Thousands of hearts rose and sank today when a Google Voice update landed in the play store, and it turned out to just be an update to add texting short codes to the service. While we've been holding out for a somewhat bigger update to Google Voice for some time now, we're not going to look this gift horse in the mouth.
The addition of texting short codes means that folks who rely on Google Voice as their primary number can use these codes for things like online banking, SMS alerts from services and many other uses. Previously if you attempted to enter a short code, the app would offer to attempt and send it via the default messaging app and carrier number — while this was useful because you'd get the short code sent, it wasn't from the number you wanted.
As the ability to text short codes also brings along "911" as a possible option, the update also gives you a warming message when you're about to send an emergency text message. Head to the Play Store link and update to the latest version of the app.
