Category: Google Allo

Google Allo is set to have a big change on the web version of the chat app that should make it far more useful going forward.  In a Tweet last week, Google Principle Engineer for Google Allo, Justin Uberti said that device independence for the web version is on its way.

Yes, we are in the process of migrating the backend system to support completely independent devices.

— Justin Uberti (@juberti) March 8, 2018

What this would mean is that you could use Allo on your laptop without having to have it connected to Allo on your phone.

Google’s consumer messaging app, Google Allo, has another update rolling out that brings the ability to uplift your chat conversation to a video call with a single tap.  The update, version 14.0.037 for those keeping score, now has a button in the upper-right corner in the messaging screen that to launch Google Duo.  So if text-based messaging isn’t getting the conversation done, you can now place a Duo video call without having to launch it separately.  The new feature is aimed to bring the two apps more closely together but also to make communication more frictionless.

For those new to Android, Google Allo is Google’s text-based messaging app while Google Duo is their video calling app.  Both are focused on the consumer market while Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Video, the completely revamped versions of what is now known as Hangouts Classic, is for the enterprise space.

One of the more anticipated movies of the year, Rouge One: A Star Wars Story, is hitting theaters this Friday and to get your ready for the event, Google has added a set of Rouge One stickers to Google Allo.  Now when you use the new messaging app, you can add the Rouge One stickers to your sticker options and send them to friends in your messages.  To add them, just open up Allo and when you are in a message, tap the + in the text field.  Now tap the Sticker add-on button, the one in the far right of the bar, and you will see the option to download and add the Rouge One stickers to your account.

In all, there are 23 stickers in the pack, which is free.

There is a nice behind-the-scenes update coming to Google Allo that brings a smart emoji feature and stickers for the new movie Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them stickers that you can share with friends.  The updates are rolling out now and it could take a day or two before everyone sees them.  The first update, smart emoji, is pretty slick.  As you start typing, you can tap the Smart Smiley in the keyboard and it will give you suggested emoji for your message.  Even if you haven’t started typing, it will suggest emoji based on the context of your conversation (thank you Google Assistant and Machine Learning!).  The idea, of course, is to save time by using emoji but also to get you the right emoji for the conversation.

With the release of Google Allo earlier this week, Google also released an increadbly powerful feature inside the app.  Google Assistant, as the name suggests, aims to give you information, weather and even play games (and tell a joke or two) all within Allo.  Indeed, with Allo itself still needing some fleshing out, Google Assistant is by far the killer feature of the app and gives us a glimpse as to what we can expect as the company starts rolling this out to other devices like Google Home.

One of the great feature of Assistant is the ability to sign up for news, weather and other information in a subscription that is delivered to you daily.  It is a great way to stay up-to-date with the latest information on a topic of your choice.  In this How To I’ll show you how to subscribe and manage your subscriptions within Assistant.

After weeks of anticipation and waiting, Google finally pulled the trigger and launched Google Allo, their new messaging app.  The company had indicated it would be available this summer and as expected, it launched today (late last night technically) on the last day of summer.  Promise kept!

The new app that is “a new smart messaging app for Android and iOS that helps you say more and do more right in your chats. Google Allo can help you make plans, find information, and express yourself more easily in chat. And the more you use it, the more it improves over time.”

Leveraging phone numbers of contacts in your contacts list, you can SMS or, if they are using Allo, rich message them with larger text, inked photos and stickers.  If you message someone and they are not using Allo (on SMS), they will get a small prompt to download the app if they are on Android but they don’t necessarily have to do so.  Allo can be just a SMS app if you so choose.

The real killer feature in Google Allo however is Google Assistant that is built into it.