Why no good 3rd-party Google Voice apps/widgets?

[Penguissimo]

I don't mean the question in the thread title in a whiny "why won't developers give me the apps I want??" tone, but in a genuinely curious one.

Off the top of my head, I can think of a half-dozen great 3rd-party SMS apps and widgets (Handcent, Chomp, LP Widgets, Pure Messenger, etc.), but it seems like the only 3rd-party Google Voice apps out there are unread count widgets and apps to send group SMS. Even apps/widgets that support a number of different protocols (like Pure Messenger, with Gmail/SMS/K9 Mail) don't include GV support.

Is there a technical reason for this? Is the GV API poorly documented, or hard to use, or even closed? The fact that even apps like Tasker don't do much with GV makes me suspect there could be something like this. Or do devs assume that most people just use carrier SMS forwarding with GV anyway, bypassing the native Google Voice app/widget entirely, and the native app is good enough for the rest?

Personally, I use GV SMS almost exclusively these days (even going so far as to respond to carrier SMS by using GV), and I'd be willing to pony up a decent chunk of change for a GV app/widget of the same caliber as Pure Messenger or Chomp/Handcent. I can't be the only one, right?

 

[Clementine_3]

I use GV exclusively and would love to see some sort of alternative!

 

[BookLover]

+ 1

 

[shrink57]

+1
I am going to join this party. I also use Google Voice instead of paying $$$ to Verizon for my text messages (I hate text messages in general but since everyone uses them for me they are a necessary evil). I would love to see a full featured app like Handcent or Go SMS be able to handle GV.

 

[rehpyc]

I was actually thinking the same yesterday.. why there has been no apps that integrate GV and are more configurable, like Chomp and Handcent.

 

[Penguissimo]

I'm glad to know I'm not crazy here! I wonder if there's a dev who would be willing to do something like this if the price were right...maybe I should post over on XDA?

 

[lexluthor]

+1
Been wanting to ask the same thing.

 

[Penguissimo]

So it seems there's some interest in this sort of thing. Now comes the big question: would anyone be willing to pay for a developer to put the time into this? I'm willing to start a bounty thread over on XDA (and chip in $10 or so) if enough other people are interested, but it's probably not worth it if the total bounty ends up being in the $25 range. What do you guys think?

 

[violentlyseren]

I really only use google voice for transcribed messages and a way to forward texts to email but options really can never be bad. The GV interface could be done a lot better. I'd definitely try it out if a developer decided to make an app.

 

[lexluthor]

Bumping this. I'm really surprised no one has tackled this. It might be somewhat of a niche, but pretty much everyone who uses Google Voice for texting would download/pay for this. Should be enough people to make it worthwhile to build.

I'm pretty sure there's a GV API, so it should be doable.

I shot off emails to Go SMS, Handcent and Chomp SMS. I'll post here if any of them reply. They all have the application built. How much work could it be to just have SMS come in and go out via the GV API?

 

[mkampy]

+ another 1

me too, even if it just adds more options for vibrate pattern & such...

 

[lexluthor]

Chomp SMS is the only one of the 3 who wrote back.

Their reply: "Integration with Google voice is on our to do list."

I followed with weeks? months? year? and got this reply: "Sorry I can't say at the moment, we're in the middle of getting the next release of chomp out."

Probably a long way off yet, but at least someone is looking at it.

 

[zarraza]

Wanted to see if anyone has heard or seen anything about this yet. It had been almost a year.
PersonallyI'm looking for a secondary app to be able to run multiple GV accounts on one android phone like I can on my iphone but I have yet to find something that will work