3rd party app for GV notifications?

[Slinkwyde]

I use GV on a smartphone without cellular data, so I have the "receive text messages on this phone" option checked. That way I can still receive texts when I'm away from WiFi.

When I'm connected to WiFi, Tasker disables my cell radio to save battery. The official Google Voice app doesn't let me get notifications from it if I have "receive text messages on this phone" enabled. In that app, it's either one or the other.

Is there a third party app I can use to get Android notifications for Google Voice? As it is now, I have to manually monitor the widget whenever I'm on WiFi.

[taoman54]

You might try Popup Notifier. I don't use the GV app so I can't say if it will work or not. But it's free so it's at least worth a shot. It's worked for everything I've tried so far.......but I'm using cellular data. Not sure if that will make a difference or not.

[fratermus]

I use GV on a smartphone without cellular data, so I have the "receive text messages on this phone" option checked. That way I can still receive texts when I'm away from WiFi.

When I'm connected to WiFi, Tasker disables my cell radio to save battery.

I use a no-data plan + Tasker + Voice also.

I just leave the cell radio on; it seems to make very little difference to the battery life (per Bettery Battery Stats) unless the phone is deep in a building and trying to find a tower. At some point I'll write a task that goes airplane mode for a few mins if cell connectivity is lost to minimize the hit from that specific scenario.

[tmobiley]

I hear both are good - tasker and popup... which is better?

I'm looking for a push notification solution as well.

[Slinkwyde]

I hear both are good - tasker and popup... which is better?

I'm looking for a push notification solution as well.

Tasker can send notifications, but it's not a notification app. It's a phone automation app that's extremely powerful if you know how to use it, but the learning curve is steep.

I looked at Popup Notifier, but it seems to be an alternative way to get Android notifications. I don't see any mention of a tie in with Google Voice, but maybe I'm missing something.

[zarraza]

that just doesn't make sense.
the app should get both messages and notifications while on either wifi or cell. are you sure that it's not only disabling data, but maybe also disabling SYNC?

can you white list the GV app? how about check settings to see if you can change where the messages are received? (either the GV app or via the messaging app (default)?

I like EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT for monitoring my emails texts (including GV) FB, and a few others - they have a free and a paid version - setup is easy - and you can choose to set up only what you want to monitor - and it has sync intervals as short as 5 minutes instead of what some other apps do - 30 minutes plus for a minimum sync interval.

another alternative is to try an entire third party app designed for GV texting? - TALKATONE was released a while back for android and works well (on everything except ICS for me apparently)


I just don't understand why your GV app isn't working - it doesn't make sense. Mobile data is required for neither sending/receiving text messages, or using the google voice app - regardless if you have the setting to receive texts to this phone set up or not - maybe you should attempt to uninstall or reinstall the GV app???

[fratermus]

Mobile data is required for neither sending/receiving text messages, or using the google voice app - regardless if you have the setting to receive texts to this phone set up or not - maybe you should attempt to uninstall or reinstall the GV app???

If I'm reading correctly the trick the OP is trying to do is use GV's (free) data-delivered "SMS" when on wifi and use normal SMS (non-free on many prepaid plans) when data is not available.

There is no current solution for automating this config change AFAIK, and google basically has three settings;
* don't forward sms
* forward sms via normal telco method; receive in the stock messaging app. Requires the radio to be on.
* forward "sms" via Voice; receive in Voice. Requires some kind of data access (wifi, mobile, whatever).


A neat solution would be a hook in the Voice app that toggles the sms/Voice setting from Tasker or whatever. We could use that hook to make the correct change as we enter/leave areas with wifi.

[Slinkwyde]

Fratermus, I have cellular data turned off on my carrier account, so if I'm not on WiFi I have no Internet at all. When I leave WiFi, my phone is unable to communicate with Google's servers to change the setting to #2. So I'm not trying to automate the changing of that setting.

Because I keep it set to #2 at all times, the GV app doesn't notify me when it receives those free Internet texts. It assumes I'll get Android notifications for the normal SMS messages GV sends, but when I'm on WiFi my cell radio turns off. The GV app receives new messages but I get no notification that anything has happened.

I'm looking for a third-party app that will notify me when it receives Internet texts from Google Voice, and I would have that app running when I'm on WiFi. That's the trick I'm trying to accomplish. Someone mentioned Talkatone, but I suspect it would interfere with GrooVe IP for voice calls.

[Slinkwyde]

I think I'll just take your advice about keeping the cell radio on. I wish there was a better option.

[ziddey]

You can try using Talkatone instead of the Google Voice app.

Of course the problem with this is you can get flooded with SMSes when you turn the radio back on. But that was the case all along.

The guys at Talkatone seem very willing to take suggestions for their app (although they usually implement it in their paid service, which may be worthwhile).

For example, they responded to requests and implemented server side switching of call forwarding. If you are disconnected from Talkatone (out of service), it will automatically enable forwarding to your cell number. If you are connected, it will disable forwarding to your cell. This way, you won't get dual ringing if you keep the cell radio on.

You can suggest that they similarly toggle SMS forwarding on the Google Voice end of things. That way, if you are connected to Talkatone, it won't forward SMSes to your cell. And if you're disconnected, it'll re-enable. This would prevent you from being bombarded with stale texts.

[Slinkwyde]

Maybe I can find a widget or something that makes it very easy to manually switch GV between app texting mode and carrier texting mode. Then I'd just have to remember to toggle that when I enter or leave WiFi. The Talkatone idea isn't bad at all, but I've read that on Android GrooVe IP is better and that GV can only support one Google Chat client at a time.

[ziddey]

I'm sorry if you think GrooVe IP is better.

[Slinkwyde]

It's not that I came to that conclusion myself and firmly made up my mind. It's just what I read in the reviews on Google Play. I'm certainly still open to trying Talkatone more. I've used it on my iPod before, but only briefly.

Can Talkatone integrate with the native dialer like GrooVe IP can? My native dialer places calls through GrooVe IP whenever I'm on WiFi.