Install the Google Voice application if you use this number for texts

I love Google Voice. The day Google decides that, like Google Photos, it deserves to be paid, it may throw the trigger; it’s incredibly useful to have a secondary phone number that you can forward to your real one, hiding the latter. And the day Google Voice disappears (in case that ever happens), I’ll be very sad.

Easy to use Google Voice, as you literally just have to go into its settings and choose the option forward calls and / or text messages to your real number, Google makes a change which means you’ll need to download the app to your device now if you want to get the most out of the service. According to a recent one Android Police report, Google will soon eliminate the ability to forward text messages from your Google Voice number to your actual phone number.

As Michael Crider writes:

This is especially bad news for those of us who have used Google Voice as effectively as our only phone number, forwarding it to new SIMs and devices as we receive them. Phones tend to rely on their default text messaging app to integrate with many other services. The Google Voice app usually covers them, but isn’t particularly user-friendly with the rest of Android outside of the basics of notification.

Before blaming Google for making this change, though, know that it’s not really from Google guilt this time. Apparently, there are a number of transportation companies starting to block these forwarded text messages“Perhaps incorrectly assuming they are spam.” My guess is that Google would rather have a manageable experience (in this case, no features at all), rather than be inconsistent.

So if you want to see and reply to text messages that are sent to your Google Voice number, you’ll probably want to install the Google Voice application (iOS, Android). If you do not hear this option for any reason, you can also go to Google Voice settings and forward all messages you receive to your email address. You can then reply to the email to reply to the text: a a more cumbersome method, especially if your friends are talking, but nonetheless, it’s an option.