App Review: Groove IP Lite

Previously, I had reviewed Groove IP by SNRB Labs which is a Voice Over IP (VOIP) app that routes your Google Voice phone calls over your data connection.  This allows you to use your data rather than your carrier provided minutes to make phone calls.  I still highly recommend that app and use it constantly.  It is my favorite utility app that I have installed on my Android phone.  The problem is that until now it was only a paid app.  At $4.99 it is hard to convince people that it is worth a try.  Now, Groove IP Lite has been released.  This is the ad supported free version that will let you see how well Groove IP could work on your phone.

With Groove IP I have literally only used 6 of my phone minutes for the last 3 months. It has allowed me to use the lowest voice minute plan that Verizon offers without worrying about going over my limit. Because I know I do not have to be concerned with the minutes I am using, I find that I call more now than I have for the last few years.  The way that this works is I use Google Voice for my phone number and all of my calls go there. I have it ring on my Nexus, my Tab and my desk phone at work.  With the addition of Groove IP I use my data to route the voice traffic over to the Google Voice servers through Google Talk on my Tab and Nexus. I am on wifi most of the time so I do not worry about data much, but even so, they claim it uses 1.2MB of data per minute.  I would have thought based on my experience with the app that it used even less since I have not seen a spike in my data usage.  It does not seem to be a data hog by any means.

One of the big limitations of the Lite version is that  you cannot route calls over 3G or 4G. If you want to test the app out before investing be sure to have a wifi connection to use. The full version will upgrade you to be able to use all connections.  The Lite version will also not let you integrate with the native dialer, meaning you have to use the Groove IP Lite dialer instead.  I don't find this to be a big loss since I use the Groove IP dialer now in place of the standard one even on the paid version.  It works just as well as the stock dialer and I don't have to enable logging in both dialers to see the call history.  In addition, you cannot set your Google Talk status to Invisible. I use this since I don't use Google Chat much. It allows me to appear offline. With the Lite version you will appear online and I find this annoying because people will sometimes think I am available and start chatting when in fact I don't want to be bothered.  Upgrading to the full version once you know it works for you is surely the way to go.

If you have a non-telephone tablet or a limited amount of minutes on your phone, go download Groove IP Lite. It is easy to setup and start using.  This new Lite version is the best way to see if it can work for you before you invest in the paid app.  I have had many people tell me that they were surprised by how simple the setup and usage of Groove IP is. I think you will be glad you tried it.