The development team behind the popular Google Voice service has announced that a native iPhone app has been released. This means you can forget about the Google Voice HTML5 web app and switch to the native app. You can get the app straight from the App Store (here’s a link) and use it on your iPhone as long as it’s powered by iOS 3.1 or newer. To use the app you will of course need a valid Google Voice account (set one up here). I don’t think I need to repeat this, but I’m going to do it anyway – Google Voice is available in the US alone for the time being.

“We’re taking the Google Voice experience on the iPhone to a whole new level with the launch of the official Google Voice for iPhone app. With this native app, you’ll continue to have access to all the major Google Voice features on your iPhone,” announced Software Engineer Christian Brunschen.

If you do decide to get the Google Voice native iPhone app, here are the main things you can do with it:
- Send text messages to US numbers for free
- Make international calls at cheap rates
- Get transcriptions for your voicemail messages
- Push notifications for voicemail or text messages
- Manage your Google Voice account and your Google Voice inbox from your iPhone
- Use your Google Voice number to make calls

The Google Voice HTML5 web app was released to the public back in January after a lot of controversy. It all started when Apple did not let the native Google Voice iPhone app into the App Store, forcing the Mountain View-based company to consider launching it as a web app instead. Then the FCC launched an inquiry to determine why the app was rejected and whether AT&T was involved in any way. Then AT&T complained that Google Voice does not let certain users make outbound calls to some rural areas. To which the FCC responded by launching an investigation..

Additional information on Google Voice is available here.