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Tell HN: Google Voice numbers expire if only used to receive messages (e.g. 2FA)
"We noticed that you haven’t used your Google Voice number in a while. Because phone numbers are a limited resource, it is our policy to reclaim unused numbers so they can be made available to new users."
Strong request to the google voice team that they do something so that numbers that are being actively used to receive 2FA tokens don't expire!
It sounds like if you receive messages only, but don't send any messages or make calls, the number will expire.
Posting this as a hopefully helpful warning to anyone with a GV number that uses it to receive important messages but not to send/call out.
- mikequinlan 3y agoI just call the Google Voice number from my phone and leave a message each time I get this email from Google. That seems to be enough to mark the number as "being used".
- MakeThemMoney 3y agoThey should charge a subscription fee--like Skype--for those numbers
- mcsniff 3y agoJust login and send a message or make a call, how difficult is that? It's not, because I do it with my GV account. Google is plainly sending reminders every X days to do so. Use it or lose it.