Back at Google's I/O Developer Conference in May, Google promised to release an app that would integrate machine learning and a virtual assistant with your own personal messaging. The app would be delivered before summer ends. Surely enough, Google releases a new application called Allo on September 21st, one day before the Autum Equinox. Allo is designed to be more than just a messaging app but your own personal assistant.
Allo is availiable for free on the Google Play Store and App Store for Apple iOS. When you download it from the store, you have to allow it to access various permissions in order to let it send information to Google. Having this app in Google's hands stirs criticism about privacy. Even Edward Snowden has told people to not download it. Allo currently uses HTTPS to transmit messages between devices but before its release, Google intended for Allo to be more secure but has since reevaluated its features. Google plans to store sent messages transiently meaning that message and chat logs that the users have not deleted will be stored but there will be no identities of who are the faces behind these messages. People can add privacy to their activity by using Allo's Incognito mode which uses end-to-end encryption (E2EE) so that only people in the chat can view their logs and nobody else.
There are many features that Allo has that separates it from the rest of the other messaging apps. You can swipe up and down on the send button to change the size of your text, add sticker packs from Googles own lineup of selected artists (some of the stickers even move) and you can even draw on the pictures that you take and can send to your camera roll. You can even search through your own messages (something you can't do on Google Hangouts) for keywords that you use in your own messages. One unique feature that Allo has is its private mode where messages are not tracked and you can set an auto delete mode where messages will be erased after a certain time passes after it is sent.
Allo's sophisticated technology also incorporates its own virtual assistant like Siri only in the chat. If you are craving a burger, you can type '@Google Burger' to ask Google a question or to lookup where the best restaurants near you are. There are bubbles that appear above the keyboard where you
Unfortunatley, Allo is not like Google Hangouts or Facebook Messenger where you can use it on your Desktop, Mobile Device, or Tablet. Allo is strictly for your mobile device and it is tied to your phone number. Hangouts and Facebook Messenger is only tied to your friends and contacts on your Facebook or Google accounts.
