Updating the new Google Voice app (which already supports MMS messaging via web and soon will support VoIP calls) to be the singular home for Project Fi users might make a lot of sense. Specifically, in regards to Fi support coming to Voice, we’re told that Fi users should “continue to use Hangouts,” but that Google is actively “working on a solution.” While Google wouldn’t directly confirm to us that Project Fi integration is coming to Google Voice, the company did say that there’s a solution (which, in my mind, suggests to us that Google sees this as a problem) in the works for Fi users. Allo, Duo, and Messenger now live at the forefront of Google’s strategy (Hangouts isn’t even installed by default on the Google Pixel, unless you’re a Project Fi user), which has left Project Fi users clinging to an app that Google seems to be moving away from - at least for the consumer.

Project Fi users are in an awkward position with the launch of the new Google Voice and the company’s refocus of Hangouts as a business tool. That feature obviously didn’t launch last week with the redesigned version 5.0 of the app, but we now have reason to believe that it’s still in the plans… We were recently told by a source that has been reliable in the past (they also tipped us off on VoIP integration coming to Voice, which Google confirmed) that Project Fi support/integration would be one keystone feature for the new Google Voice.

Google voice desktop client 2017