Google Allo

About

Google Allo is a mobile instant messaging application developed by Google for use on Android and iOS devices.

History

On May 18th, 2016, Google announced the development of Allo during a keynote delivered at the annual Google I/O developer conference held in San Francisco, California (shown below, left). That day, the tech news site The Verge released a video providing a first look at the upcoming app (shown below, right).

On September 21st, 2016, Google released the app for free on Android and iOS devices, along with a promotional video for the messaging app, featuring mock conversations showcasing its many features (shown below).

Features

Smart Reply

The app contains a "smart reply" feature that utilizes machine learning technology to suggest replies to the last received message,

Chat Modes

In a blog post about the application's security features, Google security expert Thai Duong lauded Google Allo's "normal" and "incognito" chat modes and the encryption technology used by the messaging service.^[1] In "incognito" mode, end-to-end encryption is enabled and chats expire after an amount of time and the chat history is deleted. Messages delivered in "normal" mode will be stored by Google indefinitely and can be read by Google's artificial intelligence systems.

Reception

Privacy Concerns

The day after the product was announced, Edward Snowden tweeted that Google's new Allo chat app was "dangerous" and to "avoid it for now" (shown below). In the coming months, the tweet garnered upwards of 9,500 likes and 9,000 retweets.^[3]

On September 21st, Snowden tweeted a link to a Verge article about Allo's removed privacy feature and referred to Google Allo as "Google Surveillance" and advised readers to boycott the app (shown below). Within 24 hours, the tweet gained over 3,300 retweets and 2,400 likes.^[2]

SMS Support

Google Allo has been widely criticized for using a relay service to deliver SMS messages to other mobile devices, as opposed to the seamless SMS integration in Apple's iMessage service. When receiving an SMS message from an Allo user, a non-Allo user will receive a notification from a 5-digit number providing a link to download Allo in order to view the message. On September 22nd, 2016, Redditor RomanticPanic submitted a post asking "Why are people so pissed at Google's new apps?" to /r/OutOfTheLoop,^[4] to which Redditor MrStarfox64 replied that Google Allo's lack of proper SMS support was the primary cause of the backlash.

Search Interest

External References