Project Fi was announced 10 years ago, and Google is celebrating the MVNO’s birthday with a handful of updates for iPhone and iPad owners.
The Google Fi Wireless set-up process on iPhone is getting simpler. You no longer have to manually enter carrier information to get service up and running. The actual activation period is also getting faster.
On the calling front, voicemail will soon be integrated into the Phone app. At the moment, you have to check the Google Fi app, with visual voicemail rolling out in the coming weeks.
When traveling, iPhone owners on the Unlimited Premium (renamed) and Flexible plans can now access international 5G service in 92 countries. Google Fi previously only offered this capability on Android devices.
Meanwhile, Google is adding support for data-only eSIMs. This is catered towards tablets, with recent iPads dropping the physical SIM card slot. However, you’ll be able to download a data-only eSIM to phones that you don’t want to issue a number for. This set-up process just involves scanning a QR code.
Last month, Apple enabled RCS on Google Fi and other T-Mobile MVNOs. This addressed a big Fi limitation, with iOS subscribers next turning their attention to Apple Watch. The Fi team tells us that it wants to support the Apple Watch, but the activation process is proprietary and something it cannot do alone. In the case of RCS, Google Fi had to wait on Apple. This is unfortunate as Android users can add supported Wear OS smartwatches to their plan without paying a separate fee.
Google Fi today also announced a new entry-level $35 and increased data limits on all other plans. You can read more about that here.
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