I’ve been playing with Allo, Google’s latest “smart messaging app”, for the last day. Although I love its clean design and wonderful integration with Google Assistant, there are several key areas which, until addressed, will keep Google Hangouts as my primary messaging client.
- The app is tied to a single phone number on a single device. If a user changes their primary mobile device, they’ll have to reinstall Allo. Additionally, there’s no seamless way to backup conversation histories.
- No web or tablet interface.
- No SMS/MMS or Google Voice integration
- Why do I need a separate video chat app (Google Duo?)
Good luck building a user base when Allo is basically “just another messaging app” instead of a means to unify common protocols (SMS, MMS, Voice, video chat, Hangouts).
Google created a beautiful app that only fragments the current landscape of messaging options. I hope in the coming months, developers will build on Google Assistant’s foundation to incorporate the aforementioned features.
