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Not even three years after its announcement, Google's Allo mail service is saying goodbye later in the day. The messenger service was very promising and much hype when it was first announced at Google I / O 2016. Unfortunately, it never went anywhere, so before we launch the bucket, let's take a look at back on the way it was designed. the basics for the sequel – Google Messages and RCS.
The best gifts for Android users
Google Allo failed to take off because of its main features
In 2016, it became clear that Google Hangouts was not good for Google. As popular as this service (and always has been), Google clearly wanted to try to tackle more Apple's iMessage and WhatsApp. Their answer was Hello.
The cloud-based encrypted messaging service had many benefits. It was encrypted end-to-end and even offered an Incognito mode for online chats that removes messages after a short time. Allo has also proposed a feature allowing users to change the size of their message to express themselves more. It also provided useful features such as Smart Reply, which could suggest quick answers based on the current context, even adding emojis, stickers or photos.
How to download your Google Allo conversations before closing the service today
It's not because of these really useful features that Allo collapsed. It is rather because of its essential characteristics that were simply not there. Since the getgo and until his death, the users claimed the SMS support with the application, but it never really existed. Instead, Google has literally announced a separate SMS client on which we will come back later. In addition, Allo did not work on more than one device at the time of launch. This was further compounded by the fact that your account was linked to a phone number only, not to a Google Account.
The lack of SMS support was the real killer for Allo. After all, why would people use Allo only to talk to other Allo users while they could use Hangouts to chat via the web? and SMS at the same time? In a way, Allo always looked more like a technological demo of what Google could do with messaging than more to a product that normal people would never have wanted to use.
To this end, last year, Google began to liquidate Allo. There have been some ultimate attempts to win users, but in January 2018, the updates were completely stopped with a one – year gap between the versions, the company having 'suspended' investments. "
One of Google's latest marketing efforts for Allo
Laying the foundation for RCS's future
SMS is old, basic and limited. Nobody wants to use it, but for a very long time, that's what Android was limited to only because of the lack of other options. We are entering a new era with the arrival of RCS, an initiative that Google has launched with the wireless industry. Slowly, she goes to the consumer and it is clear that many lessons learned from Allo have laid the groundwork for Google's new path.
First of all, the failure of Allo showed Google that it could not start without some essential features. This is apparently why Google Messages, the RCS messaging dashboard, has chosen features such as desktop clients and a sophisticated interface long before RCS is deployed. Allo finally brought this feature, and the implementation used by Google is almost identical to that used by Google Messages.
In addition, Google understood that the configuration could not be complicated and that users could not choose to use it. When Duo took off after being preinstalled on all Android phones, Allo stopped growing after 10,000,000 downloads 12 weeks after its debut. Until today, that's still what the Play Store shows. However, Google Messages is preinstalled on all Pixel devices, as well as those of several partners, including Huawei, LG and Motorola.
Messaging Assistant is the best thing to come from Allo
The best thing to do, at least in my opinion however, was the addition of wizard in the mail. Google Allo was actually the birthplace of Google Assistant. This was the very first time Google let users try the wizard. With a quick "@Google" in their conversation, the wizard could literally be lured into the chat to provide more detail to both users.
Recently, Google announced that the wizard was coming on Google Messages. With this, users will be able to send RCS messages containing information from the wizard and send them directly to Google Messages, as they might in Allo. I would say however that Google has made Assistant a lot more useful in Messages versus Allo.
Google GIF shows how much new the implementation of the wizard is much easier.
Final Thoughts – RIP Hello, hello … what?
In 2016, I was legitimately excited for Allo. By far, it was the Google service that I was most enthusiastic to use. In hindsight, I will not miss it. I have tried many times to get me to use Allo, but that has never lasted long.
The shame is that Allo is not replaced directly. RCS is barely available to anyone. If you use it today when Google plugged it in, you can not do anything. Of course, there is WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and traditional SMS, but Google lets users dry here. It's a shame, because all that Allo needed was a solid foundation to succeed. If you ask me, it should have been Hangouts, but it's too late for that.
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