There are a lot of messengers on the planet but none has come close to WhatsApp when we talk in terms of no. of downloads or user base. But now it seems, Google is ready to give some tough competition to WhatsApp by introducing their new messenger Google Allo. Google Allo has a lot more features when compared to its competitors in the market. Google Allo has a built-in bot (Google Assistant) which can chat with you and do stuff for you. Some of the amazing features of Google Allo are:
Smart Suggestions
The Best feature of Google Allo is the suggestion it gives after every message. Google Allo suggests 2-3 replies every time you receive a message and all you have to do is tap on the suggestion to send the message in reply. The suggestions are so good, that you’ll fall in love with this feature in no time. It will keep learning from the messages you send as a reply to improve the suggestions in future. Hence, the more you chat, the better suggestions it will give.
Google Assistant
Google Allo brings you Google Assistant which can do a google search for you, tell you a joke, recite a poem, aware you with some facts, play games, and much more. From finding a restaurant or a movie near you to answering your most tedious questions, Google Allo does everything.
You can chat one-on-one with your Assistant or you can even chat with the assistant right in between your ongoing conversation with your friend. All you have to do is write @google in your conversation, and your assistant becomes active, ready to answer all your queries. So, the next time you have a dispute with your friend, you don’t have to google it and then share the link or screenshots, all you have to do is to type @google and get the answer right in between your chat visible to both of you.
Private Chat (Incognito Mode)
We all know about Incognito Browsing, where our browsing history is never logged. As soon as you close the incognito browser, your search history and cookies get deleted, keeping your browsing private. Google has brought a similar concept in the Google Allo by introducing Incognito Chat where you can set a timer from 5 seconds to 1 week, after which all your messages will be deleted automatically. The chat you’ll do in Incognito Chat will not be recorded and your Google Assistant wouldn’t read it either. Hence, neither Google Assistant will disturb you or give you suggestions nor these messages will be used to improve your personal suggestions in future. All the messages sent or received here are end-to-end encrypted and even the notifications are private.
Stickers
You can express your feelings with awesome stickers that you can share with your friends using Google Allo. The stickers are designed by various independent artists and in different languages. There are some pre-downloaded stickers. And you can add more stickers by downloading sticker packs.
Shout or Whisper
You can change the size of your text to get your point across. To express something louder, increase the size of that text whereas to whisper something, make the text smaller. All you have to do is hold the send button and swipe up or down to adjust the font size.
Edit Photos
In Google Allo, you can edit photos before you send them to your friends. Although, there are no filters or stickers, but you can highlight things with different colors and can also add text on photos.
To Download Google Allo
Privacy Concerns
There’s no doubt that Google Allo is amazing. Everyone has been eagerly waiting for this Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered messenger since it was announced at Google I/O 2016. But, by using Google Allo, are you compromising your privacy? To improve the Allo’s smart reply and suggestions feature, Google stores your chat for later analysis. This means that all your conversations will be stored on Google servers and Google can access the data anytime they want. Google, in future, may use this data to show you personalized ads.
Also, your conversations will be accessible by law enforcement with warrants. This may include the sensitive piece of information shared by you on Google Allo. Your incognito chats and the messages you delete manually may not be available, but it still risks your privacy. Note that the conversations done on WhatsApp and iMessage are always end-to-end encrypted and are not accessible even to police upon request.
We don’t want anyone to know when we leave our home or go somewhere out. So, Why Google? What if Google (or someone else) knows when you leave your house and when you come back. It clearly takes one’s freedom. Hence, privacy is one of the most important things you gotta protect to live freely. But, the choice is yours.
What do you think about Google Allo? Will it be successful in giving a serious competition to WhatsApp? Let us know in the comments section down below.