One of the big news stories to emerge from this year’s Google I/O event was that Google is launching two new Android apps. The two apps were unveiled as Allo and Duo and although they are different apps, there are some commonalities between them. Namely, they both focus on bringing people together in one way or the other. From Duo’s perspective, this is achieved through video calling while Allo focuses more on the messaging side of communicating.
However, while these apps were announced at I/O, they have taken their time becoming available to Android device owners. As it stands, Duo did very recently see its release to the Google Play Store as an ‘available to download’ app. Which was then followed by the news that Duo managed to attain 5 million downloads in its first week of release. In terms of Allo though, the app has yet to become available, although there are some indications now starting to surface that Allo is preparing to drop soon.
The main indication is that the app has now been spotted as listed under the “New & Updated” section of the Google Play Store. That is, in spite of the app still not being available to download. So those clicking through the link will still be presented with the ‘coming soon’ tag and the option to register for when the app does becomes available. Both Allo and Duo did quite quickly make their way to the Play Store as listed apps, but only in a pre-order status. With Duo now released and Allo now now showing up in what is essentially the ‘what’s new’ section, the assumption rightfully being made is that it does look as though Google is preparing to open up the availability of Allo soon. Although at the moment, how soon remains to be seen. Interestingly, in spite of not being released yet, Allo does seem to already be gaining some favorable reviews as the Play Store listing for Allo was noted as already having a 4.8 star rating. If you have yet to register for Allo, you can do so by heading through the link below.