Using Google Voice with Zinng

The Honest Short Answer

First, Try Direct Forwarding

This is the simplest path and works for some customers. If it doesn't work for you, scroll down to the fallback options — you haven't broken anything by trying.

Step 1: Add your Zinng number as a Linked Number

Sign in to voice.google.com with the Google account that owns your Google Voice number. Go to Settings → Account → Linked numbers and click New linked number. Enter your Zinng phone number (the one assigned to your AI agent in AI Phone Agents → Agents).

Step 2: Choose voice verification

Google Voice offers two verification methods: SMS code or voice call. Pick voice call. SMS often fails to land in a usable place for AI service numbers; the voice call lands as a normal inbound call you can pull the code from.

Step 3: Watch for the verification result

One of three things will happen:

• Google places the verification call to your Zinng number. Your Zinng agent will pick up. The verification recording plays the code (something like “Your verification code is four-seven-two-one-nine-three”). You can grab the code from your Zinng call transcript or recording (in your dashboard, the call shows up in the agent's recent calls within seconds). Type the code back into Google Voice to complete the link.
• Google immediately rejects the number with “Google Voice can't use this phone number to verify your account.” This is the classification rejection. Skip to the fallback options below.
• Google starts the verification but the code never arrives or doesn't go through. Wait 2-3 minutes and retry once. If it still fails, treat it as a rejection and use the fallback options.

Step 4 (if Step 3 succeeded): Set Zinng as your active forwarding destination

Still in Google Voice settings, make sure incoming calls are routed to your newly linked Zinng number. By default Google Voice will ring every linked number simultaneously, but you can use the Calls section to forward to Zinng only.

Step 5: Disable call screening

One last thing — Google Voice has a separate setting called Call screening that defaults to on. When it's on, Google Voice plays a "You have a call from… press 1 to accept" prompt to your Zinng agent before connecting the actual caller, which the agent can't navigate. Turn this off. Detailed steps with screenshots are in the Disabling Google Voice Call Screening section below.

Step 6: Test the end-to-end flow

Call your Google Voice number from a different phone. The Zinng AI agent should pick up and greet the caller directly, without any “press 1 to accept” prompt in between. If anything sounds off, ping our team via the chat widget, (213) 263-4777, or [email protected].

If Direct Forwarding Doesn't Work

If Google Voice rejected your Zinng number during verification, you have three real fallback paths. We recommend Option 1 (porting). Options 2 and 3 work when porting isn't a fit.

Option 1: Port Your Google Voice Number to Zinng (Recommended Fallback)

This is the cleanest, most reliable path. Once your Google Voice number is ported into Zinng, it behaves like any other Zinng number: no forwarding chain, no call screening prompt, no Google verification checks. Calls hit Zinng directly.

What you'll need

• The Google account that owns the Google Voice number, with access to voice.google.com.
• $3 USD — Google charges a one-time porting fee to release the number.
• About 1 to 5 business days for the port to complete.

The high-level steps

1. Unlock the number for porting. In Google Voice settings, go to the porting section and pay the $3 unlock fee. Google generates the information you'll need to give to Zinng (account number, port-out PIN).
2. Start the port in Zinng. Send Zinng your Google Voice number along with the account number and PIN. Our team submits the port request to the underlying carrier.
3. Wait for completion. Most Google Voice ports finalize within 1 to 5 business days. You'll keep using your Google Voice number normally during that window. Once the port lands, calls start flowing into Zinng automatically.

For a more detailed walkthrough of every step, including how to find the right info in Google Voice settings, eligibility edge cases, and the differences for Google Workspace Voice, see our dedicated guide on how to port your number from Google Voice to Zinng.

Option 2: Two-Hop Carrier Forwarding

If you can't port the Google Voice number (you need to keep it on your Google account for some reason), you can still route calls into Zinng by chaining a carrier number in between.

How it works

1. Link a real carrier number to Google Voice (your personal cell, a spare cell, or a landline). Google accepts these because they pass the carrier verification check.
2. Set up carrier-level conditional forwarding on that cell so that calls to it are forwarded to your Zinng number. Most carriers support this through codes like **21*<Zinng number># (unconditional forward) or **61*<Zinng number># (forward on no answer). Specific codes vary by carrier.
3. Confirm the chain end-to-end. Call your Google Voice number from a different phone. Google Voice rings the linked cell, the cell forwards to Zinng, and the Zinng AI agent picks up.

Tradeoffs of Option 2: Two forwarding hops adds 1-3 seconds of connect delay. You'll be paying for the carrier line that sits in the middle. And the cell needs to stay reachable (powered on, in service area) for the chain to work. Porting is meaningfully cleaner if you can manage it.

Option 3: Use a Fresh Zinng Number for Your Business

If your Google Voice number hasn't been widely distributed (it's not on a thousand business cards, websites, signage, Google Business Profile, etc.), the simplest move is to just get a new number directly from Zinng and use it for the business going forward.

When this makes sense

• The Google Voice number is something you set up recently and customers haven't really memorized it.
• You want to keep Google Voice for personal or legacy use without entangling it with the business.
• You don't want to deal with porting or carrier forwarding setups.

You provision a fresh Zinng number in your dashboard, update your business listings (Google Business Profile, website, signage, business cards) to show the new number, and let the Google Voice number ride out organically. Existing customers who call the old number get whatever you've configured in Google Voice (voicemail, your cell, etc.).

Disabling Google Voice Call Screening

Whether you got direct forwarding working in Step 1 or you're using Option 2's two-hop setup, you'll want to turn off Google Voice's call screening. By default it plays a "press 1 to accept" prompt to whoever answers, which is fine for a human but breaks any forwarding chain that ends at an AI or another forwarding number.

The steps below use the Google Voice mobile app. The same setting lives at Settings → Calls → Screen calls in the web version at voice.google.com.

Step 1: Open the menu

Open the Google Voice app and tap the menu icon (three horizontal lines) in the top left of the main screen.

Step 2: Tap Settings

The side menu slides in from the left. Scroll to the bottom and tap Settings.

Step 3: Turn off Call screening

On the Settings page, find the Call screening toggle (described as “Listen to a caller's name and voicemail message”) and tap to switch it off.

Why It Works for Some Customers and Not Others

Google Voice classifies each linked number by looking up the underlying carrier. Numbers categorized as VoIP, virtual numbers, or “SMS verification service numbers” are often rejected at the verification step, regardless of whether they can actually receive calls.

From Google's published guidance: “Land line or VoIP numbers, or SMS verification service numbers, are ineligible to use for this purpose.”

Zinng phone numbers are provisioned through cloud telephony infrastructure, which puts them in the VoIP category from Google's perspective. The wrinkle is that Google's check is inconsistent — not every Zinng number gets flagged. Some go through fine. The factors that seem to matter most are the specific number range and how recently Google's carrier database was updated. From the customer's perspective, there's no way to predict in advance whether your number will be accepted, which is why the “try first, fall back if rejected” approach is the most efficient way to set up.

A2P 10DLC registration doesn't change this. That's a separate layer governing SMS sender identity, not voice number classification.

This isn't unique to Zinng — the same dynamics apply to virtual numbers from most modern voice platforms (Twilio, Vonage, Bandwidth, Telnyx, etc.). The recommended workarounds (port out, or two-hop through a carrier number) are the same across the industry.

Frequently Asked Questions