Google Hangouts for iOS Gets Voice Calling, Google Voice Integration

What about sending/receiving SMS?

Do you think Google will ditch the Voice app eventually?

Google Voice app on iOS needs a redesign. Woof.

The official Google Voice App doesn't use VoIP for calls, it will use your cellular voice minutes.

Third party Google Voice apps perform a hack by using Google Chat to send and receive Google Voice calls using VoIP.

I'm unsure why they integrated Google Voice calls into Google Hangouts because it doesn't seem the right place for it, but I'm happy you can finally do this in an official Google app.

I wonder when Google's apps will start using the iOS 7 keyboard and scrollbar. The YouTube app's had a few updates since iOS 7's release, each mentioning 'iOS 7 compatibility' but it's still not using iOS 7 UI elements.

Some consistency with their icon drop shadows would be nice

Can anybody confirm: does making and receiving voice calls with this new app use VoIP and go through data/wifi?

Or is this like the Google Voice app that routes the calls through your cellular and eat voice minutes?

makotoisle said:

Can anybody confirm: does making and receiving voice calls with this new app use VoIP and go through data/wifi?

Or is this like the Google Voice app that routes the calls through your cellular and eat voice minutes?

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Yep, uses VoIP for voice calls as I mentioned in a few posts above yours. There is still considerable lag during Google Voice calls; but hey, it's free.

I wish they'd update the Google Voice app; it's a POS most of the time. I hate it when the signal drops and you lose all the stuff you've been typing because some weird glitch happens.

iPad mini with data plan is becoming better at replacing the phone.

Agree with the "odd this new update doesn't us iOS7 widgets".

Also odd that the Google Voice app is still out there, still hasn't been updated in ages, and isn't the one that gets the actual voice usage!

Just placed a phone call and received a phone call with WiFi-data-only on it. Very nice - no longer need the ad-laden third-party app. Although I STILL need the ancient Google Voice app for text messages!

Nermal said:

Hopefully pressing Return on a keyboard will actually send a message now, rather than just insert a line break into it.

Click to expand...

Nope

RabidMacFan said:

I'm unsure why they integrated Google Voice calls into Google Hangouts because it doesn't seem the right place for it, but I'm happy you can finally do this in an official Google app.

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Google has said Hangouts is the future of Google Voice. Eventually the GV app will probably be dead and all the functionality will be rolled into Hangouts. I'm guessing the GV messaging feature will be the next feature to roll into Hangouts.

Can someone give me one fair reason to put google back into a new ipad I got because the tablet I tried last Xmas with quite reasonable specs like the nvidia t30s for the time, was so trashy that even a Nokia Lumia I got for the total 6 months the tablet was between me and the service was thriving in comparison?

Even if gapps are much better for iOS than their laggy trashy stack they call an operating system, with 6% effectiveness against native coding because they use JAVA VM to copycat the iOS layers like micro$oft with silverlight and wp7+8 shouldn't I be called a dumb idiot to install them again?

I get ballietic the moment I see adcoiches and all the google gimmicks for serving damn ads in every place of my canvas trashing my eyes with neon-faux badly designed intrusive ads they purposefully make them look like this?

Forgive my bitterness but google has become so greedy that they destroyed their tablet share with the fragmentation and they'll realize it. Google apps shouldn't be in the AppStore but I understand their being there because of the accounts many users have. I have completely written google off, even as search engine. And I'm not the only one.

psydefects said:

Can someone give me one fair reason to put google back into a new ipad I got

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Free calling.

Does it still offer no way of going "offline," or signing off without really logging out of the entire app?

I'd love this app, but I don't want to be on gchat 24/7.

No SMS, can't send or receive SMS from a phone number, even if you have a google voice number.

No iOS 7 UI integration (like every other Google iOS app). Separated status bar and old style keyboard.

Google Voice integration is quite poor to say the least. The app gives very little indication that Google Voice is being used on any capacity. It does not show any of the past messages, call history, Google Voice credit amount, and voice mails.

At least they fixed the video on the iPhone 5S during video chats.

So with Hangout being integrated into KitKat 4.4, does this mean that Android from 4.4 on will feature free VOIP calling to the US and Canada at the OS level, that would be pretty huge if that was the case.

PBF said:

What about sending/receiving SMS?

Do you think Google will ditch the Voice app eventually?

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Not yet. I couldn't find a way to do SMS with it. Looks like we'll be using the GV app for that for some time.

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Feltzem said:

I wonder when Google's apps will start using the iOS 7 keyboard and scrollbar. The YouTube app's had a few updates since iOS 7's release, each mentioning 'iOS 7 compatibility' but it's still not using iOS 7 UI elements.

Click to expand...

I don't think Google is interested in following iOS 7 design rules down to the last detail. They have their own iOS style that is semi-reminiscent of their Android design. They are going more for making their products look similar across platforms, than iOS platform integration. I think they are doing a bad job of it personally.

Anonymous Freak said:

Also odd that the Google Voice app is still out there, still hasn't been updated in ages, and isn't the one that gets the actual voice usage!

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It was updated a few weeks ago, but the only notable change was it changed the conversation view for text messages.

mikeheenan said:

I wish they'd update the Google Voice app; it's a POS most of the time. I hate it when the signal drops and you lose all the stuff you've been typing because some weird glitch happens.

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I use the iOS GV app exclusively for SMS and calls (I've hidden the Apple Phone and Messages apps in a folder), and this is one of at least a dozen serious issues I have with it. Google is lucky I hate the phone company so much and don't want to give anyone anything but my portable GV number.

Most of the stupidity comes from the GV app basically being a web browser that displays pages that it continually has to update.

That said, the GV app could be so much better if Apple had an intents system that would let you set another app to be, say, the default SMS or phone dialer handler. I'd never use Phone, Messages, Safari, Mail, or Maps...

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nutmac said:

Google Voice integration is quite poor to say the least. The app gives very little indication that Google Voice is being used on any capacity. It does not show any of the past messages, call history, Google Voice credit amount, and voice mails.

Click to expand...

I think this is just the beginning of the changes we are going to see with GV. It may be deliberate that those things are missing, i.e. they'll be moot in a bit? Or maybe they are just integrating GV in pieces.

They've said Hangouts is the future of GV, but who knows what that means. Hopefully I can keep using my GV number as my main number for phone and SMS (I don't even have memorized what my number from AT&T is).