An Overview of the Allo Screen, Google’s New Smart Messaging App
Google just launched Allo, a new messaging app that includes stickers, emojis and a powerful assistant that can answer all your questions. Let’s take a look at its main features and see if it is worth transferring all your conversations to it.
Google Assistant brings Google power right into your conversations
Google search and voice commands are a treasure trove of smart features that can make your life a little easier. Google Assistant brings this power to your writing and chats. In every Allo conversation, you can add “@google” to the message to receive data from the Google Assistant. There is also a special conversation between you and the Assistant where you can directly ask him questions. As the name suggests, it’s as if your personal assistant is standing by, waiting to do whatever you need to do, at any time, without leaving the app.
The assistant is handy when you are making plans with other people. For example, you are trying to find a place to eat. In the middle of a chat, you can say “@google, Italian food is near me” and Google will show you a list of restaurants. Tap one of them and you can get directions, call a restaurant or browse the menu.
The assistant also remembers its own context. For example, if you click on a restaurant, you might ask, “Is it open?” and Google understands that “it” refers to the restaurant you’re looking at. He will then tell you if the establishment is open and at what hours, if necessary. We’re still exploring everything the Google Assistant can do, but you can also ask the Assistant “what can you do” to find even more features.
Smart answers make simple answers quick
Google has been experimenting with smart replies in its Inbox for a while now, and it looks like it paid off. In Allo, you will receive multiple suggestions for regular or basic replies whenever you receive a message from someone. These will be simple answers like “Thank you!”, “Sounds good!” or “Of course!” While this may sound trivial, in practice it is very useful to end an introductory conversation that most of us are oblivious to anyway.
Google Assistant can easily switch between voice and input commands
Google Assistant uses spoken commands, but the fact that you can switch between voice and text to get answers is especially cool. Typing on your phone is great as long as you don’t have to pick up something and you don’t have a hand, but you still have to use the phone. When chatting with the Google Assistant, you can tap the microphone to record a voice command. Say something like “Set a reminder for noon” and the Assistant will begin the process of adding a reminder.
But here’s where it gets interesting. The Google Assistant will say, “What’s the reminder?” You can now enter a reminder, tap one of the predefined smart replies, or tap the microphone to end the message. You can even get out of the conversation completely and finish later. The assistant will remember exactly where you are. This can be very helpful if you are trying to add an event to your calendar while discussing details with other people. It also lets you break up voice commands if, for example, you want to add a concert to your calendar, but Google can’t pronounce your favorite band name correctly.
Image annotations let you tag any uploaded image
In addition to capturing and sending images from the app, Allo also lets you edit images and add pictures or text over your photos. The annotation tools are a bit simple now. You can only paint with seven colors and can only add white text. However, it’s handy to point to a piece of a photo or just to joke and expect more tools, filters, and other gimmicks to come very soon.
Incognito chats keep your chats private and don’t use Google Assistant
While most chat apps use more secure, encrypted messaging , Allo takes a different approach. Although messages between your device and Google’s servers are encrypted, they are still readable by Google’s algorithms (although it’s unclear if a human can read them if needed). By default, they also store your chat logs. All of this, according to Google, is necessary for the Assistant to work.
Luckily, if you need privacy, you can enable incognito chats. In this mode, your chats use an end-to-end signaling protocol to protect your messages. This also means that even Google cannot read your posts. The trade-off is that Google Assistant is useless when your messages are encrypted, so you won’t have any smart replies or other Google-y features, but you can also relax in the knowledge that no one will read your chat logs later. …
Stickers, games, and more make Allo amazingly fun
Google has created many messaging apps, but most of them are pretty boring. They may have been practical, but they didn’t offer much for people to actually want to use them. Allo changes that. It supports many sets of stickers by default and allows you to download even more. Google Assistant even lets you play games with your interlocutors.
Is there a good reason why I should have an Emoji Riddle game in my chat app? No, but it’s fun . Allo has a hard road to convince everyone to use, but the fact that it’s fun, aside from being useful, is a huge argument in its favor.