How to Back up Your Allo Conversations Before Google Turns It Off
Google’s short-lived messaging service, Allo, follows the path of Google Reader, Google Health, and the Dodo bird. This isn’t surprising – Google began porting and integrating some of the more interesting features (like Google Assistant and web support) from Allo into the Messages app for Android earlier this year, signaling that Allo may be running out of time. Google yesterday confirmed that it will soon be dropping support for Allo altogether in favor of more widely used messaging.
Allo’s upcoming end of support means that its (albeit small) user base will have to migrate to a new messaging app, as all data related to Allo will be removed when Google ends support for the app. Fortunately, Allo users can save archives of their conversations and any media from them, such as videos, photos or audio files. This can be done in the Android and iOS versions of the application.
Before we explain how to save your conversation history in Allo, there are a few things to keep in mind:
- While you can access Allo over the Internet, you cannot export or save post data from the web client.
- You will only be able to upload your Allo story. Google continues to support the app. Once Google stops supporting Allo, all messages, media and backup files will be deleted as well. If you want to save your Allo data, do so as soon as possible.
- Allo does not save messages or media from incognito conversations, so they cannot be exported.
With those notes removed, here’s how to export Allo data (this method works the same on both Android and iOS).
How to export your conversation history and Allo media
In the Allo app, tap the three horizontal bars to open the menu bar, then go to Settings> Chat.
To download messages:
- Click Export Messages from Chats. This will export the text data from all your conversations into one CSV file.
- Select where you want to save the message file, and then the export will start.
To download media attachments:
- Click Export Saved Media from Chats. All media will be saved in a zip file.
- You will be prompted for the export destination, after which the export will begin. This may take some time depending on the size of the file being created.
- You can also find these files in the Google Allo Photos folder in the camera app if you’ve previously had backup and sync settings enabled in the Allo app.
Once your conversation and media have finished exporting, they will now be safely stored on your device and will not be affected when Allo finally closes. These files can be shared and saved on your Google Drive or iCloud storage, or transferred to a PC via USB.
Restoring and exporting old conversations
While the above export method only works for conversations that are currently saved on your phone, if you uninstalled the Allo app recently, you can still restore your old messages and export them.
Backups are only kept on your device for 40 days after you uninstall Allo, but another copy is kept on your Google Drive if you linked Allo to your Google account. For iOS users, a copy is saved to iCloud storage if you enable iCloud backup in the app settings. However, if you previously deleted the backup file itself (or unregistered it with your Apple account), the conversation data it contains will no longer be available.
As long as the backup file exists on your device, Google Drive, or iCloud storage, you can restore the old conversation. Just reinstall the Allo app and verify your phone number, Google account or iCloud. After you complete the verification process, you will have access to your old conversations. From there, you can follow the steps above to export messages and media.