Push Notifications for Google Voice

Google Voice for Android has been updated with push notifications! Until now, notifications of new messages appeared within 15 minutes of when they were sent.

Thanks to a recent update, Google has released a new feature called Inbox synchronization, which will notify your Android-powered device of new text messages or voicemails within seconds of receiving new messages in your Google Voice inbox.

To activate Inbox synchronization, open the Google Voice settings on your phone and touch Refresh and notification. Once you have selected the Synchronize Inbox option, you will start receiving faster notifications. Plus, Google Voice will automatically disable SMS forwarding to your mobile phone, so you won’t receive duplicate notifications.

Now you can click on any contact photo and get the option to quickly respond to voicemail by email or IM.