The desktop client for Google Allo, the search giant’s instant messaging app, will be rolled out in a “few more weeks,” according to the company’s head of product for Allo and Duo. Google’s Amit Fulay confirmed via his Twitter account that the Allo messaging service will soon come to desktop computers in the coming weeks, though he fell short of providing an exact date, or even a less ambiguous timeframe, for the web client’s release. Fulay also revealed in his Tweet that the Mountain View-based company’s work on Allo is continuing. However, it remains unclear whether Fulay’s team is adding a few more features to the web/desktop client and, if so, what those features are. Fulay’s Twitter post received a number of responses, with some asking whether Allo and Hangouts would be combined or will the service be integrated with Gmail or Inbox – a possibility that is hard to rule out at the moment.
Google officially launched Allo in September last year that kicked off in the U.S., though its popularity on the Play Store seems to have slightly dropped a month later partly due to its lack of many important features, including a desktop client. The app received a cold reception from critics and users as a result since a desktop client is considered a significant companion to a mobile app.
Then in February of this year, Nick Fox, Google’s vice president of communications products, shared via his Twitter account a screenshot of a desktop client for Allo, boasting many essential features such as the integration with Google Assistant. Approximately four months after teasing the Allo desktop client, Fox took to Twitter again to announce that the web and desktop version for Allo won’t be released until after two months at most. He made the announcement after the Allo desktop client was a no show during Google’s I/O 2017 developer conference in May of this year. With Fulay now confirming that it is only a matter of a few weeks before users can get their hands on the app’s web client, it is increasingly becoming clear that Google has been rolling up its sleeves to polish Allo into a product that should come close to perfection for its users. More updates about Allo’s desktop client could be available in the coming days.