For those wanting to give Google’s newly launched chatting app, Allo, a try, Edward Snowden says don’t.

On Wednesday NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden posted a series of tweets in which he called the app, “Google Surveillance.”

“That’s #Allo. Don’t use Allo,” he said.

Snowden, now considered one of the world’s foremost experts on privacy, says the new app “records every message you ever send and makes it available to police upon request.”

Allo, the instant messaging “smart” app launched Wednesday by Google offers its users the option of sending end-to-end encrypted messages — a feature where only the users can see the messages, and which is increasingly common for instant messaging apps – but that isn’t activated by the app automatically.

When using Allo, users who want the added security have to choose to chat in “incognito” mode, something Google says you can do “when you need to.”

Otherwise, messages sent back and forth with the app will be encrypted between it and Google – meaning the company has access to what is said in those conversations.

Apps such as iMessage and Whatsapp offer end-to-end encryption of messages automatically.

“By default, it (Allo) is less safe than @WhatsApp, which makes dangerous for non-experts,” Snowden tweeted.

Snowden recommends using Tor and Signal.

Some law enforcement officials, such as FBI Director James Comey, have cautioned that the rise of end-to-end encryption could help criminals and terrorists “go dark” since companies can’t access the content of the encrypted communications even when faced with a warrant.

Freedom advocates and tech experts, though, have generally praised the rise of secure encryption for consumers: seeing it as progress for their privacy and cyber safety.

Other features of the Allo app let Google join into conversations: piping in with restaurant suggestions and weather updates nearby.

The idea is to keep the users inside the app, instead of requiring them to go back and forth in and out of it when planning things like what to watch and where to eat.

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The new app also lets its users chat in different sizes of text to emphasize some messages over others and provides suggested responses based on what it knows of users’ personality and tone.

-- With files from AP and Washington Post

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