Google’s Allo messaging app is rumored to be launching this week after having been announced earlier this year at Google’s annual I/O Developer conference. Allo, which is the second app to have been announced at the event, will be alongside Duo, Google’s new video messaging and video chat application that has been available on the Play Store in an official capacity for some weeks now. Just like with Duo, users have been able to pre-register for Allo since it was announced, which allows them to be alerted and notified when Google eventually launches the application. Because it is available for pre-registration users are able to leave reviews for the app, which has enabled Allo to reach a 4.8 start rating prior to having even launched. Of course, it’s entirely possible that the rating could drop once users have it installed on their devices and start using it.
Allo will have a handful of features going for it that make it enticing to users, not the least of which is the security options that it promises such as the ability to have your conversations in incognito mode, which gives them end-to-end encryption. Allo wouldn’t be the first application to offer such a feature, as both Telegram and Signal, two other chat apps which pride themselves on privacy, also offer end-to-end encryption for their users.
In addition to the security aspects that users can expect from Allo, its more robust offering will be the power of Google Assistant, which is supposed to allow users to engage with Allo for any number of things from order pizza to buying tickets to a concert, and asking it to do simple tasks, sort of like the chat bots that have been growing in number inside of Facebook’s Messenger application of late. While the launch of the app is supposed to happen sometime this week, there has been no exact date mentioned in the rumor, so it could be early on or it could be at the end of the week. According to speculation in the comments on Blass’s tweet, September 20th is thought to be the official launch date, however it’s important to keep in mind there is no confirmation on this.