Google Is Killing Off Allo to Refocus on RCS and Messages App

Dec. 6, 2018

Back in April when Google temporarily suspended the development for Allo, I was almost certain that the company would kill it sooner rather than later. And the day is here as Google has now gone on record to confirm that it’sshutting down Allo for good.

The shut down of Allo isn’t all that surprising to begin with. In fact, Google is the one to be blamed here as it baked almost all Allo features into itsRCS-enabled Messagesapp like Smart Reply, GIF support and more.

In ablog postdetailing its plans for the future of messaging, Google said,“Earlier this year we paused investment in Allo and brought some of its most-loved features—like Smart Reply, GIFs and desktop support—into Messages. Given Messages’ continued momentum, we’ve decided to stop supporting Allo to focus on Messages.”

Honestly,RCSmakes more sense to me as it will be universal, as long as carriers support it, which means Google may finally have a shot at competing with Apple’s iMessage, albeit a long shot.

Is Hangouts Dead, too?

Well, Google is not doing away with Hangouts just yet. However, Google noted that its users will be “upgraded” to Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet at some point, which is an obvious indication that the classic Hangouts chat app that launched with Google+, is at its breaking point too.

So the bottomline is, Google is shutting down Allo to focus primarily on its RCS-enabled Message app. Essentially, Google wants todeliver a simple and unified communication experience for its users. So, the consumers will have Messages and Duo, whereas G-Suite users can use Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet for team collaborations.

Karthik is a Contributing Author for Beebom. Be it mobile devices, laptops, etc. he brings his passion for technology wherever he goes. When he’s not dwelling on the latest tech, you can usually find Karthik wasting time on Instagram or feeding his incessant obsession for video games.