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Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

googleblog.blogspot.com

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Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#13
If I'm bound to switch to something and bring friends to it, I'll rather do it with Wire[1], without any Google surveillance and data mining for "ad experience". It has a desktop client (electron based though) and isn't limited to 1 device. Not to mention E2E encryption ALL the time.

[1] https://wire.com/

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#14

Why isn't it always end to end encryption? I'm getting really paranoid and crochety in my old age of 29, as all I see is a tool to make me the product.

This was what popped out to me immediately in the bit where they write about TLS. I wonder whether this user driven approach is because of pressure from governments on encrypted chats or something else

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#15

Why isn't it always end to end encryption? I'm getting really paranoid and crochety in my old age of 29, as all I see is a tool to make me the product.

The Google Assistant integration is arguably the killer feature of the app. End-to-end encryption would delete it, thus it is not the default.

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#16
Isn't the main feature of this (smart reply) something that can be easily implemented by other messaging apps? And the stickers/emojis and Google Assistant are already available in other apps. Granted, Google has the power to integrate things really well and make it a premium experience that can win users over. Also, how does this relate to Google Hangouts/Gmail Chat? Lots of questions so it will be interesting to see how this will turn out.

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#18
post #13

If I'm bound to switch to something and bring friends to it, I'll rather do it with Wire[1], without any Google surveillance and data mining for "ad experience". It has a desktop client (electron based though) and isn't limited to 1 device. Not to mention E2E encryption ALL the time. [1] https://wire.com/

How does this company plan to make money from this? I tried to browse through all the pages and I am not seeing it.

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#19

Why isn't it always end to end encryption? I'm getting really paranoid and crochety in my old age of 29, as all I see is a tool to make me the product.

it's not always-on end-to-end encryption because the standout feature is the google assistant. literally the whole selling point of the app is that google is always listening in. If you want google's assistant to not be continually monitoring your conversations, then allo is definitely not the app for you.

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#20
How did Google get Apple to approve this app for the App Store?

It has fallback to SMS functionality[1], but SMS apps are rejected from the Apple App store [2].

[1] https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2016/09/google-allo-smarter-...

[2] https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/

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