If you use Google Voice, but are still able to catch most of your calls with your primary device, you may have encountered some funny behavior where they either pop up quickly, then disappear, and then either ring the phone again or move onto their other linked devices. The company has acknowledged the problem and, unfortunately, says it'll be sticking around for a while. Here's what you can do to get around it.

Over the past week, several Google Voice users have expressed their concerns about not being able to properly take calls on their primary devices.

From what Google is able to suss out from customer support tickets, users who opt to take calls on Wi-Fi might see the Google Voice notification or app pop up for a second before disappearing and either reappearing linked to their cell number or going straight off to their other devices. There are some cases, though, where a call might work fine on Wi-Fi, but not LTE. Indeed, the situation is quite variable as this Redditor tells: a third of their calls are one-ring events while another third are completely missed.

The company says that iPhones are more often affected than Android devices and that they also might generate an unusual pop-up named "Google Voice audio" or "Hangouts audio," depending on which app someone is using.

The issue, Google says, is "baked into" infrastructure and a fix will take longer than usual. In the meantime, Voice users are being encouraged to turn off call reception via Wi-Fi in the meantime. In Google Voice, get into the settings, select Making and receiving calls under the CALLS section, and switch to "Use carrier only" — this will route calls through your cell carrier's network. In the settings of Hangouts, hit your Gmail address (on Android) or your phone number (on iOS), tap on Incoming calls, then toggle the setting off. With the grid on the fritz, it might be a good idea to come off it anyways.

It's a headache for those who rely on every little bit of this service, but if you've had Google Voice for a long time, you've had to deal with more than your fair share of troubles... what's a little more?

Source: Google