Google Voice gives you a phone number for calling, text messaging, and voicemail. It works on smartphones and computers, and syncs across your devices so you can use the app in the office, at home, or on the go.
NOTE: Google Voice only works for personal Google Accounts in the US and Google Workspace accounts in select markets. Text messaging is not supported in all markets.
You’re in control
Get spam filtered automatically and block numbers you don’t want to hear from. Manage your time with personalized settings for forwarding calls, text messages, and voicemail.
Backed up and searchable
Calls, text messages, and voicemails are stored and backed up to make it easy for you to search your history.
Manage messages across devices
Send and receive individual and group SMS messages from all your devices.
Your voicemail, transcribed
Google Voice provides advanced voicemail transcriptions that you can read in the app and/or have sent to your email.
Save on international calling
Make international calls at competitive rates without paying extra for international minutes with your mobile carrier.
Keep in mind:
• Google Voice is currently only available in the US. Google Voice for Google Workspace users is available in select countries. Check with your administrator for access.
• Calls made using Google Voice for Android can be placed through a Google Voice access number. All access number based calls use the standard minutes from your cell phone plan and may incur costs (e.g. when traveling internationally).
Overall, this is a great app. Wonderful for business use, as it lets me easily have multiple phone numbers on one device. A couple nitpicks though: 1. It doesn’t play nice with Bluetooth headsets. I’m not sure if this is an issue with my phone or the app, but I’ve never been able to get them to work, even when the app indicates that it’s sending to Bluetooth. 2. It’s wildly unstable when driving and data rates fluctuate.
Pros: Snappy, practical, and the integration with ChromeOS seems to work well for me. I have been a Voice customer for many years, and it has come in handy when I needed it! Cons: Sometimes it doesn’t register my clicks. The UI has prevented me from closing the program by pressing X in the upper right-hand corner of the screen, forcing me to have to alt+click on the pinned app in the tray.
The app is very, very good. I do recommend this if you’re in need of additional call/text lines. For some reason, the latest phone update (Android version 12) doesn’t allow any of my Bluetooth devices (earbuds, headphones or speakers) to to be used on my phone calls. I hope the next update will provide a solution.
Until you can hide the message in the notification like practically every other communication platform, It’s subpar. No one wants to have to choose between having no notification of a text message (besides an email which hella lags) or the banner of for the message with sender and the message itself on display. It’s really kind of odd that a standard feature isn’t available for Google voice.
I’ve only been trying this app for about 5 days, and so far I like it a lot. I’m able to make calls without using my TracFone minutes, and I can make texts without going through my allotment of those either. I am almost always on wi-fi, so this makes perfect sense for me. Update: If there isn’t a strong enough wi-fi signal, there’s a warning that the app will have to use your phone carrier data to place the call. So then I have a choice whether to use my TracFone minutes instead.
The app works, but the functionality is pretty basic and it doesn’t get many feature updates. I really miss the ability to create schedules, for example to only have your work phone ring during weekday business hours. Google’s diffuse messaging environment remains annoying, but the ability to have one number that reaches me anywhere is still wonderful. Google Voice is still a net positive.
I’ve been using Google Voice for several yrs. It’s a good service. I wish it had a feature to go directly to Video call . And when you put on “Do not disturb” it would actually work. I have checked and rechecked everything is on the right settings but called n messages still get through. App lags extremely bad when you answer call, app does stupid stuff in during calls sometimes
It’s a nice concept, BUT I am always missing calls from it. It does not notify me of calls. My phone will be right next to me and I miss calls. I have to dial the number twice for it to connect. I have someone else’s name that comes up for my caller ID. I have to use it for work, and it’s frustrating to have these issues. I have checked all settings and notifications stlettings and still It’s an issue.
Use it as a work number forwarded from my desk phone. All calls come through without any issues and ability to choose to answer or not definitely nice. Only issue I have is when I make calls it will sometimes take 3 attempts for it to finally go through and get a ringing tone. Not sure what the issue might be but happens on data and wifi. Other than that very useful for a second number
I am using this app on my tablet because I lost my cell phone and won’t be replacing it for at least another month. For some reason, the app does not always ring when I get an incoming call. Also, when I have my Bluetooth headphones powered on and connected to my tablet, the phone call still goes through my speakerphone instead of my Bluetooth headset.
It has a lot of great features all free no ads. You can send and receive calls and check and respond to voicemail (visual) on almost any phone, tablet, laptop or PC. Screen calls, record calls and listen voicemail as it’s being recorded, answer calls on one phone and transfer the call to another linked device with ease. However, you can no longer forward text messages, it is unable to send files or videos via text and calling international numbers can be a challenge. Port in or out no problem.
I’ve been using Google Voice for many years, as my primary personal & business phone number. At one point Google put it on the chopping block, but glad they kept it. Great service. One star removed for an issue with the phone app. The DND setting does not seem to do anything. When it’s enabled, I still get calls, texts, and all related alerts. The only way I have found to truly block incoming calls/texts is to uninstall. Edit 2 yrs later, and still loving it, but still need DND fixed.
Great out to use at home or out and about where you have Wi-Fi available but no cellular signal to make calls. Or if you want to reduce your cellular usage on a plan you pay for getting an extra number on Google voice can help you do that quite easily. Does pretty much everything your regular cell phone will do except it needs a good Wi-Fi signal to do it, which obviously isn’t always available but easy enough to find. The app has its pros and cons but it’s definitely better than nothing.
I’ve been using Google Voice for more than 10 years. It’s always incredibly stable, easy to use without any issues…it just works perfectly every time! I travel extensively throughout the world, with GV, I can make and receive calls and texts to/from the US for free wherever I am in the world. Absolutely without question the best Google service they have by far!
Would be great if it didn’t just ring when it feels like it. 90% of calls coming in don’t ring. If I’m not staring at my screen I won’t even know someone called or texted me. EDIT: All my devices require me to dial each number a couple of times before it actually dials. It can also take several minutes to even show a number you just dialed in your history.
This app somehow gets worse over time. The web interface is slow and freezes constantly on all computers and all browsers. This has been going on for years at this point. The sound quality is worse than if you use the native phone app somehow? Everything about this app scream that Google has forgotten it… I wish this worked. It would be nice to know when I get a message but half the time I don’t get anything. It would also be nice to have more options to sort contacts and groups from the app.
The Search feature does not work, it does not go to the search results. You cannot search within a conversation. Cannot view call history information. Many basic features that are standard for a phone app are missing and have been for years. Even paying for WorkSpace, for years, improves nothing.
Garbage update has made it so I am unable to attach any image files to outgoing texts. These are screenshots from my phone or downloaded images that the Voice app can see. All permissions are enabled. The voice app simply does not attach the files. Make it so I can access more settings and fine tune the app to my needs.
Terrible app. Constant updates to ‘improve stability’ but they don’t really do anything. Can we send a single text with multiple photos attached? No, we can’t. Google never thought of that. If you search for ‘Linda’, as soon as you type ‘Li’, every word containing ‘Li’ anywhere in the word shows up, although you’re probably looking for words that start with ‘Li’. Another rapidly devolving, overly ‘updated’ app from the weirdos at Google. I’ll use until it’s updated out of existence.
I use this Google number is a business number that rings to my regular cell phone. I like the options in which you can have it go straight to voicemail and send you an email so that you are not disturbed during certain hours. I like the fact that you can have your contacts stored, messages, and everything easily search through in this app or by email that is associated with this app. It can make calls over your Wi-Fi or your network.
App frequently won’t send messages (says failed) and often says “error loading conversation counters.” Sometimes force stopping the app fixes the problem, but I often have to reboot my phone. This happens everyday, sometimes multiple times. This is odd considering Voice is a Google app and it’s also on a Google-based android phone. The link that Google sent me to troubleshoot is a “how to use Google Voice” website, which shows me how to send and receive texts. Not helpful for my issue.
Been using Google voice for about 8 years now alongside my regular phone number. Of all the VOIP apps Google Voice is the best. You can only send pics through MMS, no videos…but that’s a very minor inconvenience. Update 2023: Been 11 years now and this service is still going strong. Still can’t send videos. If I absolutely need to send a video I upload it to my drive and just share the link.
What’s going on with Google Voice lately? The app is becoming increasingly disfunctional. We can’t pick up incoming calls due to lack of ringtones. Really??? When we attempt to make outgoing calls there’s network error or connection is unstable. The problem is definitely not my internet provider because the same issue occurs when I try placing calls using my cellphone data. Hey Google, get rid of the goof-offs, hire some competent staff and have them take the Voice App back to the drawing board.
2019: pretty damn good for most part. Not perfect, (dialer/hangouts) could be better, however it’s a helluvalot better than I could do… 2022: been using Google voice for I don’t even know how long. Pretty much since it was released, so it’s been a minute. Nothing is perfect & there’s one feature I wish would return, but it is solid. It works well all the time, never have to be concerned with number change no matter how many phones or services I go thru. Well done y’all
Works okay for calling, but sometimes develops a significant enough delay that I need to hang up and try again. The real issues are in texting and the web browser. No multi-picture upload, no multi-picture download, web browser doesn’t support Google’s own WebP format, no copy/paste picture functionality, no emojis, and probably more I’m forgetting. It’s just an outdated back-burner app for Google. Disappointing considering Google Messages is so good and Hangouts was better than this.
Generally good. Some functionality of the service overall is a bit wonky, but this app does what it’s supposed to. ETA some legacy features have been removed from the product for free accounts, like the ability to schedule quiet time in the app or web interface. Still useful, just slightly less so…
I used Google Hangouts often for over 5 years until it was severed by Google. For texting and phone calls, Hangouts was near trouble-free for me. This app (Voice) has improved over the past few years (call quality & call ringing reliability) but it’s usefulness pales in comparison to Hangouts. Why limit file sizes & the ability to send video clips? This forces people to use alternate apps or email which makes this app inconvenient.
Most excellent communication app experience. It works with my gmail contacts. I use it all the time for texting. It also takes clear voice messages and I now have it tied in so I will get messages from this app sent to my cell phone. I have never seen an ad come up on this app. It’s really great.
Still Fails to Ring (on Pixel 3a, Pixel 6, or Pixel 7)… Google, can you please fix this bug!? It has persisted over multiple years. The app just stops ringing or showing notifications of an incoming call despite our home ObiHai phone ringing every single time without fail. I’ve tried Unrestricted battery setting and every other thing that I can think of, but it just stops receiving any sort of notifications that an incoming call is occurring.
It usually works very well as a second line. It lacks some text functionality like sending videos but most pictures are fine. My biggest issue is the dreaded “unstable network” issue. I’ve installed and reinstalled it once. Seems to have cut down on those errors but not completely.
Google Voice is less user friendly on Android than it is on iOS. It does not appear on Android app share menu and I can only attach one photo per text without using the share menu which I actually cannot use. They have deactivated their help email address and I just get auto-replied with a help link. I miss google hangouts for calls and texts. It was a much more robust app.
It never rings through. Someone will tell me they called me 3 or 4 times and it never rings through. This has been consistently happening for about a month now. Before then it wasn’t an issue. It really is a shame because before this, this app was very good. I see it’s a common issue after reading through reviews. Please fix this or I’ll no longer be able to use this app. The phone calls I receive on the Google voice number are usually important business calls.
It’s alright i use this as my business cell. I’m having a hard time adding contacts, wish you could just use the numbers you already have on messages instead of having to manually dial the number. After updating I can’t seem to even change the names I just have a bunch of numbers with no names. Very frustrating and nothing online seems to help since it’s all outdated.
I love this app I don’t even give out my real number to people I just use Google voice. There’s only a few times that I’ve ran into a bug or a bad connection. So I would definitely recommend it also works wonders if you don’t have cell service and just using it on Wi-Fi. 5 stars from me!! Oh and there’s no ads like text now and those other apps.
I love Google BUT Voice is barebones as can be. Useful only if you don’t have access to your primary device/carrier, which is almost never, or for someone too cheap to buy an adequate data plan. FINANCIAL GAIN(which I’m 100% for)had to be the reason for destroying Hangouts and leaving us with Voice. NO POSSIBLE WAY the END USER was ever considered because we lost out. The view from the Mountain View ivory tower must be way different than the view the end user has down here. It’s laughable.
Even using it with just WiFi , Google Voice has been as life saver! It’s really accurate at translating voice to text if you can’t listen to a voicemail. It’s also highly convenient to have a separate number to share instead of handing your actual phone number to new people or even businesses for coupon and discount deals! Another perk is being able to archive voicemails and texts. As morbid as it may be, it’s really bittersweet to have a voice mail or text from someone you’ve lost… 11/10 🌟.
10/29/22 – Update: After they finally sorted that last issue, it’s been running nearly perfectly, save for the notifications not chiming half the time. As others stated, latest update rendered useless. Crashes on startup. 2 days and still not working. Oh, most of the time it freezes your phone when it crashes, too. Recommend avoiding, at least until they get a stable product!
App is good in my experience and really like using it. However right now I am using it as a primary texting source and I wish the texting allowed videos to be sent and also wish that since there seems to be a limit to the length of the messages I wish it would automatically split the message instead of just cutting it off so I have to re-type what got lost in the sending because it was too long.
So far, not so bad! Just would like for it to ring out loud for incoming calls. It’s been almost 3yrs of seamless service! I can take and make calls and messages from multiple devices over wifi or cellular data. I’ve recommended and introduced the service to many who are also pleased with it’s simplicity and reliability.
I keep getting the message that my data connection is unstable. I Uninstall the app and reinstall and it will work for a little bit again. I use the same network on my computer and I have no issues with making calls from there. This just started yesterday and it is getting frustrating. I am using an android Samsung S22 Ultra. It is not my network. It is strong and everything else but Google voice on my phone works just fine.