Bria Mobile: VoIP Softphone

Response to developer: How is that a viable option? You now expect me to pay more than 3x the amount for the same features that I was using before and was only paying 9.99/yr. I don’t think so. I have been using this app for years and it works great don’t get me wrong. I am just sick and tired of company’s and subscription services. When I first started using Bria it was a one time fee then it went to a yearly fee and now it’s a monthly fee. I don’t care if it was the best or the only app out there I wouldn’t use it now due to the monthly subscription plan. Good bye Bria, it’s been a good run but it’s time to move on.

Frankly I would not mind paying a subscription if the app works. With myself also a software developer, I know it costs money to keep improving apps and keeping up with the changes in the industry. So the subscription model is fair. After all it’s only the cost for a couple of coffee drinks per year. I tried the app on Samsung S8 and iPad. On Samsung S8, it does not pick calls. When the caller hangs up, the apps shows missed call. I had the app running in the foreground the whole time, but it never rang nor showed any indication of incoming call. Also whenever the app goes into background, it unregisters from the provider (I am using Vonage). When in the background, it does not pick up calls and I had push notifications enabled. Very disappointing. On iPad, it works better. It receives calls when the app is in the foreground and everything else appears to work properly. Before I upgraded iOS to 11.3, with push notifications enabled, it was picking up calls even when the app was in the background. But after upgrading iOS to 11.3, it stopped picking up calls when in the background. I hope they will fix this soon. On a positive note, Bria mobile seems to be quite stable during call. I have tried a few other sip phone apps, and they often froze on my Samsung s8 during call. The screen sometimes become unresponsive, especially when you try to switch to another app during a call, and eventually drop the call. So in that regard, Bria mobile is better.

Bought a different version of this app for about $5 about a year ago, and was quite happy with it, primarily because of the CallKit integration. I recently realized that the app was discontinued without notice and left in a buggy state without automatic updates. For example, numbers will dial in reverse order (seriously) which shows the quality of these guys’ testing. And no I’m not interested in going through some strange side-channel upgrade process suggested by the developer to fix an app that I paid for. Now there’s at least three (brand new!) versions of the app with no clear differentiation and this one wants a subscription. For what service exactly? Support for your broken app? Buyer beware: seems these guys don’t care about their customers once they get your $$$. This is a shame because I was quite happy with the original app before the developers made this insane move. Now I’ve jumped ship and switched to Acrobits, where the pricing still makes sense and the developer actually seems to care about their customers.