Tutorial: Free unlimited texting on the iPod Touch/iPhone using Google Voice (with push notifications)

This tutorial will show you how to send and receive texts on your phone, with some extra goodies for making your iPod Touch almost like a regular text-receiving cell phone. This uses Google Voice and the Gmail-Push app (by iLegendSoft). If you do not have a Google Voice account, click here and ask for an invitation.

√ SAVINGS - $60-$180/year (based on a $5-$15/month texting plan)

  • iPod Touch or iPhone
  • Google Voice
  • Gmail-Push App by iLegend Soft, Inc. ($1.99 from App Store) – this is best one I’ve used out of all the Gmail push apps.
  • WiFi access

  • Jailbreak your iPod Touch
  • GV Mobile + ($1.99 from Cydia)

If you want to have unlimited texting and calling on your iPod Touch, read both the Using the iPod Touch as a Phone and Unlimited texting and minutes for $5.03 a month tutorials after reading this tutorial.

To receive and reply to text messages sent to your Google Voice number:

  1. Click here to go to your Google Voice Voicemail & SMS settings.
  2. Check “Forward SMS messages to my email” and save changes.
  3. Download the Gmail-Push app (by iLegendSoft).
  4. Set up your Gmail account, mail client (bottom of the Settings), and other settings in Gmail-Push.
  5. When you receive a text message it will instantly push it to your iPod Touch (if your connected to WiFi) or iPhone.
  6. When the notification pops up and you click “View”, you can reply to the text as if it were an email, and it will send your reply as an SMS to whoever texted you in the first place.

To Compose text messages from Google Voice:

  1. Navigate to google.com/voice, or click on the icon that you added to your homescreen from Safari.
  2. Click on the Paper/Pen icon.

Additionally you can jailbreak your iPod Touch and download GV Mobile + from Cydia. That way, whenever a notification pops up, you can just open GV Mobile + (which opens and lets you respond faster than browsers or mail clients). GV Mobile + is everything you could have wanted from Google if they had made the app themselves, except for push notifications. If GV Mobile+ had push notifications this tutorial would be worthless for those not willing to jailbreak.

  1. In your online Google Voice account, click “Settings”.
    1. Click “Voicemail & SMS”
    2. In the “SMS Forwarding” section, check “Forward SMS messages to my email”. It should show your email address to the right of this.
    3. Click “Save Changes”
  2. In the App Store
    1. Download Gmail-Push by iLegendSoft, Inc.
    2. Open it and enter your account info and preferences.Now, whenever you get a text to your Google Voice number, it will push it as an instant notification to your iPod Touch as soon as it’s in your Gmail inbox (no delay).
  3. When you get a notification
    1. Click “View” and it will open the Gmail-Push app.
    2. Click on the unread email (it should say “SMS from _______”).
    3. In order to reply to their text, just click “Reply”, type out your message and click “Send”. They will receive it as a text message from your Google Voice number.

If you want to have Gmail-Push open a different mail client

  1. Open Gmail-Push
  2. Click on the Wrench/Screw Driver icon at the bottom of the screen (if it’s not there, press the Sun icon at the bottom right).
  3. Scroll to the bottom, click on “Mail Client” and choose which client you want it to open.

To compose a text message:

  1. Navigate to google.com/voice in whichever mobile browser you use.
    1. While here, click the + symbol at the bottom of the screen.
    2. Click “Add to Home Screen”. This will allow you to launch Google Voice straight from the home screen.
  2. Click on the Paper/Pen icon at the top and the rest it pretty self-explanatory.

In any case, you will need a WiFi connection if you are using an iPod Touch.

If you want to have unlimited calling on your iPod Touch, read both the Using the iPod Touch as a Phone and Unlimited texting and minutes for $5.03 a month tutorials after reading this tutorial.

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