Google Allo launched with smart Assistant, Incognito mode to take on WhatsApp and Messenger

As we told you earlier, Google has finally launched Allo - its new messaging app for the masses on both the Play Store and the Apple App Store. With the aim of keeping the app simple and focusing on just the conversation, Allo does a great job of minimizing complexities of setting up an account and overbearing you with its list of features.

Instead you just use your phone number to sign into the app and can choose to associate it with a Google account or not. Once signed in, Allo will show you contacts that are already using the app at the top and you can straight away begin a conversation. For those that don't have Allo installed, on iOS will get an SMS will the full content of your message and a link to download the app, while on Android you will get a notification as if the app is already installed on your device and you can reply to the notification without incurring any SMS charges. To download the app, just tap on the notification and it will take you to the Play Store.

This simplicity in installation as well as not forcing users to install the app to read a message should work well for to get more users onboard.

Google Assistant

Allo has Google Assistant built and its more than just a chat bot. You can get your queries answered by typing your chats to "@google". This makes search more conversational and it helps that Google Assistant tries to understand the context of the search being performed. Say if I ask for details or trailer for a particular movie and in the next question I can just ask where is it playing or book a ticket for it, instead of specifying what I am talking about.

It can show all your relevant details like appointments, calendar, shipment details, bill due dates, pretty much everything that Google Now already does. Google Assistant is still in a "Preview Edition" so bear with it if its a bit annoying that it doesn't understand the conversation at times.

You can call the Assistant within any chat as well and all the members of the chat will be able to see the search results. All you need to do is type in a query starting with @google and get the results within the conversation window.

Incognito Messaging

Google Allo is already good as a simple messaging app, it has group chats, animated stickers and Assistant to talk to when you are alone. You can even doodle on images on Android before sending them across. It can also understand the image that has been sent to you and tries to formulate an appropriate response, say "congratulations!" when sent a graduation pic or "awww" when a baby's photo makes its way to your conversation. It also learns from your conversation and in future when you get a question it will prompt you to reply ("smart replies") with your most frequently used responses like "yup", "sure" or a thumbs-up emoji.

Then you also have the incognito mode, which encrypts your chat end to end, so even Google doesn't have access to them. Contents of an incognito chat are not shown in notifications either. Moreover, you have an option to choose the duration for which the messages should expire after they have been read, which can be from anywhere between 5 seconds to a week.

Google Allo seems like a simple solution for a non-existent problem albeit in a very crowded space where WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger already have a billion strong userbase. But, as we have already seen with Duo, people are willing to switch to a new service even to just try it out and if enough of your friends start using it maybe there's a chance for Allo.

Download Allo: Play Store (Android) | App Store (iPhone)