Google Allo Messaging App Launches For iOS and Android (phonedog.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Google has officially launched their long-awaited messaging app for iOS and Android, called Google Allo. There are several unique features associated with this app that Google hopes will win you over. Smart Reply lets you respond to messages with just a tap, so you can send a quick "yup" in response to a friend asking "Are you on your way?" It will also suggest responses for photos. For example, if you send a picture of a dog, Smart Reply might suggest a heart emoji or "Super cute!" message, which you can select and send with a tap. Google says Smart Reply will improve over time and adjust to your style. You can also send large or small text and emojis, as well as draw on pictures. There's an incognito mode that will activate end-to-end encryption, discreet notifications, and message expiration on your chats. Arguably best of all is the Google Assistant that can be added to your chats to automatically cater useful information to you depending on what is being conversed in the chat. For example, it can deliver news, weather, traffic, sports or your upcoming flight status to your chat. You can also ask your Assistant to "share that funny YouTube video or play games with friends right in your group chat." Google Allo is rolling out to Android and iOS starting today.

Comments

Google Messenger

[cheesybagel]

So what happened to Google Messenger? Right. They crippled it, stopped updating the application binary, and forced everyone to use a crap HTML 5 version of it inside GMail. That's what happened.

I don't get the need to constantly rename the same thing over and over. Just don't kill products that people actually like that work Google.

Re:Google Messenger

[AmiMoJo]

It's missing the one killer feature every messaging app needs anyway: full end to end encryption that is on by default.

Re:Google Messenger

[unixisc]

So what happened to Google Messenger? Right. They crippled it, stopped updating the application binary, and forced everyone to use a crap HTML 5 version of it inside GMail. That's what happened.

I don't get the need to constantly rename the same thing over and over. Just don't kill products that people actually like that work Google.

Part of what I was wondering. How many freaking messaging apps do we need? Aside from Google Messenger, there is also Message+, Messaging, Hangouts, Duo, all this just from Google itself. (Aside from which, I have WhatsApp.) In the meantime, quite a number of these are not there on the tablet, or if they are, they refuse to use the tablet's own cellular phone#, instead asking to use one's registered phone# (in which case, why wouldn't I just stick to the phone?) As an example, FaceTime works on both iPhones and iPads, and doesn't require a phone# on the latter. Duo doesn't work on Android tablets, just phones. So now they'll do something else for that, I guess?

Dear Google, the messaging market is by now pretty mature - not only by your own myriad offerings, but also others in the Play Store. Might as well focus on more interesting things, like maybe your own version of Pokémon Go

Allo launched....

[phantomfive]

......and became discontinued shortly after gaining popularity.

After careful consideration, we have decided to

[Anonymous Coward]

After careful consideration, we have decided to discontinue the Allo Messaging App, so that we can focus on our core user experience.

We would like to thank everybody who used Allo, and recommend that existing users switch to our Hey! App.