Updated Google Voice App Brings Free Text Messaging to iPod touch, iPad

Google has announced an update to its Voice application for iOS, adding the highly-anticipated support for iPod touch and iPad devices. While there is no VoIP gateway yet, non-iPhone users can enjoy pretty much all the features of the app, such as sending and receiving free text messages.

“Since we launched Google Voice for iPhone a few weeks ago, we’ve been hard at work to add a few improvements that didn’t make it into the first release,” Marcus Foster, product manager of Google Voice for iOS, blogs.

“At the top of the list was adding support for iPod Touch and iPad,” he notes.

“Starting today, you can download a new version of Google Voice that lets you use all the features of the app on these devices, such as sending and receiving free text messages - except, of course, make cellular calls.”

However, this new version of the app can be used to initiate Google Voice calls on the customer’s own phones.

Google calls this feature Click2Call. In a nutshell, Google Voice calls the owner’s phone, and then connects the call.

“While we were at it, we also made a few other improvements to the app,” Foster adds.

For example, when users enable Push Notifications, Google automatically disables Text forwarding for them, so they won’t receive multiple notifications.

Users can send all callers straight to voicemail by turning on Do not disturb in the Settings tab.

Google also made it easier to place calls from the address book by adding a dedicated Contacts button to the Dialer tab, Foster says.

Finally, since users don’t need to press the OK button anymore, sending text messages is now more streamlined.

The official changelog for Google Voice 1.1.0.636 for iOS is available below.

- Support for iPod Touch
- iPod Touch and iPhone can now make calls using Click2Call
- Do Not Disturb setting
- Text forwarding is automatically disabled when registering for Push notifications
- Added Text forwarding setting to the app
- Easier to make calls from the phone Address Book
- Removed annoying OK dialog every time you send an SMS
- Fixed crashes caused by text messages that begin with a space character
- Fixed bug that caused the entire Inbox to load
- Fixed bug that caused Contact pictures to get mixed up
- Improved access to Contact groups
- Improved speed of Contact search

The Google Voice app is immediately available for download using the link below. It is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch running iOS 3.1 or later, and requires a valid Google Voice account.

Download Google Voice for iOS (Free)