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.
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!
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".
Today we're pleased to announce we've acquired Gizmo5, a company that provides Internet-based calling software for mobile phones and computers. While we don't have any specific features to announce right now, Gizmo5's engineers will be joining the Google Voice team to continue improving the Google Voice and Gizmo5 experience. Current Gizmo5 users will still be able to use the service, though we will be suspending new signups for the time being, and existing users will no longer be able to sign up for a call-in number.
We've acquired a number of small companies over the past five years, and the people and technology that have come to Google from other places have contributed in many ways, large and small, to all kinds of Google products. Since the GrandCentral team joined Google in 2007, they've done incredible things with Google's technology and resources to launch and improve Google Voice.
We welcome the Gizmo5 team to Google and look forward to working together to bringing more useful features to Google Voice.
Posted by Wesley Chan and Craig Walker, Group Product Managers
Military families face dozens of challenges every day. The life of a military spouse and a military family is never easy. It's a life of sacrifice and patience, but it's also one of pride and patriotism.
To help families better stay in touch with their loved ones, this Veterans Day we're partnering with Blue Star Families to give priority Google Voice invitations to the families of U.S. service members involved in the organization. Blue Star Families is a group of military spouses from all over the country who work hard to educate civilian communities and leaders about the hardships faced by military families.
Military families encounter unique challenges and frequent separations, so staying in touch is vitally important. With one Google Voice number, families won't have to worry about missing calls from service members abroad.
Google Voice can make communication one less worry for these families, and hopefully bring them a little bit closer to their loved ones.
Posted by Jason Toff, Associate Product Marketing Manager
Google Voice is all about enabling choice: which phone you pick up your calls on, where to review your voicemail messages, how to send and reply to text messages, etc. So when it comes to your phone number, it was logical for us to also offer a choice of which number to use with Google Voice.
Previously, when you created a Google Voice account, we asked you to select a new Google phone number. This allowed us to offer features like call forwarding, screening, and recording. But we know not everyone wants to start using a new phone number, so we've been working on another option for people who are willing to trade some features for the ability to keep their existing number.
We're excited to announce that you now can get Google Voice with a Google number OR with your existing mobile phone number. If you choose to use Google Voice with your existing number, you won't get some features (like call screening and recording), but you'll still get many others -- including Google voicemail:
More specifically, if you sign up for Google Voice with your existing number, you'll get:
Online, searchable voicemail
Free automated voicemail transcription
Custom voicemail greetings for different callers
Email and SMS notifications
Low-priced international calling
If you decide to also get a new Google number, you'll get all of the above PLUS:
One number that reaches you on all your phones
SMS via email
Call screening
Listen In
Call recording
Conference calling
Call blocking
If you already have a Google number, this new feature should also help with the transition to your new number, as you can now forward unanswered calls to your mobile phone to your Google Voice account. This way, people who still call your old number will reach the same voicemail as people who call your Google Voice number.
If you already use Google Voice, you can add Google voicemail to any mobile phone you've linked to your account. If you're not using Google Voice yet, you can request an invitation or ask someone with a Google Voice account to invite you. When you receive the invitation to sign-up, you decide whether you'd like to use Google Voice with your existing number or get a Google number.
Voicemail transcription is, in my opinion, one of Google Voice's coolest features. That's why I've saved it for my last Google Voice tip. When someone leaves you a voicemail, Google Voice transcribes the message and gives you a variety of ways to access it. The transcription process is fully automated, so sometimes the text isn't perfect, but it's usually enough to give you the basic idea of the message.
If you're a Gmail user, you can enable a voicemail player to show up underneath each voicemail notification you receive in Gmail by turning on the Google Voice player in mail lab. You can also set up your Google Voice account to send SMS notifications of the transcriptions to your mobile phone.
You might notice that some of the words in transcriptions are grayed out. This is an indication that we're not as confident about these particular words.
Heather and I hope that these "newbie" posts have helped some of you get your feet wet with Google Voice. Even though this is the last in our series, that doesn't mean you can't continue to share feature suggestions and interesting use cases. Share your Voice insights in the Google Voice Help Forum, and remember, the Google Voice Help Center is packed with useful information. Happy calling!
There were some conflicting reports yesterday about Google Voice voicemails being searchable online, so we wanted to clarify how Google Voice works.
Google Voice lets you access your voicemails online from your inbox. Your account is password-protected, like any other Google service, and its content cannot be read by anyone unless you choose to share the information in your account.
Google Voice can also send you an email notification when you have a new voicemail. The link points to a web page that displays only that particular message. The web address for that unique message is virtually impossible to guess.
However, if a user copied that unique URL from their email notification, and published it on a public website, then typical search engines, including Google, could have indexed it. Very few people chose to do this: of the millions of voicemail messages left on Google Voice, only 31 messages were made publicly searchable by users.
Nonetheless, three weeks ago, we decided that even if a user chose to include this unique URL in a public website, it would remain unsearchable. Since we implemented that change, no new messages have been indexed.
If you want to publicize a Google Voice message on your website, we provide a special embed code for this purpose. Visitors will then be able to listen to that particular message, but the message itself will remain unsearchable.
Since the debut of Google Voice, our early users have shared lots of feedback that has led to some exciting new features, like the ability to receive SMS messages via email and the option to change your Google Voice number. But one of the most frequent requests we've received is for the ability to share Google Voice with friends and family.
Starting today, we're beginning to give out invitations to Google Voice users. If you currently use Google Voice, over the next few weeks, you'll see an "Invite a friend" link appear on the left-hand side of your inbox.
We'll be rolling out these invitations gradually, so don't worry if you don't see your invitations immediately. We're initially giving out three invites to each account, but we're planning to provide more invitations in the future.
If you don't have an account yet, you can request a Google Voice invitation at google.com/voiceinvite.
Posted by Craig Walker and Vincent Paquet, Product Managers, Google Voice
When we launched Google Voice, we offered free calling to the continental US. We've just expanded this to all 50 states by adding free calling to Alaska and Hawaii.
You can initiate free calls to Alaska and Hawaii from your inbox online, from our mobile apps, or by dialing your own Google Voice number from one of your phones and selecting option 2 to place a call. You can also forward calls to your Google Voice number to Alaskan or Hawaiian phones for free.
Please note that Google Voice is only available in the US, and you'll need a working US phone to setup a Google Voice account.
