (which, while imperfect, are good enough), and our email, and begin to get an idea of what a lot of people want to know about that topic. It helps tailor each segment of the show.

There is an insatiable need -- a hunger, even -- to have questions about language answered. People ask us more questions in a given week than we could possibly ever answer in a weekly, hour-long show. But we're doing more than we were before, and Google Voice is a part of that.

If you or someone you know is using Google Voice in a unique way, we’d love to hear about it! Fill out this short form and your story may get featured on the Google Voice blog.

Posted by Michael Bolognino, Product Marketing Manager

Introducing the Voice-alyzer

A Googler — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 07:01:00 +0000

Ever wake up after a long night and see you called a bunch of exes but don't remember what you said? We're sure you haven't, but, well, we've heard it happens. Quite a bit.

That’s why we’re excited to announce that today we’re launching the Voice-alyzer setting to hopefully prevent this from ever happening again.

The next time you know an eventful night is in store, head to the Calls tab in Google Voice Settings. Check the “Enable Voice-alyzer” box, and set the hour that you want the feature to go into effect.

With Voice-alyzer enabled, our IVR will prompt you to spell everyday words with your keypad, like “embarrassed”, ”dizzy” or ”Czechoslovakia”, before we connect your call.

If the Voice-alyzer determines that you are not in a fit state to be having a conversation, it will prevent the call from connecting and send you a text message with contact info for 3 local cab companies instead.

Concerned about sending poorly thought out texts? Don’t be, we’ve got you covered there as well. All text messages sent while Voice-alyzer is enabled are scanned for accuracy and held in your outbox if fat-fingered words or more than 2 exclamation points or question marks are detected.

This new feature will be rolling out gradually to all Google Voice users over the next 24 hours.

We hope that you find it to be helpful, and as always, recommend dialing responsibly.

Posted by Tina Donaldson, Anti-Embarrassment Enforcement Officer

Update (12:01 am): Happy April 1st.

Sprint integrates Google Voice

A Googler — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 12:00:00 +0000

Over time, we've worked to bring an integrated Google Voice experience to your mobile device by building mobile apps, introducing Google Voice Lite, and most recently Number Porting. But we felt that ultimately, the most simple solution would be to partner with carriers to seamlessly integrate Google Voice with your mobile phone.

Today, we’d like to share that we’ve teamed up with Sprint to do just that.

First, Sprint customers will be able to use their existing Sprint mobile number as their Google Voice number and have it ring multiple other phones simultaneously. So now, calls to your Sprint mobile number can easily be answered from your office or your home phone, or even your computer through Gmail. Calls from Gmail and text messages sent from google.com/voice will also display your Sprint number. This basically gives Sprint customers all the benefits of Google Voice without the need to change or port their number.

Alternatively, Google Voice users can choose to replace their Sprint number with their Google Voice number when placing calls or sending text messages from their Sprint handset. This feature works on all Sprint phones and gives Sprint users all the benefits of Google Voice without the need for an app.

In both cases, Google Voice replaces Sprint voicemail, giving Sprint customers transcribed voicemail messages available online and sent via email and/or text message. International calls made from Google Voice users’ Sprint phones will be connected by Google Voice at our very low rates, and Sprint customers will also have access to the rest of Google Voice’s features, like creating personalized voicemail greetings based on who’s calling, call recording, blocking unwanted callers and more.

To learn more, watch the video below and visit google.com/voice/sprint.

This feature will be available soon to Sprint customers in the United States. Once it is launched, it will be rolled out gradually to all Google Voice users, and can be enabled through the Google Voice website. If you don’t see it right away, don’t worry—you can leave your email address at google.com/voice/sprint and we’ll notify you as soon as this becomes available.

In addition, today we’re introducing the Nexus S 4G for Sprint—which takes advantage of Sprint’s high-speed 4G data network and lets you enable Google Voice directly from the mobile app. Learn more on the Google Mobile Blog.

Posted by Jacob Hesch, Software Engineer

Google Voice turns 2!

A Googler — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 19:08:00 +0000

Since our first birthday, we’ve been working hard to bring new features to Google Voice and make it available to as many users in as many places and on as many devices as possible.

As we mark this milestone, we want to thank all of our users in the Google Voice community. All of your support, feedback and stories have helped us improve the Google Voice experience.

We’ve seen the product evolve significantly over the last two years. In the last year alone, Google Voice went out of invite-only mode and became available to all US users, we brought calling to Gmail, launched apps for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, and made it possible to get the full set of Google Voice features on your existing mobile number by porting it to Google Voice.

We’ve got a bunch of new features and updates in the works and are working hard to bring Google Voice to even more users in 2011. Thanks to our users again for all of the support!

Posted by Vincent Paquet, Google Voice Product Manager

Click to call phone numbers

A Googler — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 01:27:00 +0000

(Cross-posted from the Gmail blog)

With the ability to call phones built right into Gmail, you no longer have to get out your phone and retype a number anytime someone sends you one in an email or chat message. Starting today, you’ll see that phone numbers appear as links, like this:

Just click the number, and Gmail’s dialpad will pop up, already populated with the number you’re trying to call.

Click “Call” and voilà! Of course, if you don’t already have the voice and video plugin installed, you’ll be prompted to do that first.

You’ll also see a little green phone icon next to numbers in your contacts which you can use to do the same thing.

Posted by Robin Schriebman, Software Engineer

Google Voice: Helping save bees in L.A.

A Googler — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 17:17:00 +0000

For the second installment of Google Voice user stories, we chatted with Amy Seidenwurm, one of the co-founders of Backwards Beekepers, to find out how they are using Google Voice to rescue swarms of bees.

1. Tell us about your organization.
The Backwards Beekeepers are dedicated to saving the native honey bee population by teaching chemical-free beekeeping. We have monthly meetings in L.A. and also advise beekeepers all over the world.

2. How are you using Google Voice?
We use our Google Voice number for the Bee Rescue Hotline. People all over L.A. call the hotline when they find unwelcome bees in their garages, hot tubs, trees, chimneys and such. We get their message on our Google Voice account and email it to our list of almost 500 beekeepers (and aspiring ones). Someone claims the job, contacts the caller and picks up the bees.

3. How is Google Voice helping you achieve your mission?
Google Voice is helping us save the bees and cultivate new beekeepers. We are now a go-to hotline for city postal workers, animal control officers and parks employees. We've rescued more than 300 swarms since we set up our Google Voice number a year ago.

If you or someone you know is using Google Voice in a unique way, we’d love to hear about it! Fill out this short form and your story may get featured on the Google Voice blog.

Posted by Michael Bolognino, Product Marketing Manager

Google Voice & the Snowpocalypse

A Googler — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 21:55:00 +0000

We’re often inspired by the creative and interesting ways that individuals and organizations use Google Voice, so we thought it was time to start sharing some of their stories. In the first of what we hope to be an ongoing series of interviews, we chatted with Todd Stanfield, an Associate Professor from Jackson, TN, who used Google Voice to communicate with his students during the snowpocalypse of 2011.

1. Tell us a little bit about you.
I am Todd Stanfield, PhD. I am an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at Union University in Jackson, TN. I teach both undergraduate and graduate social work students.

2. How are you using Google Voice?
I collect phone numbers from students via a Google Docs form, then I text them via Google Voice to let them know when class is cancelled. Google Voice makes it possible to reach them instantly via their phones (which they always have with them) in addition to their email (which they may only check when at a desktop).

Some of them don't have smart phones, so getting the text message in addition to an email means the difference between finding out about class being canceled during a 2 hour drive vs. arriving at campus only to find out class has been canceled.

I also have them respond with an SMS confirming they got it so I can quickly mark off everyone who has responded, and I have a record that they did so.

3. Sounds effective. How else has Google Voice helped you out?
I also use Google Voice as a second voicemail service that puts a layer of protection between my personal cell phone and my students. They call my Google Voice number, I get a transcript of their message via SMS and email, then I decide whether I need to respond right then. Helps me set boundaries between my personal and professional time.

If you or someone you know is using Google Voice in a unique way, we’d love to hear about it! Fill out this short form and your story may get featured on the Google Voice blog.

Posted by Michael Bolognino, Product Marketing Manager

I just called (with Google Voice) to say I love you.

A Googler — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 21:25:00 +0000

Roses are so 2010. Whether you see your special someone every day or you’re in a long distance relationship, Google Voice gives you a bunch of one-of-a-kind ways to let your sweetheart know that you’re thinking about them on Valentine’s Day.

Record a love song, poem, or extra special message as your custom voicemail greeting that only they can hear.
Stay in touch with your other half with free calls within the U.S. and to Canada with Google Voice (or calling in Gmail).
Connect across continents with some of the lowest international calling rates around.
Send free text messages throughout the day from your desk or mobile app.

Happy Valentine’s Day from Google Voice!

Google Voice is available in the U.S. only.

Posted by Michael Bolognino, Product Marketing Manager

Port your existing mobile number to Google Voice

Michael Bolognino — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 18:00:00 +0000

867-5309 could be one of the most iconic phone numbers of all time, but it’s not the only number that a lot of us remember by heart. Many of us have a phone number that we've shared with family, friends, and contacts over the years and are reluctant to let go.

One of the most frequent requests we hear from people who use (or want to use) Google Voice is that they’d like to get all of Google Voice’s features without having to give up their long-time phone numbers.

Today, we’re excited to announce that Number Porting is available for all existing Google Voice users. This means you can make the mobile number you’ve always used your Google Voice number, so it can ring any phone you want—or even your computer.

To get started with Number Porting, log in to your Google Voice account, visit the Settings page and click on “Change / Port” next to your Google Voice number.

Porting your number to Google Voice costs $20 and is usually completed within 24 hours. You may incur additional charges, including early termination fees, from your wireless carrier. Contact your carrier to get more details about the charges applicable to you.

After porting your number to Google Voice your mobile service plan will be cancelled, and there are a couple of steps that you’ll have to take to continue making and receiving calls on your mobile device. For more detailed instructions on how Number Porting works and to find tips for making the process as smooth as possible, visit the Google Voice Help Center.

Number Porting is currently available for existing Google Voice users and will become available to new users within the next few weeks, and at this time, Google Voice is available in the U.S. only.

Posted by Robert Dong, Software Engineer

Update (1:15PM): Included more details about the porting process.

Port your existing mobile number to Google Voice

A Googler — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 18:00:00 +0000

How a Google Voice text saved Christmas

A Googler — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 20:15:00 +0000

My boyfriend and I traveled from San Francisco to NYC to visit my family for Christmas and meet my newborn niece for the first time. About an hour after takeoff, he started frantically checking his pockets, jacket and bags, only to discover that he had left his driver’s license at the airport.

This presented us with what could have been a major headache when trying to get through security on our way home.

Thankfully, his sister was staying at his apartment and had access to his passport. But she was leaving to drive to their mother’s house that morning, so contacting her couldn’t wait until we landed five hours later.

That’s where Google Voice came in.

We fired up his laptop, connected to in-flight wi-fi (which happened to be free), logged into his Google Voice account, and sent her a text message. Thankfully she hadn’t left his place yet, so we texted her my parents’ address and she headed to the UPS store to have it shipped overnight—and it arrived on our NY doorstep in no time.

Crisis averted thanks to a text from 35,000 feet in the sky.

If you would like to send free text messages from the sky (or comfortably on the ground), log in to your Google Voice account and click the Text button. You can enter a phone number or start typing a name from your Contacts to auto-populate the name and number of the person you are trying to text.

Posted by Michael Bolognino, Product Marketing Manager

How a Google Voice text saved Christmas

Michael Bolognino — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 20:15:00 +0000

Free calling in Gmail extended through 2011

A Googler — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 18:01:00 +0000

(Cross posted from the Gmail blog)

When we launched calling in Gmail back in August, we wanted it to be easy and affordable, so we made calls to the U.S. and Canada free for the rest of 2010. In the spirit of holiday giving and to help people keep in touch in the new year, we’re extending free calling for all of 2011.

In case you haven’t tried it yet, dialing a phone number works just like a regular phone. Look for “Call phone” at the top of your Gmail chat list and dial a number or enter a contact’s name.

To learn more, visit gmail.com/call. Calling in Gmail is currently only available to U.S. based Gmail users.

Happy New Year and happy calling!

Posted by Robin Schriebman, Software Engineer

Google Voice app now supports iPad & iPod Touch

Google Voice Blog — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 16:00:00 +0000

Since we launched Google Voice for iPhone a few weeks ago, we’ve been hard at work to add a few improvements that didn’t make it into the first release.

At the top of the list was adding support for iPod Touch and iPad. Starting today, you can download a new version of Google Voice that lets you use all the features of the app on these devices, such as sending and receiving free text messages - except, of course, make cellular calls.

While you can’t use your iPod or iPad as a phone, you can use it to initiate Google Voice calls with your phones. We call this feature Click2Call. Simply click any ‘Call’ button in the Google Voice app on your iPod or iPad and then select which of your phones you want to ring. Google Voice will call your phone and then connect your call.

While we were at it, we also made a few other improvements to the app:

When you enable Push Notifications, we will automatically disable Text forwarding for you, so you won’t receive multiple notifications.
Want some quiet time? You can send all callers straight to voicemail by turning on Do not disturb in the Settings tab.
We made it easier for you to place calls from the address book by adding a dedicated Contacts button to the Dialer tab.
Sending text messages is now more streamlined since you don’t need to press the OK button anymore.

Bonus Tip: Tap and hold messages in your inbox to archive or delete them.

The Google Voice app is available to download from the Apple App Store today. You’ll need an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch with iOS 3.1 or later and a valid Google Voice account to use the app. At this time, Google Voice is available in the U.S. only.

Posted by Marcus Foster, Product Manager

Google Voice app now supports iPad & iPod Touch

Michael Bolognino — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 16:00:00 +0000

Since we launched Google Voice for iPhone a few weeks ago, we’ve been hard at work to add a few improvements that didn’t make it into the first release.

While we were at it, we also made a few other improvements to the app:

When you enable Push Notifications, we will automatically disable Text forwarding for you, so you won’t receive multiple notifications.
Want some quiet time? You can send all callers straight to voicemail by turning on Do not disturb in the Settings tab.
We made it easier for you to place calls from the address book by adding a dedicated Contacts button to the Dialer tab.
Sending text messages is now more streamlined since you don’t need to press the OK button anymore.

Bonus Tip: Tap and hold messages in your inbox to archive or delete them.

Posted by Marcus Foster, Product Manager

How to choose a new phone number (and 50 other things you might want to teach your parents)

Michael Bolognino — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 22:54:00 +0000

With two grown children, my mom decided that one perk of empty nesting (in addition to a lack of teenage angst and a lot less laundry) was canceling our complicated family cell phone plan. When she signed up for a new plan, she also mistakenly signed up for a new phone number. This new number, for whatever reason, was one she could never remember (“too many 7’s” she insisted).

With Google Voice, my mom can choose a new number by selecting an area code and then searching for numbers or words that she likes (and can remember!) to make up the remaining 7 digits.

To help my mom (and family members) everywhere, a few of us at Google created a website, TeachParentsTech.org, where “kids” of any age can send how-to videos to moms, dads, uncles - whomever! Here’s a video I made that walks you through how to select a new phone number with Google Voice:

To browse through all of the videos or to send a tech support care package to your family, visit TeachParentsTech.org. Have a safe and happy holidays!

Posted by Lauren Fraley, Google Voice Consumer Operations

How to choose a new phone number (and 50 other things you might want to teach your parents)

Michael Bolognino — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 22:54:00 +0000

Santa’s calling (from his Google Voice number)

Michael Bolognino — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 21:53:00 +0000

Growing up, December was always a favorite month of mine. School would let out for two weeks, snowflakes would start falling and I’d write my letter to Santa to remind him that I’d been especially good that year (and ask if he’d mind bringing me a few Ninja Turtles). He never answered those letters—he’s a busy guy, after all—but what if he could pick up the phone and call me instead? What if Santa had Google Voice and could easily call all the kids on his list?

Well, this year he can—with your help. If you know a kid (of any age) who’d like to hear from Santa, create and send a personalized phone call from the jolly man in the red suit himself at sendacallfromsanta.com.

There are hundreds of options to choose from, so you can send unique, customized phone calls to anyone you know, from your nieces and nephews to old college friends, over the phone (to U.S. numbers only) or via email, Facebook or Twitter.

If you or your kids have a special request or message for Santa, you can leave him a message at his Google Voice number: 855-34-SANTA. Although he’s too busy to return messages himself, you can always create one on his behalf at the Send a Call From Santa site.

Ready to spread some holiday cheer? Listen to a sample message, and visit sendacallfromsanta.com to send a message of your own.

And don’t forget—if you want to keep up with Santa as he travels around the globe delivering presents on Christmas Eve, you can track his journey on Google Maps, on Google Earth with the plug-in and on your mobile phone, too.

Posted by Michael Bolognino, Product Marketing Manager

Call credits for military families this holiday season

Michael Bolognino — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 14:00:00 +0000

Keeping in touch with family during the holiday season can be challenging for anyone, but it’s especially difficult for military families with loved ones serving around the country or overseas.

Gmail’s built in video chat and free calls to the U.S. and Canada can help keep friends and family in contact regardless of how far apart they may be. To make staying in touch this holiday season even easier for military families, we’re offering a $10 calling credit to help them reach their loved ones serving abroad.

These international call credits can be used to make calls with Google Voice or from right inside Gmail, and will provide families with roughly 30 minutes of call time to Afghanistan, 60 minutes to Iraq, or hundreds of minutes to many countries in Europe and around the world.

To make this possible, we’ve partnered with Blue Star Families and Sesame Street, two organizations dedicated to supporting service members and their families.

Photo by Sesame Workshop, 2010

To be eligible for $10 calling credits, military family members must:

Be a member of either Blue Star Families or Sesame Street Family Connections — registration is free for all military families
Provide their Gmail address
Enable calling in Gmail and accept the terms of service OR have an existing Google Voice account
Complete the registration form by December 22, 2010

We recognize the sacrifices military family members make when loved ones serve abroad, and we’re proud to help make it a little bit easier for families to stay connected over the holidays.

At this time, Google Voice and calling in Gmail are available in the U.S. only.

Posted by Michael Bolognino, Product Marketing Manager

Welcome, Google Apps users!

Michael Bolognino — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 19:01:00 +0000

Google Apps recently launched an improvement that made dozens of exciting Google services available to Google Apps users for the first time. As part of this launch, Google Voice is now available to our Google Apps users for free with their Apps accounts.

Google Apps is Google’s suite of cloud-based messaging and collaboration apps used by over 30 million users in small businesses, large enterprises, educational institutions, government agencies, and non-profit organizations around the world. If your organization hasn’t gone Google yet you can learn more about how to lower IT costs and improve productivity and collaboration at google.com/apps.

For those users who have a Google Apps account, if your administrator has already transitioned your organization to the new infrastructure, you can now use Google Voice by signing in at google.com/voice with your existing Apps account. At this time, Google Voice is available in the U.S. only.

For more details, read the complete post on the Google Enterprise blog and follow all the updates on other newly available services for Google Apps users.

Posted by Michael Bolognino, Product Marketing Manager

Google Voice for iPhone

Michael Bolognino — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 18:50:00 +0000

Earlier this year we launched a Google Voice HTML5 web app for iPhone users. Today we’re taking the Google Voice experience on the iPhone to a whole new level with the launch of the official Google Voice for iPhone app.

With this native app, you’ll continue to have access to all the major Google Voice features on your iPhone, like:

Cheap rates for international calls
Free text messaging to U.S. numbers
Voicemail transcription
Display your Google Voice number as caller ID when making calls

In addition to these benefits, the app provides some features that make using Google Voice on your iPhone a much better experience:

With push notifications, the app will alert you instantly when you receive a new voicemail or text message
Most of your calls will be placed via Direct Access Numbers, making them connect just as quickly as regular phone calls

Google Voice for iPhone is available to download from the Apple App Store today. You’ll need an iPhone with iOS 3.1 or later and a valid Google Voice account to use the app. At this time, Google Voice is available in the U.S. only.

Posted by Christian Brunschen, Software Engineer

Google Voice powers TV fan building

Michael Bolognino — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 15:45:00 +0000

One of the great parts of working on the Google Voice team is that we get to hear about all the interesting, productive, and fun ways you take advantage of Google Voice. Sometimes we hear from students who love the cost savings of the service, and other times we hear from professionals or families who tell us that Google Voice has helped them manage their busy lives.

We recently heard that the folks at the FX Network put Google Voice to use in quite a unique way by giving fans of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia & The League a creative way to interact with their favorite shows.

Each show has a dedicated Google Voice number that fans can call and leave a voicemail to sound off about their favorite (and least favorite) characters, episodes and storylines.

A handful of lucky fans’ voicemails get selected by the FX team and are featured on the site for all to hear.

Posted by Michael Bolognino, Product Marketing Manager

Stay connected on campus with Google Voice

Michael Bolognino — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 16:44:00 +0000

Heading off to college usually means packing up the car and saying goodbye to your family and friends, so the Google Voice team put together a bunch of ways to make it cheaper and easier to stay in touch while you’re on campus. We also thought back to our own days living in dorms and cramming in the library to create a list of student-friendly tips for getting the most out of your phone while you’re away at school.

1. Save your money for something better than minutes

Send unlimited text messages for free--from your phone or the web
Make free long distance calls in the US and to Canada with Gmail
Call friends studying abroad or call home if you’re an international student for as little as 2 cents/minute

2. Use your phone the way you actually want to

Setup a free Google Voice number that will ring all of your phones at once (dorm phone, cell phone, Gmail, etc.) so you never miss a call (a number that stays with you even if you forget to pay your bill or change cell phone provider)
Get voicemail transcriptions via email and text during class
Enable do not disturb to send your calls directly to voicemail when you want to sleep in on the weekends or need to get some studying done

3. Make calls when your phone can’t
Calling in Gmail makes it possible to call phones from right inside of your Gmail account. This makes a super handy alternative to your mobile phone for things like:

Calling from dorm rooms with non-existent cell phone reception
Locating a mobile phone that is buried in the couch
Ordering a pizza when your phone battery is dead

So grab your Google Voice number, get Google Voice on your mobile phone, or fire up your Gmail account and start making calls. No quarter required.

Google Voice is currently only available in the U.S. And if you’re new to Google Voice, check out our introductory videos at youtube.com/googlevoice.

Posted by Michael Bolognino, Product Marketing Manager

Fast Access to Google Voice with Android Widgets

Michael Bolognino — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 17:00:00 +0000

Mobile is all about getting super fast access to what you’re looking for and Google Voice is no exception. So, today we’re releasing an update to the Android app, which gives you immediate access to your Google Voice Inbox and settings via two new home screen widgets.

The Google Voice Inbox widget brings your most recent voicemails and text messages to your home screen. You can now quickly flip though messages in your Inbox with the widget, and selecting any message preview will open it in the Google Voice app.

The Settings widget gives you quick access to four handy features.

Get instant access to the full Google Voice app by clicking the Google Voice icon.

Quickly compose and send free text messages.

Change your dialing preferences on the fly. You can have your phone use Google Voice in four different ways, depending on your calling preference.

Select Do Not Disturb and all calls to your Google number will be sent straight to Voicemail.

Plus, your credit balance is displayed so you know when it’s time to add a quarter or two.

The widgets can be used together or individually, and are part of the new Google Voice app, available for download from Android Market today. To add the widgets to a home screen panel, press the menu button from the home screen and select “Add>Widgets>Google Voice Inbox or Google Voice Settings.” You will need a valid Google Voice account to use them, and Google Voice is available free to anyone in the US.

Posted by Marcus Foster, Product Manager

Missed call notifications delivered to your inbox

Michael Bolognino — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:00:00 +0000

Google Voice lets you take charge of your telephony experience, giving you one number that rings all your phones. But what if you’re not around to answer any of them?

Starting today, whenever you miss a call, you can see a notification in your Google Voice inbox, or receive an email notification, or both.

This setting can be turned on and off from the Calls tab in the Settings menu.

We’re excited to add this new feature that’s been a common request from Google Voice users. So keep those suggestions coming, we’re listening!

Posted by Brian Peterson, Google Voice Software Engineer

Get more out of calling in Gmail

Michael Bolognino — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 21:45:00 +0000

Last week, we launched Google Voice in Gmail to let you make calls right from your computer. The uptake has been amazing and 10,000,000 calls later, we wanted to offer some tips and tricks on how you, as a loyal Google Voice user, can unlock additional features when you setup Gmail to receive calls with your Google Voice number. If you haven’t already hooked it up, go to Google Voice, click on settings and check the box next to Google Chat in your list of forwarding phones.

Now, you’ll be able to make and receive calls to your Google Voice number right in Gmail. Plus, you’ll have access to a bunch of handy features, like:

Call screening
Not sure who’s calling you? Instead of hitting “Answer” or “Ignore” when you get a call in Gmail, click the “Screen” button. The caller will be sent to your voicemail and you can listen in while they leave you a message. If you decide you want to take the call, just click “Join” at any time to pick up.

Switching calls between Gmail and other phones
Let’s say you picked up a call on your Gmail, but you need to head out the door. It’s a pain to hang up and call the person back from your cell, especially for those important calls. Hit the asterisk (*) on the Gmail dial pad at any time during the call and your other Google Voice forwarding phones will ring. Just pick up the call from one of your other phones and continue the conversation without ever having to disconnect the call.

Recording incoming calls
Is your conversation too good to forget? Press 4 on the dial pad at any time and both parties will be notified that the call is being recorded. To stop the recording, press 4 again or hang up. Call recordings will be saved in your Google Voice inbox.

Click to dial with the Chrome Extension
Searching for your favorite restaurant or bar on Google Maps? Friend email you their phone number? The Google Voice extension for Google Chrome allows you to just click on any phone number on any website or in any email, and it will dial the number for you.

Posted by Michael Bolognino, Google Voice Product Marketing Manager

Make and receive calls in Gmail

Jason — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 16:40:00 +0000

Google Voice lets you manage all your phone communications and seamlessly make and receive calls on any of your existing phones. But what if you don’t have your phone with you? Or what if you’re in a place with poor cell phone reception, or you’re travelling internationally and don’t want to incur expensive roaming charges? Wouldn’t it be great if you could use your computer to make or receive calls?

Starting today you can use Gmail to receive or place Google Voice calls.

To get started, check the box next to Google Chat in your list of forwarding phones and the next time someone calls your Google Voice number, Gmail will notify you of an incoming call. You can take the call or even listen in as the caller leaves a message, in a single step right from your computer.

To make a call, just click the Call phone link in Gmail and enter any number or name from your address book.

All calls made from Gmail will display your Google Voice phone number as the outbound caller ID and all international calls will use your Google Voice calling credit and are offered at the same low Google Voice rates. We took great care to make sure that our rates are as low as possible. For those of you not as familiar with international calling rates, check out our comparison table.

Finally, check out this video:

We’re rolling out this feature to U.S. based Gmail users over the next few days, so you’ll be ready to get started once “Call Phones” shows up in your chat list (you will need to install the voice and video plug-in if you haven’t already). If you’re using Google Apps for your school or business, then you won’t see it quite yet. We’re working on making this available more broadly - so stay tuned!

For more information, visit gmail.com/call.

Update (8/26): This has now been rolled out to everyone in the U.S. If you don't see the feature yet, try logging out of Gmail and signing back in.

Faster dialing with Google Voice on Android and Blackberry devices

Jason — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:35:00 +0000

Update (5:05PM, August 9): This has now been rolled out completely.

Update (4:06PM, July 23): This new feature is not yet active for 100% of calls placed with Google Voice. We plan to roll this out for all calls in the next week or so.

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At Google we are obsessed with speed. Our mantra is faster = better. This is true for our Google Voice mobile apps as well. When you want to make a call, your phone should connect you as quickly as possible, whether you’re calling via Google Voice or not.

Today we are launching an enhancement to the Google Voice mobile app on Android and Blackberry phones, which makes placing calls much faster. We call this feature “direct access numbers.” Here’s how it works:

Until today, the Google Voice app had to make a request to the Google Voice server every time you wanted to make a call to send us the phone number you wanted to dial. Then the call would be connected via a Google Voice access number. With direct access numbers, we assign a unique phone number to every person you call. This means that we no longer need to use your data network to access the server each time you make a call, so calls will be placed much faster.

The updated Android app is available from Android Market starting today. For Blackberry users, you can download the app by visiting http://m.google.com/voice from your mobile device. You will need a valid Google Voice account to use the app, and at this time, Google Voice is available in the US only.

Posted by Flavio Lerda, Software Engineer

The new voice of Google Voice

The Gmail Team — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 22:46:00 +0000

If you’ve called your Google number to listen to your voicemail over the last couple days, you may have noticed that things sounded a bit different. The new voice that’s greeting you is Kiki Baessell, a fellow Googler with a friendly voice who helped us record new automatic voice messages. When she’s not helping us out, she spends her days fighting spam and abuse in Google’s consumer products.

Kiki has absolutely no experience doing professional voiceover, which is exactly why we picked her — we wanted a pleasant, familiar voice that we wouldn’t mind listening to each time we called to check voicemail.

Here’s a sample of Kiki in action:

Posted by Jason Toff, Google Voice Team

Enjoy some quiet time with Do Not Disturb

Jason — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 00:30:00 +0000

Google Voice makes it easier for people to reach you by only having to call one number that rings all your phones. But sometimes you don’t want to be reached -- like if you’re in a meeting or watching a movie. To help you in these situations, you can enable the Do Not Disturb setting to send all callers straight to voicemail.

This setting can be toggled on or off from the Settings menu or by calling your Google Voice number. And starting this week, you can set a timer so that it only remains active for a set period of time.

We’re excited to continue to give you more control over your communications. As always, if you have suggestions for future improvements, please tell us!

Posted by Anthony Jawad, Software Engineer

Introducing Standard Voicemail Mode

Jason — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 07:15:00 +0000

Ah, remember the days when you’d be in the middle of leaving a voicemail and suddenly hear an unexpected beep to indicate you had run out of time for that message? Or when you’d return from vacation only to find your voicemail box was full and friends weren’t able to get through to leave messages for days?

Experiences like these were stripped from voicemail users across the country as a result of Google Voice. And, to be honest, some people on the team have started to miss these rituals of yonder years. Today, we take a first step in restoring people’s right to pager integration, unexpected beeps, caps on the number of messages that can be received, and more, in a feature we are calling Standard Voicemail Mode^TM.

Standard Voicemail Mode^TM brings your voicemail back to something reminiscent of 1997, with features like:

Automatic voicemail deletion: messages will be deleted automatically after 14 days
Numeric keypad access: access to voicemail will only be available via your phone
Beeper interoperability: your beeper will be paged every time a voicemail is left
Message maximums: store a maximum of 10 messages at any given time
Numeric page: people leaving you voicemails will be given the option to send a numeric page

To try Standard Voicemail Mode^TM for yourself, select “Enable Standard Voicemail Mode” under Settings:

And for more information, visit google.com/googlevoice/standard_voicemail.html.

Posted by Jason Toff, Google Voice team

Faster Google Voice Experience on Android

Jason — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 19:00:00 +0000

Using Google Voice for Android just got a whole lot faster. Until now, notifications of new messages appeared within 15 minutes of when they were sent. Today we are releasing a new feature called Inbox synchronization, which will notify your Android-powered device of new text messages or voicemails within seconds of receiving new messages in your Google Voice inbox.

To activate Inbox synchronization, open the Google Voice settings on your phone and touch Refresh and notification. Once you have selected the Synchronize Inbox option, you will start receiving faster notifications. Plus, Google Voice will automatically disable SMS forwarding to your mobile phone, so you won’t receive duplicate notifications.

Finally, we have made it much faster to interact with your contacts from the Google Voice app. Now you can click on any contact photo and get the option to quickly respond to voicemail by email or IM.

The updated app is available for download from Android Market today. You will need a valid Google Voice account to use the app, and at this time, Google Voice is available in the US only.

Posted by Andy Hayward, Software Engineer

Google Voice turns 1!

Jason — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

It's hard to believe, but it's a year to the day since we first launched Google Voice!

One of the best things about this past year has been receiving tons of helpful feedback and ideas from our users. We wanted to thank you for letting us know what you think, and we hope you like the improvements we've made since then. Some of the most popular features that debuted during our first year included:

Mobile apps (both native and web-based)
SMS-to-email integration
A Chrome extension
An embedded voicemail player in Gmail
The ability to use Google Voice with your existing number

We're happy with the work so far, and we appreciate your support, but there's still a lot to be done, so enough cake. Time to get back to work!

Posted by Craig Walker & Vincent Paquet, Product Managers

Send SMS to multiple recipients

Vincent Paquet — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:52:00 +0000

Until now, sending a text message to multiple recipients required copying and pasting the message for each recipient.

To make this a bit easier, we just launched the ability to send a single SMS message to multiple recipients. Just click on the SMS button at the top of your Google Voice inbox, enter names or numbers (separated by commas) in the "To" field, write your message and click send.

Replies from each recipient will be threaded into separate conversations, so you can keep track of them in your Google Voice inbox. To prevent spam, we've set a maximum of five recipients per message.

This feature is also available from the Chrome extension and we'll also be adding it to the Google Voice mobile app soon.

We hope you like this new feature, and as always, welcome your feedback.

Posted by Greg Hecht, Member of Tech Staff

Google Voice for iPhone and Palm WebOS

Vincent Paquet — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:30:00 +0000

Today we are launching a new Google Voice mobile web app for iPhone OS 3.0 and higher and Palm Web OS devices, harnessing the power of HTML5, a new web technology that makes it possible to run faster, richer web-based applications right in the browser.

In addition to letting you access a streamlined version of your Google Voice inbox, the new web app also lets you display your Google Voice number as the outbound caller ID (so return calls come back to your Google Voice number), send and receive text messages for free, and place international calls at Google Voice's low rates.

To get started, visit m.google.com/voice in your mobile browser. For quick access, don't forget to create a shortcut to this URL on your home screen or Palm Launcher.

Just a reminder: you'll need a Google Voice account and a voice plan on your cell phone to place calls using this web app. Don't have a Google Voice account? Request an invite.

Posted by Michael van Ouwerkerk, Software Engineer

New Google Voice extension for Chrome

Vincent Paquet — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:11:00 +0000

With today's official release of Google Chrome extensions comes a new & improved Google Voice extension that gives you easier access to many Google Voice features:

- See how many new messages you have. Think of it as a message waiting light for your computer that lets you know when you have new voicemail or text messages waiting for you.

- View the most recent messages in your inbox. Clicking on the extension button gives you access to your most recent voicemail and text messages. You can read your voicemail transcripts and will soon be able to play messages right from that window.

- Quickly call or text any number. Click on the "Call" or "SMS" buttons to easily call or text for free anyone by just typing their name or phone number. Since the extension is connected to your Google address book, you can just type any name from your address book, without having to remember their number. You can also benefit from Google Voice's low rates when calling any international number.

- Click any phone number on a web page to start a call. If you're looking for a phone number online, nothing is more annoying than having to physically type it on the phone to place the call. With the Google Voice Chrome extension installed, you can just click on any phone number on any web page and select the phone you want to dial from and you will be connected right away.

To try it out, install the Google Voice extension. If you don't already use Google Chrome, you can download it here.

Posted by Brian Peterson, Software Engineer

Faster voicemail access

Vincent Paquet — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 22:30:00 +0000

When it comes to voicemail, Google Voice is all about saving you time. We transcribe your voicemails so hopefully you don't need to listen to them, we send notifications via email and SMS notifications so you know when you have new messages, we even let you listen in as callers leave you messages so you can decide if the call is urgent before picking up.

To make voicemail even easier, today, we implemented two changes in the way you listen to voicemails through your phone.

First, when you dial your own Google Voice number, we now begin playing your voicemails without the need to press 1 anymore. Since listening to voicemail is the most common reason people call their own numbers, we thought it made sense to save you an extra step. All the other options will still be available from the menu, but if you don't select any other option, your voicemail messages will be played automatically.

Second, we now play your voicemails starting with the most recent, rather than the oldest. This way, if you've received several messages from the same caller, you'll hear the most recent update before the outdated voicemail.

We hope you like those improvements and, as always, we welcome your feedback.

Posted by John Rector, Software Engineer

Doing our share to help Haiti

Vincent Paquet — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 20:15:00 +0000

It's impossible to watch the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake without wondering how one can contribute in helping the thousands of families who lost everything in this disaster.

Google set up a disaster relief page, which includes information and resources for anyone interested in helping out, and the Google Voice team also wanted to respond in our own way.

Particularly in the wake of such a catastrophe, for people in the US who have family in Haiti, it is critical to stay in constant contact with your loved ones, provide moral comfort, and offer daily updates to friends and family in Haiti.

To help those families, we're offering free calling to Haiti through Google Voice for the next two weeks. To place a call using Google Voice, use the Click2Call button on the website, the Google Voice mobile app, or dial your own Google Voice number and press 2 to place an outbound call.

Posted by the Google Voice team

Google Voice on the Nexus One

Vincent Paquet — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 20:55:00 +0000

We're excited to see today's launch of Nexus One, particularly since Google Voice is one of the pre-installed apps on the phone. This is the latest version of the Google Voice mobile app we released for Blackberry and Android-powered phones last July.

Google Voice comes pre-installed on Nexus One phones sold in the United States. Existing Google Voice users can log-in and access their voicemail messages right away, while new users can set up Google voicemail as an alternative to their carrier's voicemail.

With the Google Voice mobile app, you can receive free voicemail transcriptions and play messages in the order you want. A karaoke-style interface lets you easily replay any part of a message, without needing to listen to the whole voicemail. You can also place international calls via Google Voice and enjoy Google Voice's low rates from your Nexus One.

Last but not least, the app is synchronized with the web, so you can access and listen to all your voicemail messages from any computer by simply logging in to www.google.com/voice.

If you're already using Google Voice and have a Google phone number, you can display this number as the caller ID on outbound calls. Additionally, you can send and receive text messages using the Google Voice app for free.

To learn more about the app, visit m.google.com/voice. And for more on the Nexus One, visit google.com/phone. As always, we welcome your feedback on how to improve Google Voice.

Posted by Christian Brunschen and Jacob Hesch, Software Engineers

Upgrade to a Google Number

Vincent Paquet — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 01:54:00 +0000

A few weeks ago we launched the ability to use Google Voice with your existing number. This option gives you all the voicemail features of Google Voice, like transcriptions and email/SMS notifications, without needing to ask people to call you on a new number.

But once you've dipped your toes in the water, you may decide you'd like more of the features that come with a Google number, like call screening, SMS via email, and custom ring schedules.

Today we're announcing that if you've been using Google Voice with your existing number, you can now upgrade your account, pick a new Google Voice number, and start taking advantage of the full Google Voice feature set.

To do this, click “Settings” and look for a link to “Get a Google Number” next to your voicemail access number.

Once you've upgraded, you can reactivate Google Voice for your cell phone’s voicemail. This will let you continue accessing all your voicemails in a single place, whether someone calls your Google Voice number or your underlying cell phone.

Posted by Ilya Frank, Senior Software Engineer

Help improve transcription quality

Vincent Paquet — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:37:00 +0000

Google Voice automatically transcribes voicemail messages so you can get a sense of what messages are about without needing to listen to them. The automated process sometimes works great, sometimes not so well. But we're committed to making it better. After all, my friends don't call me "ten cent" in real life!

There are many variables that influence the quality of transcripts, from background noise, to caller accent, to connection quality, and more. Having a pool of messages that can be used to gauge accuracy is very useful in that respect.

And this is where you can help by "donating" some of your voicemail messages. Until now, the only feedback you could give was to let us know if the quality of the transcript was good enough to be useful or not, by checking the corresponding box next to the message. You can now go one step further by letting us figure out why it was good or bad. When you rate a transcript, you will be asked whether you would like to donate the message. You have three options:

The messages you donate may be listened to, manually transcribed by us and/or used to gauge transcription improvements over time, but they will never be made public or used for any other purpose than improving the transcription quality.

And if you're feeling generous, you can go back to old messages you previously rated and donate those, too!

Thanks in advance for your help.

Posted by Vincent Paquet

Helping you broadcast your Google Voice number

Vincent Paquet — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:34:00 +0000

When someone sends you an SMS to your Google Voice number, that message not only goes into your inbox online, but we also forward it out to all of your mobile phones (assuming you told us you wanted to receive SMS messages on those phones). When you receive it on your mobile phone, you may have noticed that the message does not appear to come from the sender's actual number, but from a (406) number (which spells "GOO" btw), with the sender's number (or name if they are in your address book) at the start of the message. We do this so you can reply from any of your phones and keep a record of the entire conversation online in your Google Voice inbox.

But when you - a Google Voice user - send a text message to another Google Voice number from one of the forwarding phones on your account, you probably want Google Voice to display the SMS as from your Google Voice number rather than from a (406) number. This way, the Google Voice user to whom you sent the SMS will see your Google Voice number as the originating number, the single number that reaches you everywhere.

We had been doing this automatically on all accounts up until now, as we felt it was more logical to display your Google Voice number rather than a (406) number when sending an SMS to another Google Voice user. After further reflection on this, we realize that you should decide if you want this feature or not (rather than us) so we've made this a user selected option rather than the default setting. If you like this behavior, its easy to set up. Just go to "Settings > Calls > Caller ID (out)" and select "Display my Google Voice number".

Posted by Vincent Paquet