With Android Q on the horizon...

[Mike McGee]

With all of the permission changes as well as the upcoming next version of Android.... Can we have an update on the plans for maintaining this app?

Thank you

[Kevin Worth]

For starters, I am sorry to everyone who has either posted or emailed recently and I haven't been able to respond. Finding the time has been difficult.

Trying to keep this short - Voice Choice has always simply worked the same way Google Voice has worked. Google Voice listens for outgoing calls, and so does Voice Choice. But now, Google Play is saying that not just any app can request the "Outgoing Calls Permission". I made a handful of attempts to submit an exemption request form and each time I was denied with a mostly canned response. So yes, the app has been pulled off Google Play and the only way to re-publish it would be to break it (or potentially completely redesign 

Regarding Android Q, early indications are the app can still work as it does currently (including Android Q beta 3, which is good). So, perhaps the next step is to find a way to 

1. Distribute the app out to you guys
   
2. Keep supporting the app each time Google breaks it, etc.
3. Monetize it in such a way that trying to achieve #1 and #2 doesn't ruin the lives of those closest to me

So, that's generally where things are at. I want to keep at this as long as I can, and so I'm doing what I can with what I have. Currently I'm guessing I could split the app into two apps that could work together but neither one could do much independently. Only one of them would request the permission which Google Play is stating I can't request, and so then *that* app would have to be distributed outside of Google Play.

I hope that helps at least a little. For those who find themselves without a working version, I am sorry, and I do want to figure out how to get something to you. In the meantime, if there are any suggestions for a reasonable, fair ask for compensation of time/effort to keep supporting the app, please let me know your thoughts and opinions.

-Kevin

[John Losee]

I know I would gladly pay for this app and I think most that use it would to.  It provides a needed functionality for anyone that uses GV especially those of us that use it on a work phone and want to keep those two lines separate.  

[Sang Kim]

Kevin.  Thank you for your response.  I understand the situation you are in and further development and support on something you cannot monetize at the moment is not ideal.  But for the people that paid for the app.  Can we get the APK for the last published version?  A couple of us had either replaced our phones or had to restore our phones and are stuck without this app that we rely on.  Had there been some prior notice, we could have taken some measures to prevent losing this application (not restore our phones or somehow transfer the application from our old phone to new phone).  

[Kevin Worth]

The hard part here is the app is built to be distributed *and authorized* for use via Google Play mechanisms. Letting it out in the wild potentially opens up the flood gates to piracy and the like.

Sorry, I realize that's not the answer anyone would have hoped for. I'm doing my best to maintain and support this as a product and not just a hobby project.

Thanks for your patience everyone.

[Vladimir Kelman]

Kevin,

I'm not an Android developer (hopefully yet), so I don't have any technical suggestion. As other users, I like the app, the ability to automatically switch between placing a call directly or through GV  based on the list of users is essential and very convenient. I'd be ready to pay for this app and to temporary allow installations from third party source on my phone to install it as necessary. If you split application like you said, would it be possible for an application sitting on a Google Play to request installation of a second app from some external source?

Vladimir Kelman

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[Greg Ottira]

Was V2 a paid app? It's been so long I can't remember. 

[Kevin Worth]

@Greg, yes. For anyone who paid for it in the first year or two, it was $5.99. After someone copied me and put out a free version I reduced it to $2.99 and put the most basic functionality (matching the copy cat) in the free version. Voice Choice 2.0 became the place to put all of the feature improvements that people started asking for.

[Kevin Worth]

@Vladimir, good questions, I've also been asking them myself. So, it may come to that. We'll see. But... it appears I may have found something (or my friend did and let me know about it...)

I'm guessing this will be our new answer: https://developer.android.com/reference/android/telecom/CallRedirectionService 

Seeing that Google restricted the existing API, and has now deprecated it, it only makes sense this (CallRedirectionService) was their plan all along, but they weren't able/ready to announce it yet.

It's early still - I've only just become aware of CallRedirectionService - but once I've played with this and start to learn more, I'll keep you all posted.

Unfortunately, this may end up meaning only people with Android Q or higher (Android 10+) will be able to install and use the new version of the app, but we'll see how it all turns out.

Thanks guys.

-Kevin

On Wednesday, May 8, 2019 at 10:58:13 AM UTC-4, Vladimir Kelman wrote:

Kevin,

I'm not an Android developer (hopefully yet), so I don't have any technical suggestion. As other users, I like the app, the ability to automatically switch between placing a call directly or through GV  based on the list of users is essential and very convenient. I'd be ready to pay for this app and to temporary allow installations from third party source on my phone to install it as necessary. If you split application like you said, would it be possible for an application sitting on a Google Play to request installation of a second app from some external source?

Vladimir Kelman

On Wed, May 8, 2019 at 9:33 AM Kevin Worth <app...@gmail.com> wrote:

The hard part here is the app is built to be distributed *and authorized* for use via Google Play mechanisms. Letting it out in the wild potentially opens up the flood gates to piracy and the like.

Sorry, I realize that's not the answer anyone would have hoped for. I'm doing my best to maintain and support this as a product and not just a hobby project.

Thanks for your patience everyone.

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[John Losee]

Any news or updates? 

- John Losee

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[Raul Vasquez]

Is there a chance the APK will be made available in the meanwhile?

[John Losee]

Kevin, any updates? 

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[Kevin Worth]

Sorry for the radio silence, guys. Time management has become a challenge as all the priorities of my life seem to be at odds with each other.

Here's my commitment. I want to get the app back on the store before Android Q releases to the public. If I fail to do that, then it may be time to throw in the towel, or rethink things.

As I've said, the hardest part is the demand for time. It's difficult to explain to family that I need to spend tons of my free time getting an app updated...and they won't see anything from it ("So, you're going to spend all this time working...but you won't get paid?")

Maybe I just need to do a Kickstarter or something to get a feel for what value everyone puts on this thing.

[John Losee]

Kevin,

I think most people would be happy if you even just put the APK out there for us to sideload.  I've already paid for app but I'd even still be willing to fork over $5-$10 to get the APK.  We could easily send the money to you via paypal and you could use dropbox or a number of other cloud locations to let people download it from there. 

That said, if you are interesting in continuing to develop this then Kickstarter is an option.  My only fear is that putting together a kickstarter takes its own amount of time.  

Lastly, I'd be interested in buying the source code from you and continuing the development for you.

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[Sang Kim]

Just food for thought. Other apps that I used (a call recorder app I use) that were about to be pulled from the market warned me prior to the deadline.  Which allowed me to extract the APK using a free app from the app store or  using ADB debug mode.  This helped me ensure that I would have an application that I legally paid for, before it got pulled from the play store.  It's funny, in the past, apps that were pulled from the store were still made available to people that purchased them, but I guess google decided against this for these types of apps. For example, I still have flappy bird available to me from the play store, even though that was pulled years ago.  Anyways, maybe throw a bone to some of the users out that that paid for it legally.  Mail them them the APK.  Because had they had prior warning, they could've done something about it.

On Tuesday, May 7, 2019 at 8:29:04 PM UTC-4, Mike McGee wrote:

[Greg Ottira]

I'm up for side loading as well. Drop the apk in Dropbox and give the paid users access to it. I'd also be willing to support a Kickstarter, but seeing how a lot of Kickstarters go it could be months before we see anything.

[Rob]

Sideloading would be nice for those who purchased it. Then sell your upgrade as v3 through the store and all new development would be done on that version. I'd buy it again, especially since I can't sideload -- my phone is from my employer and sideloading is locked down by policy. My guess is that I'm not the only one in that boat, and $6 or whatever is more than reasonable for the value you're bringing me. And of course this enables you to continue selling to new users.

Another thought: have you considered targeting small and medium enterprises? Many are having employees BYOD rather than buying them phones. It looks like businesses can also get Google Voice numbers via G Suite, and your app makes it far easier to manage two numbers on the same device. And they'd rather pay for something that's supported rather than some $0 app like your competition.

[Jennifer Egan]

Have you thought about using Patreon as a way to charge for the app?

[Some user out there in the ether]

Google/Android has been pissing me off for some time. 

Voice Choice (Paid) made google voice usable in a car/on a motorbike. Unfortunately after a phone dying I lost access to the app I have paid for , and do not appear to have the apk backed up anywhere :(

Really wish Ubuntu phones had taken off.

[IconBoy]

I (thankfully) was able to save the APK file but when I install it on my wife's new phone, when I start the app, it stays blank for ages and then says something along the lines of "can't verify account". The app was in my Family Library. Worked perfectly for all our family devices. We rely heavily on Voice Choice 2 as both of us use Google Voice numbers for work, school, Dr etc.

Does it mean I have to add my account on her phone (the one that bought VC2) for VC2 to actually run?

[Greg Ottira]

I think the app is dead, haven't seen a post from the dev in a while. Really sad as this app has been a god send for years. 

[Deo Yasol]

What version number did you install? 2.26.2 is working for me, although I have not tried installing it on a family member's device. I'll try it tonight...

[Jennifer Egan]

Can you post the APK that works for you? Mine is gone :(

On Tue, Aug 13, 2019, 10:13 AM Deo Yasol <dya...@gmail.com> wrote:

What version number did you install?  2.26.2 is working for me, although I have not tried installing it on a family member's device.   I'll try it tonight... 

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[IconBoy]

I'm, using 2.26.2. It seems the registered version installs okay as long as you have the original account it was bought on in Google Play.

Kevin, the developer, spoke about not wanting to post the APK, so out of respect to him — unless he says okay — I am unable to post the APK.

[Greg Ottira]

This shits gotta leak somewhere, this is ridicules. Just checked my older cell phone i hopes I had it installed but no such luck. I wonder if I restore from some google backup from months ago if it would still be there. Disappointed the dev has updated to work with the current version of android or at least provided us paid users access to it.

[Raul Vasquez]

I pulled the file off a retired device of mine. it's working great on my essential ph-1 Version 2.26.2 https://www.dropbox.com/s/ri9pmb7fe84yupz/com.voiceplus%20%281%29.apk?dl=0

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[Jasey DePriest]

Kevin,

First of all, thanks for making this amazing application. Nobody else was stepping up.

I just upgraded to Android Q / 10 and found that Voice Choice started acting weird. It's lost some of its settings and the requirement to set Google Voice to be the Default Dialer isn't an option any more. I have these options in my system settings.

Call redirecting app (Voice is the only option)

Phone app (Phone is the only option)

The Voice Choice 2.0 app will never get past initial setup because the checkbox for "Google Voice Set Up Correctly" can never be accurately checked.

I'm no developer so i can't give you anything more than that, but I'd be willing to test any betas (as long as they don't require root) if you need an Android Q test device. It's a Pixel 3 XL so it's about as stock as you can get.

Thanks!

Jasey

On Thursday, May 9, 2019 at 10:26:06 PM UTC-5, Kevin Worth wrote:

[David Smith]

Don't bother.  Kevin has shown he doesn't give a rip about the customers who paid for his product.  He doesn't respond nor cares about either releasing the apk for what we already paid for or supporting this app going forward.

[Todd Hare]

Check earlier in the comments. Someone posted the APK. It's working fine on my Pixel 3a XL.

[John Losee]

I've tried the APK on my galaxy S10, doesn't seem to work.  It installs fine and appears to be setup correct including showing that it is using google voice to make the call via the optional pop up message but when I verify the number on the receiving end it only shows my actual number.

[Todd Hare]

That stinks. I'm sorry. Hopefully we get an updated version as this was my most missed app after I upgraded phones.

[John Losee]

Actually..... you just prompted me to rereview my settings and noticed I hadn't set google voice to make all calls.  Sure enough it works.  Thanks Todd!  David, give the APK from the comment back in August a try it may work for you.

[Todd Hare]

Awesome! Glad it worked for you. I was having a problem as well until I changed a setting.

[GusBode]

I have a Pixel 2XL and did a factory reset.  Reinstalled Voice Choice and found out the hard way if you go to settings, search on default apps, and look at the "Call redirection app" setting.  If you have that to anything other than NONE it will not work.  I had Google Voice as the option and while GV worked, VC did not.  Anyhow the fix to remove that field is to go to app info on Google Voice, click on Storage & cache and Clear Storage.  Then uninstall Google Voice.   This clears the default app setting.  Now reinstall Google Voice and DO NOT touch the default apps Call redirection setting.

Setup Google Voice as normal, then double check your VC settings.

On a side note.  Android 10 does have that new API for Call redirection that someone could code to and make this app very powerful.

[Kevin Worth]

@GusBode, yeah...

I was also hopeful on that new API myself. From my experimenting with it (including reverse engineering Google Voice in its current state) it's not looking good.

Basically the call can be cancelled, and nothing happens, or the call can be left unmodified, and then it goes through GV. So, there's no way to tell it to not use Google Voice.

Ideally, Google Voice would be registered as a PhoneAccountHandle and then Voice Choice could redirect to it. But from what I'm seeing, it's not and therefore Voice Choice can't.

Not giving up yet, but at the moment it appears the only doable thing would be to modify the number so that it would always dial your Google Voice number, navigate the automated system, and dial the call, but that has all sorts of inconveniences and brokenness to it - not to mention the fact it would only be available to people on Android 10+.

We'll see.

[Choua3]

Hi Kevin, I'm not sure if this is an easy work around. But can't you just create a Phone book/Dialer clone that "Opens with" Google voice. And the phone book can be sorted by groups you want included?

I don't mind doing that. I'd pay 5 bucks for it at this point.

[Jim Packer]

Hey Kevin,

When I upgraded my phone to a Galaxy S10, the app is working on my phone as I restored the apps from backup.  On one of my phones, I had to side-load it, the app opens but freezes on the splash "Appsiom" page and fails to finish opening.  Is there a work-around to this?

[IconBoy]

> the app opens but freezes on the splash "Appsiom" page
> and fails to finish opening.  Is there a work-around to this?

This has happened to me when installing on other phones IconBoy the family as I don't think Voice Choice was available for Family Sharing. The reason (I guess!) is because you're installing it on additional phone and the original account the Voice Choice app was bought with is not on that device.
My workaround is to remove all Google Accounts and then install the original account that had Voice Choice first. I then disable all syncing on that account. Then add the account that will be used for that device.
You should then progress beyond the splash screen.
I've tried uninstalling the original account afterwards but seems to have it not work then. 😬