Newsletter
Remember Google Voice? Of course you do, if you’re a US resident then there’s a strong choice that you’re still happily using Google Voice. However, you might not be so happy that the Google Voice app has gone a little unnoticed by Google over the last year or so and well, it’d all make a lot more sense if Hangouts and Google Voice got a little more cosy. It seems like just that is about to happen, with reports coming in that US users are seeing Google Voice and Hangouts grow a little closer. However, without any official word from Google, this could all just be some server-side hijinks on Google’s part.
Both Android Police and Android Central have been sent tips from users that they’ve been able to change a couple of settings to receive Google Voice messages in Hangouts. Things get a little confusing however, when it’s explained that only Google Voice messages will appear in Hangouts with the “via GV” tagline underneath them, and not usual text messages from the same number. Even so, things seem a little flakey right now as it is, with Android Central unable to send an MMS message properly and replied getting stuck when sent back to Google Voice senders from within Hangouts.
It all seems like Google is doing something in the backend and that the change isn’t either supposed to start this soon or that Google is about to announce something very soon. To a lot of people though, this is something they’ve been waiting a long time for. After all, it only makes sense to either merge Google Voice and Hangouts or at least make Hangouts the messaging arm of Voice. Hopefully, this latest sighting of Google Voice and Hangouts getting friendly isn’t just another glitch and that the two really are going to grow closer. Still, I wouldn’t know either way, as Google Voice continues to be unavailable here in the UK, sadly.
