Google Voice is being integrated into Google Hangouts on Android, in what appears to be an an attempt by the search company to streamline its messaging services. Previously only available in the iOS version of Hangouts, the Android app now gives the option of making or receiving voice calls, text messages, and the ability to access voicemails on Google Voice.
Uers of both services will now see a prompt in Hangouts offering to migrate Google Voice over to the app. The transfer process does have a few issues, with replies to messages seemingly not working at all, with no option to select which phone number the outbound message uses, though receiving messages sent to the Google Voice number will still work normally, with the “via GV” note advising how the message traveled.
While the notifications in the app have appeared, with a similar message on the Google Voice web portal, there has yet to be any official announcement of the change. The Hangouts app notification appears without an update, suggesting it to be purely a back-end change, with fixes to the current issues likely to appear as part of an incoming app update.
