Google Allo

No web / desktop client. I wish the font sizes would come back to the "right" size after shouting. Sms relay is often considered as spam by some users. That said, it is fast, reliable and fun. And now finally, chat backups.

Nice app. Clean interface. Google Assistant is the stand out feature, but according to me its not that great a feature that I would permanently switch to allo for this.

Would be better if enter and send has different fuction.

Nice

A very fun messaging app. Turns your words into emojis or stickers in one touch, with very useful and funny smart reply as well. As the Assistant improves I think this app will dramatically improve.

Like so many others, I've no problem with the app in terms of UX.. But crikey, are you ever going to integrate SMS? Great app, but most of my friends use iPhones and so I use WhatsApp as it is cross-platform. Once SMS is included with the ability to use the full feature set with other Allo uses, I shall consider using this app as my first choice. Until then. It is a great ap, with too few users to make it worth bothering with. Sad, because this is an app I really want to like.

Allo is lacking a couple key features. Short cuts to chats on desktop, Default encryption and ability to backup chats seem to be primary. Also, link previews and ability to start video chats. Future app/bot integrations will be powerful but the assistant is just not useful enough in its current state. Assistant will need to mature to be more than a novelty for finding a place to eat.

The best chat app by Google to date! The built in Google assistant is mint and after a while it starts to get scarily accurate. One can only presume they've got a great machine learning algorithm and who knows what other data sources might feed into guessing your next response. Anyways, notably missing are SMS/MMS integration (I would nearly kill for this, even if a subset of features was unavailable) and some type of web or desktop app to use Allo on the PC.

I'm trying this app again a few months later and I'm glad to see that some improvements have been made. Love the ease of sharing media, Google Assistant, and the themes. Would love if there was desktop support, video calling and sms support. This is what I loved about Hangouts bc it was all in one app. I know there's Duo. But to have 3 separate Google messaging apps on my phone is absolutely ridiculous. This is one of the biggest complaints about Google out there. Consolidate your messaging apps into 1 or 2. There also should be a way to change the background color and the color of each contact

Worth fully facing lil bugs.... Shud b effective in every aspect cordially..... Submission of grace of the app is nt as much as technical as other google manuscripts ....... Many changes moves to b concluded in order to live dis app daily based ruptured enforced used app...... Bt frm google being a solo performance dis app needs immense techunal specifications to b improved in a very dramatic way.... Symbolising n immobilising all d bugs related to people facing

The Google Assistant is so awesome! It feels like you're typing to a real person. You can simply ask it a question personally messaging only Google Assistant, or ask it a question in any chat using "@google [question]." The app is in my opinion way cooler than WhatsApp and has way more functions than it or other messaging services. Being able to resize text by dragging the send button up or down is straight-up awesome. (If you don't need the chat part, I'd recommend this even for only the Google Assistant)

Honestly I love it, by far better than WhatsApp in my opinion, unfortunately I live in Mexico so here is not that usual this app, and all my contacts use WhatsApp, I've only managed to get one person to use it and she liked it a lot, but in terms of convenience 'cause of the data usage is more viable to use WhatsApp 'cause of the data plans that companies have at Mexico they give you like unlimited WhatsApp per month or something like that, I would love that the would be more people using this 'cause I truely think is way better than any other messaging app I've used. Totally recommended and I'll keep on trying that people around me give it a try 'cause is awesome. For the record I talk about specifically where I live because I don't know if elsewhere is the same or not.

Former iPhone user here who caught myself missing the functionality of iMessage and Allo is the perfect solution. Great for file sharing, group chats, read receipts, and the ability to customize the themes of each chat is an added plus. Additionally, my friends and I are always commenting on how the smart replies have improved our group chats. No bad things to say about this app!

One of best messaging apps that I have used. All the other messaging apps are way too cluttered and feel very messy. Allo feels simple and clutter free. I think that Allo is also future proof because it supports a new messaging standard called Rich Communications Services (RCS) which is going to replace Short Message Service (SMS). Quick replies are fun, especially from the assistant or lucky!

This is by far my favorite messaging app! Android was lacking in a good messaging system (Comparable to iMessage), and this makes up for it 10 fold! The fact that it is cross-platform means I can finally have richer conversations with my friends with iPhone, and the integrated Google assistant makes this invaluable when talking about certain topics! It is a little buggy at times (not sending the messages until the app is reopened), but overall a great app. I wish it could integrate directly with SMS messaging, but this isn't feasible at the moment. Google has always been top notch when it comes to predicting responses, and determining the context of a sentence when using the @lucky feature, and also when suggesting restaurants nearby when I say I'm hungry. Overall, I love this app and I can't wait to see where it goes from here!

Quick, secure, feature of increasing message size to show emphasis is cool. The only think I don't like is the camera within the app, as it doesn't show a full camera screen and the middle of view region isn't actually the middle of the resultant image. Meaning you never get the shot as intended. All other messaging features on this is great.

Seriously love this app. Great concept. The fact that I can send messages over certain networks with restricted/pay-for access is a game changer. It may not be a big deal with free wifi popping everywhere but when you get stranded. Oh boy

SMS support is terrible. Making my recipients sign up for the app or be consigned to see my messages come from a random five digit number is passive-aggressively pushy and downright childish. I was open to trying this app as an alternative to my mediocre default messenger right up until that discovery. Now it is uninstalled and I will think twice before committing to another app from the seemingly dysfunctional Google dev team. You guys are better than this. Show it.

As an individual messenger, Allo is good. Plenty of features, easy to use. But the lack of SMS/MMS support really causes Allo to stop far short of being a great messenger. I Don't want to manage another messaging application on my phone to have individual conversations with only other people that have that app. Add in SMS/MMS support and this is easily a 5 star, never-use-another-messenger-again app.

The limitations and the SMS relay is convoluted and obtuse, the average user's nightmare. A modern chat service shouldn't be tied to something as archaic as phone numbers, especially when it doesn't even really need the phone number in order to work. No desktop or tablet version, and limited to one device.

The guy in charge of this app won't include SMS because he thinks it's going to die. You know what is going to die before that though? This app because it doesn't support SMS. Someone there needs to convince that guy to include SMS so people will start using this app. Google has a registry of what numbers are using this app, so it can inform you "the recipient is unable to use the feature you are trying to use", so just do that!

Came off WhatsApp ages ago but since having grandchildren wanted a way of getting and receiving pics etc. My partner found Allo so got some friends and family to install it too. You can also send video, sound clips and you .ft loads of stickers and emoticons to use as well. Great fun!

Love Allo and use it mostly for group chats with friends. It's reliable, fun to use, and pretty well optimized. My one gripe with this app is one I have with Google dragging their feet on releasing a desktop app and the ability to use on more than one device at a time. This is easily a 5 star as soon as those features come available.

I can really see the potential this has to become one of the top messaging apps out there, but it certainly isn't there yet. The cleanliness, color scheme, and Google Assistant all work for me. However, not being able to set it as the default messaging app is a huge miss. I'd like one app to rule them all, not a collection of apps. Great bones, but needs more meat!

When this was first announced, I was hoping that this would be a great alternative for my messaging app. Sadly, it does very poorly when it comes to SMS integration. I wish this acted more like iMessage, where it is a normal SMS app, but if two people have allo, they can see all the extra features together. It's been several months since it was released, so I've pretty much lost hope that Google will actually do this. Nice try Google...

So close. The features such as Google assistant and lucky are super cool. The app is super interactive and more fun to use than any other. I can't rate it 5 starts because it does some super annoying things. Every image you send, receive, or every gif sent or received from lucky saves into your gallery. I hate getting sent photos or when someone uses lucky because I immediately have to go to my gallery to delete it.

After a few weeks- So lack of SMS still kills this. Can't use it with anyone because they don't want to switch messenger apps. Can't write to my kids because they only message on their tablets, no numbers to register. So in the end Hangouts still rules the roost. Plus video calling on Hangouts is still good enough. Can't use Duo for the same reasons above. No point at all. Waste of time Google.

App is pretty smooth, no end to end encryption on normal chats and not available on group chats (no google assistant in incognito). Definitely needs a desktop client given that Hangouts is being retired. Also, no SMS! If you do send an sms through allo, it is received on the other end from a third party number containing an invite to download Allo. Get it together Google

This is the best messaging app so far, has so many capabilities. It's a must have. But the video and media sharing is faulty, when I share a video, if I leave the app during upload it pauses the upload and continues when I return. That's not good Google please fix this

Its not a default SMS also everybody has to install this apps it is same as whatsapp third party apps not default SMS apps do I need these three apps to send and receive messages whatsapp stock message and Allo?but how can we tell the world to download Allo? THERE IS NO SECURITY AS PROMISSED UNINSTALLED No notification thank you Google very simple thing is missing why Google? Nobody reply when I send msg from this apps need data this app does not work without data

Android is a mess when it comes to messaging apps. There is WhatsApp, Hangouts, messenges, every brand has its own messaging app, and now what I thought it was gonna kick ass, allo. But it sucks!!!! Sure, it's a great looking app with good features but as long as I'm not able to send sms to people that don't have the app just like iMessage or hangouts do, I ain't gonna switch. That's a deal breaker. No wonder why almost nobody uses it. If you allow to send sms just like iOS does to non iMessage users, I'll switch. Now that hangouts, my main messaging app, is not gonna support sms anymore, I have to find a different messaging app. I want the equivalent of iMessage on android!!!! Is that too much to ask? Get your heads out of your assess people at Google!!! Everyone knows apple users stick to iphones largely because iMessage and I myself will consider to switch back to iOS because of that. It's something so simple but so convinient. There is no need for using 3 or more messaging apps. Love Android but you guys are still all over the place. !!!!

Garbage. I'll just keep using Facebook messenger, I guess. I don't want to invite someone to use this app every time I send a message. I sent a text to my wife to test it out. It doesn't show up as a text in get sms app. It shows up as a notification only, that she accidentally closed on the first attempt. You can see the problem with that right? Uninstalling

Needs To be Merged with Messages app and provide SMS I can't justify the use of it when I gotta switch between two apps for messages. I may as well use facebook messenger. You gotta make these services universal or else nobody will use it and the terrible thing is I love the app but I never get a chance to use it. This is one of the apps that just needs to be baked into Android from the start like Google Maps

For the hangouts replacement it still lacks lots of basic features like. Multi platform log in (on Windows desktop), forced to use a telephone number, no voice or video call. Other existing chat applications already have some of those features like Whatsapp, Viber, wechat, kakaotalk, hangouts :p, etc

I'm disappointed with the AI. It doesn't seem to recognize a lot of cultural references or simple human prompts. It's responses, 90% of the time, end up opening Google Search instead of responding properly. Hate to be that guy, but Siri is miles ahead right now.

This google assistant in this app is annoying beyond belief. You can chat with anyone without it jumping into the conversation and displaying stupid search results and there is no easy way to stop it. I even muted it and blocked it in the allo app but it still makes suggestions.

Have to down grade my review. "Auto save media" needs to be disabled. From then on when someone sends you a picture, animated GIF or some of the apps GIF's you will be given a chance to download the image. But even when disabled the sender will have the image "loaded" to their phone. If not managed this could use up your PHONE's memory over time. This app will eat up your phones memory if not maintained.

One of Google's 20 or so messaging apps doesn't intergrate with anything. You will still need Hangouts, messages, Facebook messenger, duo for video, phone for voice ect. No desktop support no voice and no video and your friends won't use it. Already obsolete and feeling abandoned by Google.

It needs full SMS integration and pc desktop support. Said it when it first came out and I'm saying it again. Apparently Google decided to ignore everyone else who said it as well. Extremely frustrating. Out of the hundreds of contacts in my phone, nobody uses Allo, and they're not willing to switch unless they can use it with full sms integration like the multitude of chat apps that they're already using. Come on, Google

The app is clean and well designed, however it still lacks sms/mms support. Untill Google adds sms/mms, I can't switch to this app. Too many friends on iPhones that refuse to use anything other than iMessage (which does falls back to sms/mms). C'mon Google, every update you don't integrate sms/mms support is another update you disappoint your most loyal fans!