Say Hello to Google Allo, Google’s AI Powered Messaging App

When Google Allo was previewed at Google I/O 2016, the world got excited about talking with bots all over again. Allo and its Smart Assistant features placed a personal bot at your fingertips, one that was promised to learn over time and make your life a few clicks and taps easier. Google Allo was promised to be publicly released by in Summer of 2016, and as promised, Allo is rolling out now!

Allo is Google’s (yet another) take to create a name for itself in the personal IM arena. Unlike a few of its past offerings, Allo is tied to your phone number, meaning that there are no accounts to be created or passwords to be remembered — which definitely aids in enticing the average consumer to try it out. Along with these, Google also lists out a few features over in the announcement blog post:

• Smart Reply: Allo suggests contextually-aware replies to your ongoing conversation
• Photos, Emojis and Stickers
• Google Assistant: Google’s Assistant features come to Allo as Smart Assistant, which is practically Google Search and more living right inside your conversations. And if you do not have conversations, you can chat with your Personal Assistant as well.
• Incognito Mode Chats: Google promises that all chats in Allo are TLS encrypted, but incognito chats go one step beyond by providing end-to-end encryption, discreet notifications and message expiration.

There are a few limitations to Google Allo though. As of now, there is no desktop client for Allo. Further, you can send SMS messages to people not using Allo, but if these people are on Android, they will get an App Preview Message prompting them to download Allo. Also, SMS do not come from your number, but are instead relayed through Google Servers. There are likely to be more, and we’ll update if we find other significant shortcomings.

If you would like to try out Allo, you can download it from the Play Store. If the app is not live for you, you can download the app from ApkMirror instead.

Have you tried out Allo yet? Let us know your experience in the comments below!