Google has kind of a weird history with messaging platforms. It seems that they can’t seem to decide on which is the defacto messenger. We’ve seen them try to create separate apps for SMS/MMS, then they merged it with Hangouts, and then just yesterday they launched Allo, a new and smarter messaging platform.Based on what Allo can do, it certainly sounds like it would be much better to use than Hangouts, so does that mean that Hangouts will be killed off eventually? For those of you who still love using Hangouts, Google has told the folks at Business Insider that Hangouts will be here to stay. According to the Google rep, “We’re continuing to invest in Hangouts and it will remain a standalone product.”
For those unfamiliar with Allo and missed our coverage yesterday, this is a new messaging platform. It comes with Google’s new Assistant feature that lets you book restaurants within the app itself via a chatbot. It lets users chat with friends as well and have “expressive” conversations with stickers, a built-in photo editor, and a whisper and shout tool.
It even comes with smart replies that over time will be able to pick up on the things you say, thus allowing it to eventually sound more like you. We suppose since we haven’t used it yet it’s hard to say if it will be better than Hangouts, but if you are a Hangouts user and don’t want to have to relearn a platform all over again, you can rest assured that it won’t be going anywhere.