Google Services What's New

8 awesome Google Allo features to look after





Ever since the news about the launch of Google Allo was made in May 18th2016, it has been one of the most talked about and searched about app and finally when it was launched on 21st September 2016 there has been quite a bit of discussion about it being the next big thing in the messaging app domain, challenging the established names like Whatsapp.

So, what makes it so special? What are its killer features that can catapult it to the top of the messaging apps list?

What is Google Allo?

In simple words, Google Allo is a messaging app that incorporates a blend of your natural language processing habits and machine intelligence to give you an exceptionally smarter experience.

google allo installing in smart phone

It is linked to your Google Account. This indicates that the Google Allo account would be associated with your Google account. This association opens up a wide array of options to your Google account, beside the other existing features available. Let us take a look at the 8 awesome Google Allo features to look after.

Features of Google Allo

1. Smart Reply

The Smart Reply feature of Google Allo is similar to the one that is found in the Google Inbox app. It learns from your use of the app and helps you swiftly reply to messages by giving you real-time suggestions based on your past responses.

2. Photo recognition

Well, this is a killer feature. The Google Allo app has a “Photo recognition” feature included that is capable of recognizing a received image and suggesting a response. Let’s say you are looking at a picture sent by someone, Google Allo would give you prompts that can be

smartreply

Let’s say you are looking at a picture sent by someone, Google Allo would give you prompts that can be potential response to the picture like “wow”, “beautiful”,” yummy” etc. As the Smart Reply feature is something that the app learns based on your usage, it would take at least a week to see the best results.

See also  New G-suite security control for third party apps

3. Whisper and shout

This is yet another amazing feature of Allo. You can change the size of the text you typed or the emojis that you selected by pressing and holding the send button and positioning the slider to get the appropriate size.




The idea is that when you shout, you want your font size or the emoji size to be larger and when you are not so serious the font size or the emoji size can be small to indicate a casual statement. This is an interesting addition, something that could rival Apple’s iMessage feature in iOS 10.

The idea is that when you shout, you want your font size or the emoji size to be larger and when you are not so serious the font size or the emoji size can be small to indicate a casual statement. This is an interesting addition, something that could rival Apple’s iMessage feature in iOS 10.

4. Scribble on pictures

Scribble on google allo

While the smart reply feature and the picture recognition work in tandem to give out automatic responses to a received image, the “Scribble” feature lets you scribble on a picture before you send it to someone. This combined with the huge collection of stickers takes your online instant messaging to a new level altogether.

5. Incognito Mode

allo-incognito-2

In the Incognito Mode, the messages do not get logged in the server and the chat responses are totally encrypted. However, this also disables the smart features. The incognito mode works similar to the “incognito” or “private” mode offered by most browsers wherein no information that is transmitted or received gets logged or saved.

See also  Google Docs will now have page numbers along with table of contents

6. Security through optional encryption

The Google Allo offers high level selective encryption. This means there is no encryption by default, though you have an option to enable it. You can selectively enable end to end encryption of the messages to the individual contacts. Though many may argue that by leaving the default setting without encryption was not a good idea as it leaves your chat responses vulnerable to be tracked by Government agencies, I guess it is best that Google has given the user the option to decide on what has to be encrypted and what not.

7. Extensive Message Retention

Messages sent and received through the Allo app (when not in incognito mode) are retained indefinitely. Well, this would serve two purposes. One, you can have a record of all the conversations at any point of time without worrying about a device reset or running out of storage space. The other is that Google uses these saves messages to improve the Google Assistant and Smart reply features.

google-allo-640x351

Messages sent and received through the Allo app (when not in incognito mode) are retained indefinitely. Well, this would serve two purposes. One, you can have a record of all the conversations at any point of time without worrying about a device reset or running out of storage space. The other is that Google uses these saves messages to improve the Google Assistant and Smart reply features.

8. Personal Google Assistant

You get to use the Google Assistant in Google Allo app. You can search for the nearby restaurants and search for answers right in your conversation with friends by adding @google.

I would say with the Allo app, Google has struck gold and this would get the alarm bells ringing for the present mobile instant messaging apps. As a consumer we only serve to benefit from this healthy competition.

About the author

Learning Hub Editorial Team

We are a team of tech enthusiasts who find Google Apps and its features intriguing. Let us know your views if you find us helpful.

Leave a Comment