How bout’ some Push
January 19th, 2010
So I’m going to invest in adding Push to the app. My sole reason is, everybody wants it, including the pirates (Arggg), and I can use it as leverage to lock down the app. 
So if you want Push, it will have some additional steps required after the fact (registration with me perhaps).
Yay!
Hooray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Thanks for all the hard work Sean!
This would be excellent. Thanks again for a great app!
Seems like Sean is making a lot of headway on GV mobile app which is brilliant!!!
Thanks for the hard work.
Only sad thing is that I am not going to jailbreak my iPhone to use his new GV mobile app. I bought the original GV mobile app and it worked great until it stopped working (nothing to do with Sean’s app, just usual BS between ATT, Apple and Google). I am really hoping that Apple will allow Sean’s new GV mobile app. Call me old fashioned, but some of us just don’t want to jailbreak their iphones. I can still dream that Apple will allow the new GV mobile app soon
Sean, I purchased the original app, and loved it. I jailbroke, and downloaded the app again. Loved it. I’ve purchased the new GV +, love it. BUT, what do you need push for? When someone calls my GV number, it rings my phone. If they leave a message, I get a text of it. If they text me, it comes to my phone too. Is there a feature GV offers that I’m missing, and which I’m not otherwise being notified of? Just curious, seems like developing other features would be a better use of your time (though, honestly, you’ve done a great job so I’m not sure what features are missing!)…
I’ve been using boxcar for that, but it’s not dependable enough. Takes forever for me to get a push notice after I get a txt. Plus, Boxcar only links back to gmail.com, not google.com/voice.
Sean, I appreciate your efforts in pleasing your customers, but you’ve got some really lazy customers apparently. I’ve got Prowl set up with GV Mobile+ and it works perfectly. I get a text, select View from the Prowl Push notification, and it opens in GV Mobile+. I would save yourself some money and write up a little step-by-step guide on setting up GV Mobile+ with Prowl. Problem solved. Money saved. People happy.
Your a gentlemen and a scholar. Love the new app that I “paid” for, I will support you til the end.
You should maybe look into using AppEngine. It’s Google, so that might relieve some barriers and it’s free, so you wouldn’t have to shoulder the cost of running a server. Plus it’s fast.
@Rob
Don’t you need a Growl client running on a desktop for Prowl to work? I’ve only done a little research on the topic so if I’m wrong that would be great. But, if it is the case, many of us don’t run a computer 24/7 in the laptop/iphone world we live in. Obviously a solution that doesn’t require a desktop or Sean running a server would be ideal for all if it exists.
@Rob – When prowl is used with GV+, does it behave like the native SMS app meaning the SMS being sent and received looks just like the native SMS?
Push notifications have to ultimately be passed along by an Apple-approved application. For most users, that is currently Prowl, which is a paid app.
If GV Mobile + is not allowed into the app store, people will have to continue to pay for Prowl to receive push notifications from Google Voice.
Unless I’m missing something…
Sean, you are going over and above in your dedication to GV Mobile. Awesome. I’m currently using Google Voice email notifications plus PushMail to get notifications and it’s working great. Having a native push notification solution in GV Mobile is the killer feature though not necessary. No matter what you do with GV Mobile I’ll always support you to the end. Thanks!
Having push notifications for text messages would allow you to stop paying the stupid text message fees to AT&T. Fight the Power!
@Openstep
So to use Prowl with Google Voice and GV Mobile+, you do not need an always-on Growl client. I use VoiceGrowl at http://googlevoice.ub3rk1tten.com/voicegrowl/. Once you log in, it gives you full instructions on how to set it all up.
On the front page that the link above takes you too, there are advanced settings to change what is shown. In the image, it shows “GV (adam.pash) – Adam Pash”. For texts sent to me, it shows “SMS from X” where X is the person (or number if they aren’t a contact) that sent the text to me. I also set up Prowl so that if I click “View” to view the alert, it will open GV Mobile+ straight to the SMS view. After it updates, I’m good to go. The whole process is maybe 3 or 4 seconds slower than receiving a native SMS, but it’s worth it to me.
There are plenty of guides out there on how to set this all up. Also, thanks to Sean including the URL handlers in plus, there is no SSH required. Anyone can do this if they have 10 minutes.
@JT
So with my setup, someone sends me a text. I get a push notification from Prowl that displays “SMS from – Person” and shows the body. I click “View” on the alert if I want to reply and GV Mobile+ opens up to the SMS View. It auto-refreshes, then I select the text in GV Mobile+ that just arrived and respond to it. I have hidden Prowl in a category, so I don’t even see the badge icon for its notifications. For free texting through my GV number, there is absolutely no better solution. Also, I’ve done many tests and the Prowl Push notifications arrive seconds after the text is sent to my GV number.
@Chris
Push notifications for SMS would be great for people like me who live outside the U.S., since Google Voice doesn’t natively forward to non-U.S. numbers (yet). I’ve been using Prowl + GV Max, for this, but the latter just discontinued their free service.
@Openstep
You can get around having to have growl on your desktop by using this service from ub3rk1tten:
http://googlevoice.ub3rk1tten.com/voicegrowl/
I also think that if Sean adds push, he will essentially be working with ub3rk1tten on it (and probably moving it to a new domain) and integrating it a bit more in the GV Mobile + app, for settings and such…
As someone else said, in order for push to happen the app has to have official Apple support. That means the idea here is probably to still use Prowl, just to integrate it more.
Got an estimated timetable? I bought GV Mobile +, and wouldn’t mind registration!
I’ll either work with ub3r or go solo. Either way, it would utilize Google’s email based notifications as the trigger. No way in hell I could support all the users via manual refresh of accounts.
Everyone,
Stop using Growl/Prowl/whatever on your home computer. Check out Notifications at http://www.appnotifications.com and simply forward your Google Voice SMS to your new Notifications e-mail address. Watch it push. Done.
That said, if GV Mobile gets native push I will stop using Notifications (for SMS…it has other good uses, too).
@joe4444
sorry personally with so many negative reviews i would steer clear of that app. why pay anyone when you can just get push by having the sms forwarded to your gmail account. especially now that you can have more than one exchange account on the iphone.
http://foxyurl.com/O8y
@joe4444
“Stop using whatever app you have that works fine (and doesn’t need your home computer) and use this one that’s fake-free and requires you to pay to have notifications!”
No thank you. Just look at the reviews on that thing…
@Rob
If you go to the Settings app and then Push notifications, you can turn off the badge for Prowl and still leave the notices. Much nicer.
Being the developer of the notifications application I think that most of the reviews are unfair, however you can always try the application for free. Make your own mind about it, as simple as that.
And no, credits don’t apply on people who bought the applications, you have no usage limits at all.
Sean GVMax has gone open source and allows anyone to install it on their own App Server account. You should check into this. GVMax + Prowl looks like a pretty good solution. The great things is that if someone is techy enought they can install it themselves and not have to give out any login info to anyone.
Sean, is there a way when you do make a push notification for GV mobile+
that you can have the message appear on the app itself? Just like the native SMS app or even Irealsms app, whenever your txting you can see the person’s reply and reply right back as opposed to refreshing the screen.
c
I just bought Prowl and attempted to set up with Voice Growl. However, I am not receiving any Push Notifications via Prowl when a text is sent. The SMS is getting through to GV Mobile +, but no push. I know Prowl is working b/c I can send test messages from Voice Growl to my iPhone and I get a Push Notification from Prowl. I tried a reboot as well. Any ideas?
@kingoftowns and @T3hUb3rK1tten,
Most reviews (particularly in the app store) are very rarely a good indicator. Many people try something for 2 minutes and give up because they don’t read directions. Others don’t read the app’s full description, expect something different, then give the app a bad review. It doesn’t wipe their ass for them, therefore it gets 1 star. Just try it (for free) and see how well it works. I’ve never had any issues. Plus it’s only a $3 upgrade for enough notifications to last me literally years.
@kingoftowns,
I don’t forward SMS to my gmail because I’d rather SMS act like SMS and e-mail act like e-mail. That’s just my personal preference. Clearly a lot of people are putting out a good bit of effort to get push SMS for similar or their own reasons, so I suggested a simpler alternative that works great for me.
@Ub3rK1tten, I just noticed you didn’t really quote me but made up your own quote. The only reason Notifications costs $3 now (a whole $1 more than GV Mobile) is to support the developer and future versions of the app. It’s not another standalone fart app. It’s a service that requires hardware and bandwidth. Much like Sean, the developer decided he needed to offset his costs, so he gave the app an extremely modest price. It’s not “fake-free.” It’s “try it for free, buy if you like.”
Exactly, I don’t understand how people got that one wrong. And Apple has just approved a fix I did post 2 days ago which allow you to open GV Mobile+ automatically. Isn’t that great?
I think using Ub3rK1tten service with Prowl is a no-brainer.. Especially if you already have Prowl app (like me), which is very flexible and can be used for bunch of different things. I also like the way the way Ub3rK1tten service lets you customize the way the SMS is displayed when it’s pushed to iPhone.
You can also use free e-mail forwarding service to Prowl.. just set your Google Voice SMS forwarding e-mail to . Done. You just lose the SMS formatting flexibility,
I think using Ub3rK1tten service with Prowl is a no-brainer.. Especially if you already have Prowl app (like me), which is very flexible and can be used for bunch of different things. I also like the way the way Ub3rK1tten service lets you customize the way the SMS is displayed when it’s pushed to iPhone.
You can also use free e-mail forwarding service to Prowl.. just set your Google Voice SMS forwarding e-mail to your-API-key@mail2prowl.de. Done. You just lose the SMS formatting flexibility,
@ctyrider
can you help. I’m am trying to setup my @mail2prowl.de address with Google Voice. When Google Voice asks me to verify that address, how do I do that? I would get a notification in the Prowl iphone app,click the link to verify,but when i log in, it says the account has been deleted?
@JT
Not sure.. I have had no problem verifying my mail2prowl.de e-mail with Google. I suspect you’re not connecting to the right Google verification URL. Maybe try copying an URL from Prowl and pasting it into Safari.
@Rob
ya but you have to leave your computer on all the time for that. wont do the trick for me. i need push!!
http://googlevoice.ub3rk1tten.com/voicegrowl/ been using this service for a while now, its great. But native would be better
@JT
if you wanna use voicegrowl, copy and paste the API key from prowl to the voicegrowl settings. then make sure you click the save button at the bottom to save it. I made the same mistake before myself of not saving it. also make sure you have the correct info in the “from” section and forwarding email in the gmail settings. if anything else I would check the redirect settings
Note to everyone: Don’t buy an app or use a service just to push plain GMail emails, Google offers the best for free: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/push-gmail-for-iphone-and-windows.html (Unless you already have an Exchange account set up)
And if you need any help with VoiceGrowl, email voicegrowl@ub3rk1tten.com or Twitter @t3hub3rk1tten. I’d rather not solve problems through blog comments.
@joe4444
Go read the reviews on the app. I wasn’t talking about the star-only ones. I will never trust a developer who pulls that kind of stuff, especially with my private data. “If you don’t accept the terms, don’t upgrade” is a stupid excuse, since they paid for free upgrades.
Also, VoiceGrowl requires hardware and software, and yet I offer it totally for free.
@JT
So my guess is that it isn’t forwarding correctly. Make sure that your GV forwards SMS messages to your gmail account. In gmail, set up a filter so that anything sent from GV to gmail is forwarded on to voicegrowl. My filter looks for “Subject: (SMS from) OR (New Voicemail From)” and forwards to myname@googlevoice.ub3rk1tten.com. I have it skip the Inbox, mark as read, apply my “Google Voice” label (for archive purposes), and never send it to spam. This setup means I don’t get a notification in Mail.app every time I get a message.
So once you have forwarded it to voicegrowl, just confirm that the Prowl API key is saved. If you enter it in, then click test, it should send correctly, but if you don’t scroll down and click Save, it won’t Save. Also down by Save is “Advanced” where I have before mentioned that you can modified the Prowl Push Message. I have modified mine as previously mentioned, then set up the redirection in Prowl on my iPhone to look for “SMS from” in the app name and open GVMobile (SMS). Be sure to “Update Launchable List” before making the redirection or Prowl won’t see GVMobile (SMS) as an option to open.
If all this doesn’t work, um…. start over? This all worked for me very well and I haven’t had any problems. One day, Prowl didn’t want to send me any push messages (cause I’m JB), but I read that a quick toggle of wifi fixes it, which it did for me.
@km
So I’m not sure where I said that you needed a computer on all of the time… oh wait, here it is… “So to use Prowl with Google Voice and GV Mobile+, you do not need an always-on Growl client.” (Comment #15)
I assure you that I do not have a computer running 24-7 for this service, and I assure you also, this setup provides push just as fast as the native SMS does. Don’t give up.
In truth, the only thing better than Growl/GVM+ push would be native push in GVM+. That would avoid the slight inconvenience of SMS messages kept in both Growl and GVM+.
But given that GVM+ isn’t Apple-approved, native push isn’t possible.
Push can work in any jailbroken app, I emailed Sean the details.
@fabien : You really screwed the pooch by changing the app from paid to free. As you’ve been told many times, you should have just came out with a new app if you were going to radically change the pricing structure. I was an original purchaser of the app and you should have forked it into two apps. Not only that, but you didn’t seem to even ask anyone their opinion on your plan to make it free with in-app purchase. Had you have, it would have been apparent that about 95% of the people were going to be upset with you. I don’t know why you are still fighting the 1 star reviewers instead of listening. They are your *paying* customers.
For those that want push notifications in Prowl and all other push apps on jailbroken UNLOCKED phones, please Google Pushfix 2.0 or click my name under the icon.
Wow this is getting crazy. So Push for GV exists in two ways…
1) Push based on the emails Google sends (a filter forwards to a dedicated Push email account)
2) Push based on interval based refreshes of your GV account
1 is very cost effective since you don’t need servers to refresh thousands of accounts every 5 seconds or so.
2 isn’t because of what I said for 1.
GVMax and other Prowl based methods rely on Google’s AppEngine and Python scripts to do this refreshing every so often. Yeah it works, but not for housing many users on one GAE account (they have cpu/bandwidth usage limits).
Either way, I plan on teaming with K1tten to provide Push via what he has now. We’ll work together to make it seamless to setup (in app)…but that’s how it’s going to be done.
That of course, is after I implement DRM.
Im testing out the PushMail app… Does anyone know if there is a way to bring up gv mobile when you receive push email using PushMail. There is a section in the settings called Action which contains (PushMail, Mail, URL). If anyone knows a way to reply to a txt and having it open up GV Mobile please let me know…
Appreciate it…
@Mike N I think the app needs to implement my URL handlers before that can happen.
@Sean so if I put your URL Handlers in the Action/URL section do you think that would work? If so can you give me the url handler that I have to use?
Thanks Sean….
I still think tying in with Prowl is the best approach personally. Why reinvent the wheel when it comes to handling Push notifications outside of the app store?
@Pushfix
“Push can work in any jailbroken app, I emailed Sean the details.”
Mind elaborating on this a bit? How do you get Push in non-Apple approved apps?
Hey Sean, do you have a slight idea when you will have push available for gv mobile+? I’m just curious, gv mobile+ is the bomb. By the way, when I use gvmobile offdialing, it does not work properly. There’s suppose to be an asterisk before my pin, but none appear on the screen. Is there a way that I can fix it? I use dial manually that way with the gv mobile when I did not have 3G service.
Thanks