New to Groundwire, long time user of voip.ms. Let me describe the setup that works then the one that doesn’t.
Setup-Android (works). Voip.ms account with a voip.ms DID. In the SMS settings I don’t have SMS assigned to neither the main account nor to any subaccounts (check box is empty). I’m using Michael Kourlas’s voip.ms SMS app on Pixel phone and Samsung Galaxy tablet. Each device has its own subaccount on the same DID. No matter whether if I’m on my phone or tablet, I see the entirety of sms texts, incoming and outgoing. Also I see the entire conversation in the voip.ms web interface.
Setup-iOS (doesn’t work entirely). The iPhone and iPad are my wife’s. She has a separate voip.ms account and one DID number. On the iOS devices I’ve installed Acrobits Groundwire. Each device has its own subaccount on the one DID. If I leave the option “Link the SMS received to this DID to a SIP Account” blank then neither device can send or recieve sms. If I link the SMS to one device, say the subaccount for the iPhone then Groundwire on the iPhone sees both sides of the conversation. The other iOS device, the iPad does not see outgoing SMS from the iphone. The iPad can send out SMS and they arrive at the destination but these messages aren’t reproduced on the other iOS device, the iPhone. So I have to choose either the iPhone or the iPad to have both sides of the conversation. The other iOS device can only send out. No way I can get a setup the same as on the Android devices. I’ve been working on this for a couple of days (after voip.ms resolved the SMS and Groundwire issue not sending).
Any tips appreciated. Anyone have multiple iOS devices, one DID with subaccounts, and you doing your SMS seamlessly and seeing both sides of the conversation no matter which device you happen to pick up?
I have the same android setup as yours. I do not have iOS devices.
The behaviour you are seeing is normal. The “Voip.ms SMS app” is using the API to query all the SMS sent and received. Using this application will make you see all the SMS sent and received from any device. This is exactly what you will see on the SMS web interface of voip.ms.
When you forward SMS to a SIP account, only the incoming messages will be forwarded to that account. The first device that will read the SMS from that account will have the SMS. Messages sent will only be visible from the application you used on the device used to send it. Other devices will not have the SMS. This is just like regular SMS linked to a single device/phone number.
There is no way to make it work as the “Voip.ms SMS app.” One needs API access to be able to see all the SMS sent and received, whatever the DID or device used; or use the web interface at https://sms.voip.ms.
Thanks Alexandre,
I was wondering that, about the API. Voip.ms SMS works great!!! It’s brilliant.
My wife for several years had been responding to SMS by email and it works OK but the thread of a conversation gets lost in the mass of email messages, though I suppose she coud filter to see just the SMS conversation. I thought I’d be smart and move her to an app. I’ve been at this for a couple of weeks now, including my bad timing starting just when voip.ms had an issue and wasn’t sending sms onto Groundwire, I thought it was me.
I do not want to answer for @michaelkourlas here, but porting to iOS has its challenges.
To develop for iOS you need an iPhone and an Apple computer of some sort with which you can code.
On top of that you must pay $USD 100 every year to maintain the right to publish the application on Apple’s App Store.
So for a “free” project, there might be a lot to invest in, and that, every year. Open source does not necessarily mean free, but you know what I mean.
If I am right, the actual project (GitHub - michaelkourlas/voipms-sms-client: Popular Android messaging app for VoIP.ms, a Canadian VoIP provider) is made using Kotlin. Part of it could be reused, but much work would be needed for the interface and iOS specific integration. Other solutions would be a complete rewrite using a multi-platform framework. In both cases, it would need a lot of time, and investment. And one has to have skills on these. Nothing is impossible, but time, time, time.
The Android platform is more accessible because many there is only a small one-time fee to have a developer account and access to the Play Store.
So while not impossible, it would need work. This is something @William could think about and offer the same application for iOS. Voip.ms is a business and could offer such a tool to its customers as part of the environment. This would be a plus value for many, another reason to choose voip.ms. They could outsource such a development not to burden their own team and keep focused on their core business. It could be done in a matter of weeks, especially if starting from another open-source project like the one already existing. They could even outsource the development of a fork for iOS of the existing project.
thanks for the detailed response @aleclerc. yes… it’s all about time and i totally get that.
if @William and voip.ms could offer an app for iOS, i’d be willing to pay for it and would be happy to alpha / beta test. i’m sure there are others. the other iOS apps that are paid / subscription aren’t worth anything, imo, and i’ve tried about a half a dozen of them.
i live overseas… four countries in the last ten years. i always used skype to have a US-based number for friends and family who couldn’t / didn’t want to call my overseas numbers (which changed every few years anyway), and for getting verification message from banks, credit cards, other life administrative stuff that made it necessary, or at least very important to keep an active US based number.
so while i’m not saying that voip.ms should morph into skype, it has the backbone to provide the same framework of service at a fraction of the cost to its customers. and the service / support and customer-orientedness is far far better. yes, i’m being a bit effusive, but there are a lot of skype refugees out there willing to pay decent money for this “basic” service.
Maybe something voip.ms could consider. One, as essell suggested, investing in Michael Kourlas’s voip.ms SMS app and develop it for iOS. The other is implementing the White Label version of Groundwire adapted so it only works with voip.ms. Even if on a one time paid basis for both apps would be a real premium service to voip.ms subscribers. I continue to use Michael’s voip.ms SMS app for messages as I have entire SMS conversation at hand no matter which device I pick up. And Groundwire’s push on calls conserves battery life instead of stay-alive constantly on draining the battery like almost all voip apps do. Groundwire does messaging too but does not use the voip.ms AIP so I don’t see the entire conversation if I move between my tablet and my cellphone.
It’s very unlikely I’ll create an iOS version of the app because (a) iOS apps must be developed on Apple hardware and (b) as @aleclerc noted, Apple charges $100 per year for a developer account.
I would like to clarify that our team is currently developing an iOS version of the VoIP.ms Softphone, which can be referenced at https://wiki.voip.ms/article/VoIP.ms_Softphone. This version will include support for SMS functionality.
Currently, there are no additional details confirmed regarding this matter, including the estimated time of arrival (ETA). In the meantime, utilizing https://sms.voip.ms/ may serve as an alternative solution.
We sincerely appreciate your patience regarding this matter.
