Google closes chat service Allo

Google will close its Allo chat service on Tuesday. The service came online in the fall of 2016, but has never had many users. Many of the functions are now in other apps and services from Google.

Google says in a banner on Allo’s website that the cut-off date has been set for Tuesday, March 12, 2019. In doing so, it references a blog post to point users to instructions on how to save their chat history. Google is ditching Allo because it expanded the default text messaging app in Android, Messages, to include many of the features from Allo.

Many of those features in Messages require the carrier to support rcs, a messaging standard that should have become the WhatsApp counterpart of carriers but never got off the ground. Google hopes it will still happen. The Duo, announced at the same time as Allo, will remain in the air.

When released in 2016, Allo was mainly a showcase for showing the possibilities of the Google Assistant. For example, users could add the Assistant in group chats and use the functions to book restaurants or reserve tickets to a movie theater.