Anyone thinking of trying Acrobits Softphone, the app is discounted Nov 8-11, 2024. So, the “Softphone” version for voip calls, the “Groundwire” version for voip calls and SMS. Push notification of calls saves battery.
I’ve used the Softphone app for a couple of years when travelling internationally and it worked great. There is a slight delay until the cellphone rings so I miss some calls but I just call them back. I wanted to add SMS so bought the Groundwire version today. This gives me the ability to make calls from and receive calls to my voip.ms number from anywhere in the world that I have wifi or data. I can leave the app active all day with no drain on battery. Also, easy to register and unregister the app from voip.ms servers.
Acrobits is rolling out the discount by time zone. It took 9 hours to reach my time zone. Be patient if you don’t immediately see the discounted price.
[edited for clarity]
Tested Groundwire however, it has a drawback. I’ve been using Michael Kourlas’s Voip.ms SMS app (android only) which uses the voip.ms API which means Kourlas’s app on any of my Android devices queries the voip.ms server for sms, so any Android device I have sees both sides of the sms conversation, incoming and my outgoing texts. However, Groundwire appears not to use the voip.ms API which makes sense as Groundwire is for use with many voip services. With Groundwire only my first device to retrieve an sms sees the sms, other devices of mine don’t. When sending sms, the message is only on the sending device and the other devices don’t see it. If I switch between my tablet and my phone, neither device has the full SMS conversation, only the texts for which that device was involved.
Oh well. I tried Groundwire at a discount. I suppose OK if you only have one device. I use my phone and tablet for SMS and just want to be able to pick up either one and continue a text conversation. I’ll stick to the Voip.ms SMS app.
I don’t see this as a limitation but as a security feature. Also, the way you want to use it is unusual. The normal concept is to have one terminal per allocated number or vice versa.
For calls, they have the Ring Groups that allow you to receive calls on multiple devices. But again, this is for receiving; when you call, you don’t activate all the devices that share the number.
If you need more, you can see the entire SMS conversation in your web account in the DID Numbers → SMS/MSM Message Center. Or as you said look in the voip.ms SMS app.