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Google Voice has stopped forwarding SMS

support.google.com

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Re: Google Voice has stopped forwarding SMS

#11

Post by ocdtrekkie »

So the really frustrating issue here is that there's no functional replacement if Gmail is not your email provider: Google Voice completely ignores my email settings all over my Google account that send everything from Play receipts and Account notices to my actual email, and solely offers to send texts to my Gmail address which I haven't used since 2016.

I get freaking Stadia ads in my real inbox just because I opened that website while logged into my Google account once, but Voice has no way to recognize the email address that every single other Google service is capable of sending email to.

Voice is no longer my primary phone number for obvious reasons if you know me at all, but basically it no longer has SMS support for me, so my last major use of a Google service will end if they do not fix it.

Re: Google Voice has stopped forwarding SMS

#13

Post by yellow_lead »

anonymoushn wrote: post #12

Is this only for people using the "linked numbers" feature? Edit: I guess that's actually the normal way of using GV! For weird personal reasons I'm using GV without a linked number, and I still receive SMSes at GV.

They can still be forwarded to your email, but they quietly disabled the forwarding to linked numbers, yes.

Re: Google Voice has stopped forwarding SMS

#14

Post by dheera »

vladgur wrote: post #9

Whats a good GV alternative? I dont mind paying for a service as well

Twilio. I send all idiot 2FA websites to a Twilio number and forward to Slack. You can also forward to e-mail or pretty much do whatever you want.

Twilio's also great because I can set it up to answer known 2FA voice calls and hit the # button automatically to confirm.

I also use it to play endless loops of hold music for unscheduled calls to teach businesses to stop calling me without making an appointment and e-mail me instead.

Re: Google Voice has stopped forwarding SMS

#15

Post by jerrya »

Animats wrote: post #4

Years ago, I used Google Voice to receive text messages. Then Twilio came along and I switched to them. Much better.

I am vaguely aware of twilio's api offerings, but they don't have a consumer product do they?

What in particular are you doing, and how much does that cost?

Re: Google Voice has stopped forwarding SMS

#16

Post by ocdtrekkie »

yellow_lead wrote: post #3

I'm not sure about others who still use this service, but I learned about this the hard way when I missed some important messages. I thought others should know, since it seems Google hasn't issued any communication on this to customers. EDIT: Seems they did send an email about 2 weeks before the change.

I received an email about this from Google well over a month prior to the change. I have issues with this change (see my own comment), but they did send notices.

Whether or not they successfully got those emails to somewhere you saw them or not, and whether a month is enough notice for upending your SMS strategy are both good questions though, I suppose.

Re: Google Voice has stopped forwarding SMS

#17

Post by yellow_lead »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #16
yellow_lead wrote: post #3

I'm not sure about others who still use this service, but I learned about this the hard way when I missed some important messages. I thought others should know, since it seems Google hasn't issued any communication on this to customers. EDIT: Seems they did send an email about 2 weeks before the change.

I received an email about this from Google well over a month prior to the change. I have issues with this change (see my own comment), but they did send notices. Whether or not they successfully got those emails to somewhere you saw them or not, and whether a month is enough notice for upending your SMS strategy are both good questions though, I suppose.

It looks like I did receive an email. I retract my original comment.

Re: Google Voice has stopped forwarding SMS

#20

Post by tyingq »

"Important: In light of spam causing potential issues with SMS forwarding, text message forwarding to linked numbers will stop on or after August 1."

That's interesting. I thought Google felt like they were quite good at squashing spam.

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