What is Google Allo?
On September 21st 2016 Google Inc. launched its chat app Google Allo. Just like WhatsApp, Google Allo uses your phone number to connect with their app and send messages to contact persons in your phonebook. The app is available for both Android and iOS. Allo has a few features that make it unique: Google Assistant, incognito mode and Smart reply (automatic responses via learning over time). The downside to Smart reply that bothers people is the automatic storage of all your chat messages on the Google servers.
What makes Google Allo different from other chat apps?
The first feature that makes Google Allo different from other chat apps is Google Assistant. This virtual assistant can answer questions privately or within chats with your friends, can give suggested follow up questions as shortcuts to manually typing, can pull information from the internet and it has a machine learning component. This self-learning assistant is a precursor of an advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) virtual assistant. Secondly, there is an incognito mode in which your chats are end-to-end encrypted and can only be seen by the participants. In this mode Google can’t read any of your messages which means you can’t use the Smart reply or Assistant features. The last unique feature is the Smart reply which makes replying to conversations easier and faster. It recalls typical responses of the user and gives the applicable ones as reply options to a photo or a message. Smart reply adjusts itself to the user’s writing style and improves through time.
What are the privacy implications of Google Allo?
If you decide not to use incognito mode then your chat logs are stored on Google’s servers indefinitely until you actively decide to delete them. These chats aren’t encrypted and can be requested by US government authorities through a search warrant. That is why Edward Snowden, ex-CIA employee and whistleblower, advises against using Allo. Another criticism is that the app may tempt people to prefer the AI assistant over the privacy of an end-to-end encrypted chat. This design choice seems to be a step backward for people who are concerned about the continuously challenged legal status of end-to-end encryption.
Should you go for Google Allo?
At this point in time my answer is: no. The Google Assistant feature is promising and works well but isn’t groundbreaking enough for me to switch from WhatsApp to Google Allo. If you want to use end-to-end encryption for protecting your privacy, you have to enable the incognito mode. In this mode the most important additional features, Google Assistant and Smart reply, don’t work.
References:
Everything You Need to Know About Google Allo’s Privacy Backlash
http://www.ibtimes.com/google-allo-messaging-app-features-smart-reply-incognito-mode-google-assistant-2419942
https://support.google.com/allo/answer/6383724?hl=en
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/09/21/google-allo-can-the-new-chat-app-outsmart-whatsapp-and-imessage/
Hi Tom, thank you for your blog post. I fully agree with you on this one.
First of all, the features of Allo which are named do not make Allo more appealing than for instance the current WhatsApp application (of which I am a user). I have also never heard of anyone around me that they’re using this new chat-app by Google.
Secondly, with regards to the network effects, Whatsapp has become very valuable for many people (including me) because friends and family use the same application. This makes it less interesting (read: high switching costs) for people to migrate their profiles.
In a nutshell: “Why change a winning team?” The majority of the users are satisfied with how WhatsApp works and as long as they (Facebook) keeps the good quality, I don’t see a reason to switch to another application such as Allo. However, it must be said that if in the future Whatsapp introduces ads in the app, which will in someway disturb conversations, it could become more interesting to check out other alternatives. Having this said I do not think Allo will be able to compete with Whatsapp just now.