Allo, the new AI-powered instant messaging app was first unveiled at Google I/O back in may this year. Since then, there have been many rumors floating around the web regarding whether or not Allo will replace the core Google messaging apps – Messenger and Hangouts. Just a week ago, a Redditor who claimed to be a third level beta tester for Google, claimed that Google will phase out both Messenger and Hangouts apps in the upcoming release of Android 7.0 Nougat, and Allo and Duo will be the default messaging apps in Android Nougat.
But now a new report coming from the XDA-Developers is suggesting that it will not be the case. As per the report, Google is not going to replace Messenger and Hangouts apps with Allo and Duo. Allo is not cross-app compatible – it can’t show Allo messages and SMS messages in a single app – like Messenger, and Google has no plan to make it cross-app compatible either. The report also cites that there is no such thing as a third level beta tester, as previously claimed by the Redditor. This report also makes sense as, at the time of launching these apps, Google had promised that after the public launch of Allo, Hangouts would not be left out.
It’s also worth to point out that neither Allo nor Duo is publicly released yet, but it’s expected to launch along with upcoming Android 7.0 Nougat release. As a recap, Allo is a feature-rich instant messaging app based on Google’s Machine learning algorithms. The idea behind this app is to get things done without switching between multiple apps, for instance, It has a built-in image editor so user can edit and send photo directly from the app without leaving the app. it also has a smart reply function similar to Inbox by Gmail app, which allows faster replies and because it’s using Machine learning, it will learn your chat habits over the time for better reply recommendations. Allo app comes with built-in Google Assistant support, which makes possible to book a restaurant, getting sports updates, and more directly from the app. Both Allo and Duo apps will be available on iOS and Android platform publicly later this summer.