There are few apps on our smartphones that manage to become as indispensable to our lives as those that allow us to manage and participate in our social lives. We will obviously count social networks, but not only.
Indeed, instant chat apps have succeeded in replacing outdated SMS in recent years. It’s an extremely active market that Google wants to join as well. Introduced Allo and Duo at I/O 2016.
Since then, Duo has been officially released on the Play Store and is already very popular. What about his comrade Allo? We saw it in action before it was released today. Here are all the features!
WhatsApp-like interface
If you’re already familiar with the billion-user WhatsApp app, Allo will sound familiar to you. In fact, the chat interface is quite similar and also offers double arrows marked to indicate that a message has been sent and read.
But that’s not the only thing coming, because you also have the ability to send voice messages to your contacts through Allo. And this interface is simply copy/paste of the competitor’s. When a formula works, why change it? Here it is in action:
However, what we can notice against its rival is that Allo looks very modern compared to WhatsApp’s very plain interface that has changed little over time.
Gif support and photo customization
The great strength of an application dedicated to instant chat on the Internet lies in its media support, the power of the web. Let’s just say it right away: GIFs should be supported, and they’re more or less fine with most current apps.
In Google Allo, a GIF search engine is implemented directly into the app, allowing you to find exactly the reaction you’re looking for in your chat.
You also have the option to send videos and photos from the service, the latter also has additional customization. As you can imagine: you can draw on them in addition to adding text.
However, these customizations are quite limited and only allow you to change the color of the brush, not its shape or type. Similarly, the text will necessarily be displayed in the middle of the photo, in white and without any further processing.
You also have the possibility to share your current position in the discussion. However, you cannot share other types of content such as MP3s. These are not supported.
Moreover, the compression in Google Allo looks much more aggressive than in Hangouts. Thus, according to Android Police tests, a 3mb photo at 4032×2268 is compressed to become a 61.9kb photo at 1008×567. It makes sending and receiving faster, but not a good solution for giving your vacation photos to save to the family.
Match Smiling Faces
Like all instant chat apps at the moment, Google has inherited the smiley “stickers” (or stickers) model popularized by the LINE platform. Here you will be able to download many smileys from an online store for free (for now).
All of them can be easily integrated via a special icon in the chat channel. Everything is reminiscent of Hangouts, the installation of such stickers has already been done with the same icons. Still, Allo has a lot more with interesting styles.
It looks like Google isn’t putting a big dent in entry into this sticker service, as this bull calls for wiggling his ass and pinching his nipples, while others impersonate a funky condom or a pervert waiting for pictures…private. Suffice it to say that we risk seeing a wide variety of stickers on the platform, which in itself is not a bad thing.
Google is much more integrated
We knew Allo was closely linked to the use of the new Google Assistant, Now’s successor and personal voice assistant. But it also draws on the research know-how of the Americans.
Indeed, you have the ability to search terms within the app to find a conversation. You invited your friends to watch Suicide Squad with you but you no longer know which ones (this is happening)? Search for “Suicide Squad” and Hello will find any conversations that mention it.
If you have chatted with many people in France and around the world, you can of course use this search feature to find a person more easily.
That’s not all, because unlike Duo… Allo is tied to your phone number as well as your Google account! Indeed, although your 06 is the most important element of the application, signing into your Google account allows you to take advantage of Google Assistant. It is therefore not necessary, but more than recommended.
However, remember that your phone number is your username. Google currently does not have an Allo companion on PC/Mac or whatever. Linking your account therefore doesn’t mean the service will go beyond your smartphone: it’s just a platform to save your preferences and habits for your Assistant. And that’s all.
In fact, in this test version, it seems that the developer did not provide a backup or restore function. It is certain that this functionality will be added later, as it is a temporary release and is up and running.
Easily delete any message
By default, conversations with Allo are not encrypted, the Google Assistant integration bug requires it. However, you will be able to make certain conversations “private”, which will harm the use of the assistant.
However, if you really want to keep certain details of your conversations private, you have the option to completely delete a message from one of your conversations. And not only yours, but also what you get!
However, please note that this only deletes the local copy of the message so it will remain on the other person’s phone. What’s more, it’s possible for a recovery system to be activated… Therefore, this feature is mainly designed to hide a surprise from your partner, for better or worse.
Incognito mode for optimum security
As we told you before, Allo will indeed have an end-to-end encryption conversation mode: incognito mode. This has two features: Google Assistant doesn’t work here, and hidden chat notifications only show “you have a message” from Allo.
Each user has a unique identification key that is used to encrypt the ongoing conversation. You will receive a notification if this changes during your use. Any chat can go into incognito mode and vice versa.
You may decide to use this default setting, but you can also make it temporary. So you have the option to make a message “hidden” for 1, 5, 10 seconds, or even 1 hour or 10 hours as you see fit.
So you can send “self-destructing” messages like Snapchat. It’s impossible to take a screenshot in a secret chat, so these screenshots were captured on camera by our comrades at Android Police.
- To read : 5 reasons to choose Google Duo over the other
Be careful though: the timer you set for your messages also applies to you. So, if you choose to compose a message for only one second before it is destroyed, it will also appear on your end for only one second. This is triggered when the message is opened.
Convinced? So don’t waste a second and download Google Allo now available in France to test it yourself!
