The saga of Google’s messaging apps continues. After the company announced Allo development had been “paused” back in April, a new report claims the app will be completely discontinued. Allo was paused as the company put more focus on Android Messages and the “Chat” RCS-based standard. This news comes just a few days after a report claimed Hangouts would also be on the chopping block.
This new Allo report comes from sources familiar with the situation at 9to5Google. They claim Allo will be shut down “soon,” but the announcement may have been delayed due to the previous report about Hangouts. Google could push back the announcement to avoid more bad press about killing apps, which is something the company gets a lot of flack for.
Allo was announced back at Google I/O 2016 and many were confused by the app from the start. No one expected Google to release yet another messaging app when they already had Hangouts. The app has slowly decayed over time. It hasn’t received a major update in almost one year and most of the Allo team has been moved to Android Messages.
There is some good news to glean from these apps being shut down. With Hangouts and Allo out of the way, Google may finally have a straightforward approach to messaging. Android Messages and Duo will be a two-pronged attack. Messages is getting all the fancy RCS-based Chat features, works on the web, and is already pre-loaded on many phones. Similarly, Duo is a dead simple video chatting app that comes pre-loaded on many devices.
We will continue to track the story of Allo and Hangouts’ future. One thing seems to be sure: if you use either of these apps, it’s time to switch to something else.
Source: 9to5Google
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