It might not be one of Google’s most used services, but Voice fans are as dedicated as they come. While the app doesn’t get the attention as often as many of us might like, today is your lucky day. Voice benefits from four long-awaited features that should make its calling and texting experience much smoother and more manageable.

Google attributes all of its new upgrades directly to fan feedback, which makes them all the more exciting. First, “Missed Call Reason”, which explains why an incoming call was sent to your voicemail. You can set up voice accounts to block all incoming calls until they’re turned off, so being able to see precisely why you missed something is an important addition. Google is also adding call drop reasons to the app, so if a conversation is lost due to a poor Wi-Fi connection, you will now have the option to redial using your mobile network.

Missed calls (left) and dropped calls (right) now display a reason.

However, it’s not just about improvements to calls and redialing. While SMS might not be the newest technology on the market, it is an essential tool for anyone who uses Voice. You can finally select multiple SMS threads at once when you clear your inbox, a feature so basic that I’m really surprised it’s not already part of the service. Finally, iOS users now have the option to activate their own Voice number as caller ID when a call comes in. It’s a small change, but one that should make iOS users very happy.

Several SMS threads selected at the same time.

The ability to delete multiple texts at once is now available to all users, as are call abandonment reasons and caller ID options on iOS. The reasons for the missed calls started reaching users on July 15 and are expected to complete their gradual rollout over the next few days.

the voice of google
the voice of google