Most of you will agree when I say that one of the coolest features of Google+ is Circles, which lets you create groups of people to share specific things with, rather than sharing with everyone in your network by default. Today I came across an iOS app that basically has the same system in place, but for voicemail. It’s called On Voicefeed and it lets you build groups (family, friends, work, girlfriend/boyfriend) and set personalized voicemail greetings for each of those groups.
You can record the greeting on your own, and maybe leave a cute message for your sweetheart or a more professional greeting for work associates. You can also type in messages that will be dictated by one of eight different voices. There are three French voices, three English voices, and two Spanish voices, and it actually ended up being a much funnier experience than I thought it would. If you get creative enough, the different automated voices can be pretty hilarious, and greetings are sure to get an interesting response from your friends.
The only problem I have with the voices is that the French and Spanish ones are really hard to understand. It’s almost like the voices are speaking English words based solely on French and Spanish phonetic rules, instead of sounding like English in a French or Spanish accent. Either way, it was a jolly good time, and I recommend that you at least play with the app, if not actually use it on a regular basis.
Here comes the bad news: I have a few complaints about the app, most of which could ultimately be resolved in a software update. The first is the voices, as I’ve already said. Secondly, the app UI isn’t all that smooth. I found myself tapping buttons three or four times before I got a response, and that was over a pretty solid WiFi connection. Luckily, little stuff like that can be fixed in an update, and we hope that the folks at Orange Vallée get that cleaned up soon.
Finally, and most annoyingly, getting set up with On Voicefeed was pretty tedious. You have to enter basic information, just like almost any other app, which is fine. But then you’re asked to enter a security code that is sent to you by text. At this point, I’m thinking, “Alright, but this better be it.” Then, the app asked me to call a number that was automatically added to my contacts in order to activate the account. Fortunately, that was the end of it, but I was still a little peeved at how long it took to get started. I’m sure that some of those steps are necessary to tap into your voicemail, but finding a way to streamline the process would be much appreciated.
On Voicefeed is available as a free download from the Apple App Store for the iPhone, iPod touch, and the iPad, although I can’t really imagine why the app would support iDevices without a phone function. The first three customized greetings are on the house, and past that you have to upgrade to On Voicefeed premium for $9.99.