A little over three and a half years after Voice was massively redesigned, Google started telling original users that the legacy web version would stop receiving updates and encouraged them to migrate over. Legacy Google Voice is now set to be “phased out” from next month.
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Several months after the iPhone X’s release, Google has finally updated its Voice application to support the new screen resolution.
Update: The redesigned Google Voice app is now available on the App Store.
Back in 2009, Google launched an ambitious voice-forwarding service that allowed users to maintain one number across multiple devices. Today, Google Voice received its first major update in years that sees a redesigned web interface, iOS app, and the promise of continued updates.
Google has updated its text, video and voice messaging app Hangouts, adding all the new features added to the Android version last month – including intelligent, one-tap location sharing.
Google promised that it would be building more intelligence into the app, and the new location-sharing feature is the first step along that path. The app automatically detects when a contact in a text chat asks where you are, and allows you to share your location with a single tap …
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Google this evening rolled out an update to the Google Voice app on iOS, adding several new features and much-needed visual enhancements. Bumping the app to version 1.6, this evening’s update is the first the app has seen since September 2013, and the first major update since 2012.
The Google Hangouts app for iPhone and iPad got a significant update to version 1.3 today. The update introduces Google Voice integration that allows incoming calls to your Google Voice number and outgoing calls to U.S. and Canadian numbers. Also included in the new version is the ability to see which friends are currently online, support for animated GIFs, and a fix to keep the app from stopping your music when a message comes in.
The update is available for free to all users on the iOS App Store now.
According to research from Chetan Sharma Consulting, the amount of text messages sent during Q3 2012 showed the first decline ever. The fall can be attributed to Apple’s iMessages (when it is up), along with other Internet services like Facebook Messaging, Skype, AIM, Google Voice and more that use Wi-Fi. With less text messages being sent monthly, this has lead to less revenue in the text message area for carriers, however, they are still making plenty of money off data. The research released today says data makes up for 43 percent of carrier revenue generated, with Verizon and AT&T accounting for 69 percent data revenue during the quarter. Mobile data is expected to slow down after growing rapidly over the last five years, perhaps thanks to Wi-Fi.
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said he is losing sleep over services like iMessage cutting into revenue, while speaking earlier this year.“You lie awake at night worrying about what is that which will disrupt your business model,” Stephenson said. “Apple iMessage is a classic example. If you’re using iMessage, you’re not using one of our messaging services, right? That’s disruptive to our messaging revenue stream.”
A Google Zombie iPhone?
With Android now on 75 percent of all smartphones sold, and Apple and Samsung battling in and out of court for the top vendor position, the smartphone wars usually come down to units sold. Apple vs. Samsung. Android vs. iOS. Less of a focus has been Google’s steady invasion of iOS, providing users with an alternative universe to most of the core features of Apple’s mobile operating system. The importance of Google’s ecosystem of iOS apps has never been more apparent than following the recent controversy over the removal of YouTube and Google Maps as default features of iOS. Apple realized the necessity of controlling key experiences on iOS, such as Maps, but it is running into a backlash from users in the process. It is not just facing competition from Android vendors; it is also now engaged in a struggle to keep Google from creating its own layer on top of iOS.
Google’s iOS apps are not just driving iPhone and iPad users to use Google services instead of Apple’s; they are increasingly an important aspect of the iOS experience for a large amount of users. Sixty-one percent of iOS users in our own polls said they were hesitant to even update to iOS 6 because of Apple’s new Maps app, many of which are still waiting for a standalone Google Maps app that Apple has yet to approve. Some say the Maps fiasco coupled with Siri might have even led to the departure of long-time iOS chief Scott Forstall, which many think could result in a new direction for iOS. What this means for Google’s presence on iOS going forward remains to be seen, but Apple does not appear to be ignoring the control Google’s apps have over its users.
Engadget got a statement from Apple regarding the latest SMS iOS flaw that affects iPhone users:
Apple takes security very seriously. When using iMessage instead of SMS, addresses are verified which protects against these kinds of spoofing attacks. One of the limitations of SMS is that it allows messages to be sent with spoofed addresses to any phone, so we urge customers to be extremely careful if they’re directed to an unknown website or address over SMS.
Interesting statement from Apple that seems to throw the blame for the SMS vulnerability over to the SMS protocol. That actually might be the case, but Pod2G’s assessment is that Apple could fix it in an upcoming release.
iMessage, though it sometimes goes down for days at a time, is a good means of communication between your Apple-using buddies. However, with Apple not even at a quarter of total phone penetration, SMS is unfortunately something that still needs to be used.
Other ways to avoid the built-in SMS app vulnerabilities are to use third-party SMS applications like Google Voice.
Pod2G’s assessment of the issue below:
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