Never heard of it. Don’t know what it is.
All of the “virtual assistants” are tools to spy on the user around the clock. You don’t even need to say “hey Siri” first anymore, just state your question with “siri” inserted in the question. That means that the AI being used is monitoring the voices and sounds in your environment constantly.
It is an app that allows you to make phone calls and send texts.
We migrated our old land line number to a free Google Voice account just in case there were still some people who just had that number for us.
Haven’t used it and won’t. We use talkie.io I beleive the address is- works through a browser, so anyone can join, and you can set up easily password protected rooms. I think it will work with any browser too.
Don’t know h9w,secure it is, but that goes for all chat programs-
Never made a lot of calls, so it was a novelty more than anything.
I’ve used Google Voice for years. No problems. I give out that number to companies and advertisers, and it all goes to voice mail (or even text) that I can check at my leisure.
That means my REAL phone is reserved just for friends and family.
Our business uses it to make and receive phone calls and texts. It works fine and screens spam quite well. I mostly use the desktop app but also use the phone app.
Have used for many years. Extremely handy. Like another person said, it has allowed me to keep some phone numbers without having any bill on them.
Don’t use it for anything confidential, but definitely sign up to play with it.
If you want to transfer a land line, you may have to first transfer that number to a wireless phone first. To date, GV can’t transfer a land line number directly.
GV is free. Transferring has cost me $10 each time.
I believe that GV was a product called Grand Central that google bought..
One more thing. Don’t “google” things. Do “web searches” and don’t use google for that. It’s extremely biased.
They changed their motto a few years from Don’t Be Evil. They simply dropped one little word.
I’ve used Google Voice for years. It allows me to have a second line on my cell phone and for no charge. It’s a very reliable service. I find it particularly useful when traveling.
“are there any caveats?”
Besides everything you say being recorded and transmitted to Google HQ for them to do with what they please?
Occasionally I have to send group texts. Google Voice lets me send the message to up to seven numbers at a time, which beats having to send the text individually twenty or thirty times. I used it for a phone call once. Nothing memorable one way or another.
Scammers use Google voice to steal your phone identity on Facebook Marketplace... and probably other places as well.
If anyone ever asks you to verify your identity by sharing a verification code sent to you by text, DON’T!
They send you a verification code through Google voice that is intended by Google to protect your own phone ID to use their voice services.
The scammer can then claim to be the owner of your phone number, using it to open up various other accounts online.
Last time someone asked me to self verify that way, I simply went into google voice (you don’t have to be signed up to do this) and pinged THEIR phone with a verification code... and asked them to give me theirs instead... I didn’t hear back from them.
I have a few google numbers, I don’t text so I tell people who want to send me photos to use my google number, that way I get them on the computer and can see the photos the way I want to.
I thought Google Voice ended a few years ago. Can use if you have it already, but something else has taken its place. (Just what I read. Not sure if true.)
Google Voice is a great free service from Google. (There are paid versions for things like multiple numbers and international calling.)
GV is a virtual phone system. When you sign up you get a local phone number assigned to your Google account. You can use it to make and receive phone calls and text messages from within a browser (such as Chrome) or within the GV smart app that you can download from Google’s Play Store.
GV includes voice mail. When you view messages in the browser or GV app you can navigate them visually like email. GV transcribes your messages into text.
You can configure and customize GV. For example, you can have it forward incoming calls to your cell phone. Or, as is often the case, you can use it as your cell phone’s default voicemail.
By installing the GV smart app on your phone, you essentially are adding a free second phone line to your phone. You can set hours on GV, and this allows you to give out the number where you are in control of when you can be reached. For example, if you use your GV number as a business line, you can set hours of operation and route incoming calls to voice mail when they come in outside of your business hours.
Outbound calls from GV will display your GV number as the caller ID to the call recipient.
As someone already mentioned, you can send group texts from within GV. GV conveniently accesses your phone’s contact lists which can sync with Google contacts. But FYI, if you send group texts, every recipient can see ALL of the phone numbers in the group. If anyone replies to the group (which is the default) everyone will get their text message. So, be sure that everyone in your list is ok with their phone number being shared like this.
GV is a VOIP (voice-over-IP) service. This means it relies on an active Internet connection in order to make and receive calls and text. On your phone the GV app uses your phone’s Internet access to function rather than connecting calls through the standard cellular service. You can also make and receive calls when connecting with GV by wifi, etc. If you are offline, GV continues to operate in the cloud, so your calls will be routed accordingly.
I’ve used it while traveling abroad - works great!
I used in the past, and it can be handy. I liked it because I could my PC microphone to speak thru it and hear better via speakers than a phone.
“...and if so, are there any caveats?”
Yes. IT’S EFFIN GOOGLE! What’s the matter with you ppl.