Google Hangouts with Voice gets yanked
We’d written a bit about how people were reporting being prompted to merge Google Voice with Google Hangouts to make the latter a complete messaging/voicemail platform. Most of you were not among those previously lucky enough to see the Voice integration options.
If you were one of those who merged your Voice and Hangouts, you might want to check again as it’s being reported that those options have been undone server side. The people who had the long-awaited software update have seen the functionality slip from their phones.
Users who have found themselves unmerged and who were previously using Google Voice for voicemails will find an inbox over there filled with “why haven’t you called me back?” messages, along with your eventual HR meeting request. So make sure if you were one of the mergers to grab Voice again if you’ve uninstalled it.
According to Google’s Director of Engineering, the new features will be activated in a few days (there’s no better time frame listed).
Considering all the random crashes I’ve seen with Google Play services and Hangouts over the past couple of days I’d expect some of the decision to roll early adopters back was because of some bad experiences.
You’ll still be able to use the new Hangouts and VoIP options while waiting for the MMS, SMS, Voicemail enhancements (you supposedly will be able to use at least SMS from the web like Voice does, and MMS is listed as an enhancement so hopefully also from the web).
[Droid Life]
