Thoughts on Google’s Allo app which is meant to be its Hangouts replacement.

Adoption: Unlike Hangouts, Allo has access to the social graph in my pocket. It lets me text people I already know. It’s possible for the recipient to have an entire conversation with you, without the app. It’s getting them to care about installing yet another messaging app that’s the problem.

Usage: Messaging is the core, repeatable activity inside of Allo. And it’s comparable to FB Messenger for the most part. The big differentiator, is Smart Replies, which suggests a response to save you from typing a response or heaven forbid, have to think of something to say to another human being that you already know.

I found the Smart Replies a nice touch at first but it seemed inauthentic and impersonal as the conversation progressed. I wonder if an entire conversation can be had with another person using Smart Replies? But more to the point, would you want to? Does this potentially clever feature dehumanize human communication?

Mastery (Smart Assistant feature):

The Smart Assistant feature was what drew me to try Allo. My reasoning was that if it provided a superior experience for its hardcore users that got better over time, it would earn a spot on my home screen.

My first impression is that Allo’s smarts are limited or are very superficial. For instance, if you ask it to find movies playing near you (with the intention of figuring out showtimes), it returns the results in a carousel. If you tapped on a result, you get a description of the movie, instead of the show times. You can make plans with a friend to get tacos but not have Google suggest a time you can both meet (since it has access to your calendars) or suggest the best restaurant to meet (since it has access to your search history and other people’s reviews or recommendations).

The one thing I did like was that the Smart Assistant collects feedback inline. Curious to see how/if this improves the service.

Privacy:

Can we talk about privacy for a sec? It’s not clear how long Google hangs on to the data collected by its always on assistant? Tied to other information that Google collects about you, this is creepy. Note that Google does not have default end-to-end encryption, presumably to make the smart assistant work.

Verdict: I’m not convinced Allo is worth switching from iMessage/FB Messenger and WhatsApp.