Google Voice

Not to be confused with Google Voice Search.
"GrandCentral" redirects here. For other uses, see Grand Central.

Google Voice
Developer(s)Google LLC
Initial release11 March 2009; 15 years ago (2009-03-11)
Stable release(s) [±]
Android2024.10.21 (Build 691108989) / 29 October 2024; 12 days ago (2024-10-29)[1][2]
iOS24.43 / 1 November 2024; 9 days ago (2024-11-01)[3]
PlatformWeb, Android, iOS
Websitevoice.google.com

Google Voice is a telephone service that provides a U.S. phone number to Google Account customers[4] in the U.S. and Google Workspace (G Suite by October 2020[5]) customers in Canada, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the contiguous United States.[6] It is used for call forwarding and voicemail services, voice and text messaging, as well as U.S. and international calls. Calls are forwarded to the phone number that each user must configure in the account web portal. Users can answer and receive calls on any of the phones configured[7] to ring in the web portal. While answering a call, the user can switch between the configured phones. Subscribers in the United States can make outgoing calls to domestic and international destinations. The service is configured and maintained by users in a web-based application, similar in style to Google's email service Gmail, or Android and iOS applications on smartphones or tablets.

Google Voice currently provides free PC-to-phone calling within the United States and Canada, and PC-to-PC voice and video calling worldwide between users of the Google+ Hangouts browser plugin (available for Windows, Intel-based Mac OS X, and Linux).[8] Almost all domestic and outbound calls to the United States (including Alaska and Hawaii) and Canada[9][10][11] are currently free from the U.S. and Canada, and $0.01 per minute from everywhere else.[12] International calls are billed according to a schedule posted on the Google Voice website.[13]

Many other Google Voice services—such as voicemail, free text messaging, call history, call screening, blocking of unwanted calls, and voice transcription to text of voicemail messages—are also available to U.S. residents.[14] Voicemails, missed call notifications, and/or text messages can optionally be forwarded to an email account of the user's choice. Additionally, text messages can be sent and received via the familiar email or IM interface by reading and writing text messages in numbers in Google Talk respectively (PC-to-Phone texting).

  1. ^ "Google Voice". Google Play. Retrieved November 7, 2024.
  2. ^ "Google Voice 2024.10.21.691108989". APKMirror. Retrieved November 7, 2024.
  3. ^ "Google Voice". App Store. Retrieved November 7, 2024.
  4. ^ "About Google Voice". google.com.
  5. ^ "Announcing Google Workspace, everything you need to get it done, in one location". Google Cloud Blog.
  6. ^ "Voice isn't available in all countries". Google Voice Help.
  7. ^ Pogue, David (March 11, 2009). "One Number to Ring Them All". The New York Times.
  8. ^ "Google voice and video chat". Retrieved January 3, 2010.
  9. ^ Paquet, Vincent (October 7, 2009). "Google Voice Blog". Retrieved October 7, 2009. When we launched Google Voice, we offered free calling to the continental U.S. We've just expanded this to all 50 states by adding free calling to Alaska and Hawaii.
  10. ^ A few domestic calls are also billed at $0.01 per minute.
  11. ^ "Google Voice: Calling Rates". Google Voice website. Retrieved July 28, 2010. Canada: $0.00
  12. ^ "Google Voice: Calling Rates". Retrieved December 25, 2011.
  13. ^ "Google Voice: Calling Rates". Google Voice website. Retrieved July 28, 2010.
  14. ^ "Google Voice". Archived from the original on September 25, 2009. Retrieved August 21, 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)