The End for gMessage and BigPhone
A few days ago, the Google Voice apps I developed stopped working. It turns out that Google changed something on their side that brought down gMessage and BigPhone. I don’t believe they were targetted specifically, but they simply made an update to how their authentication works. Since there is no official API for Google Voice, my “hack” for authentiation doesn’t work anymore.
I attempted to fix it this morning, but it turns out that it is not an easy fix. Even if I did find a fix, there’s no guarantee that Google won’t change anything again. Therefore, I’ve decided that it is not worth fixing and to take down both apps from the App Store.
It sucks, but I think it’s the right thing to do. gMessage and BigPhone were always fun side projects for me. I used both apps everyday for myself. Luckily there are alternatives in the App Store that still work.
It has been over two years since I released the first version of BigPhone. Thanks to those of you who supported me along the way, and sorry it had to end. It was really fun to see these apps get some press and see how useful they were for people. I learned a lot, and maybe I’ll be ambitious enough to roll a better Google Voice type of service in the future. Until then, follow @enriquez on Twitter to see what I’m working on these days.
Peace and pizza grease,
Mike