| Cult of Mac

Zadarma’s VoIP app for iOS helps separate business and personal communications

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Zadarma's VoIP solution now works on iPhones.
Zadarma's VoIP solution now works on iPhones.
Photo: bruce mars/Pexels CC

This VoIP communications post is presented by Zadarma.

Cloud communications platform Zadarma recently released an updated iOS version of its app that offers businesses easy access to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communications internationally. Plus, it solves one of modern life’s most annoying problems: keeping business and personal calls and text messages separate.

Apple starts purging VoIP duplicates from the App Store

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App Store
Apple apps no longer dominate App Store search results.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple has started removing duplicate VoIP apps from the App Store.

The purge comes after a report highlighted a shady practice some developers have been using to game App Store search results. Plenty of clones still remain in other categories, however.

Alexa brings free phone calls to iPad

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Alexa Calling
iPads can now make video calls to Amazon Echo devices.
Photo: Amazon

Although people most often use Alexa to ask about the weather or play music, Amazon’s smart assistant is capable of much more, including connecting with friends and family.  A convenient Alexa calling feature is now available on a range of tablets, including the iPad. This allows the tablet to make voice or video calls to an Amazon Echo.

All that is required is the Amazon Alexa app for iOS (and giving Alexa access to your list of contacts).

Dialogue Lets You Make And Record Calls On Your iPhone Using Your Mac

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It’s happened to everyone. You’re typing on your Mac, and you suddenly get a phone call on your iPhone. But you only have two hands. On a deadline, you grab your iPhone, and try to talk to whomever is calling by clenching your phone against your shoulder with your chin, but it suddenly slips, and slides down your tucked shirt and into your underpants. And now, here you are, screaming at your crotch to call you back while shaking an iPhone down your pants leg. How embarrassing.

What, that hasn’t happened to you? How strange. Must just be me. Either way, though, wouldn’t it be cool if you could just route incoming iPhone calls to your Mac? Now you can, thanks to Dialogue.

O2 Launches TU Go, A New Internet Calling & Messaging Service For Android & iOS

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British carrier O2 has today launched a new VoIP and messaging service called TU Go, which is available to its pay monthly customers with Android and iOS devices. The service allows users to make calls and send texts over the Internet, so even when they have no cell reception, they can connect to a Wi-Fi hotspot and get in touch with friends and family.

Facebook Messenger App for iOS And Android Gets Voice Messaging Ability, VOIP Testing In Canada

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Today, Facebook updated its Messenger app for both iOS and Android, adding a voice messaging capability to the app on both platforms.

There have also been reports that Facebook has been rolling out a pilot VOIP feature to the Messenger app, which will let users call other Facebook Messenger friends for free, or at least without incurring carrier voice minute debits.

The VOIP option is not available for all users, as the iOS app is the only one with even a mention of the feature in the app description. TechCrunch reported that the pilot program is only available in Canada for now, as well.

If You Bring Your iPhone To Work, Who Owns Your Phone Number When You Leave The Company?

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One often overlooked issue with BYOD is ownership of  mobile phone numbers
One often overlooked issue with BYOD is ownership of mobile phone numbers

A decade ago, your mobile phone number may not have meant much. In the days before number porting, mobile phone numbers were transient. If you switched carriers or moved, you got a new number.

Things are a bit different today. You can take your number with you from one mobile carrier to another, you can port it VOIP services like Vonage, or forwarding services like Google Voice, and you can even port it to a landline phone. Your phone number, much like your personal email address or Twitter account, belongs to you for as long as you want to keep it.

That can create a problem for companies implementing BYOD programs. If an employees bring their own phones, they also bring their own numbers. For many employees, particularly those that are mobile professionals, their mobile number is the go-to number to reach them. When such an employee leaves that company, what happens to his or her phone number?