Google confirmed late last year that it was shutting down its Allo messaging service in March 2019, and now we've got a more precise shutdown date.
Google Allo is shutting down today, March 12th. Google has confirmed the news on the official Allo website, meaning Allo users only have the remainder of today to use the chatting app before they'll have to take their conversations somewhere else.
If you're an existing Allo user, you can download your chats and media before you move to another service. Just open Allo, select Settings, and then tap Chat. From there, you can choose "Export messages from chats" to download just your message text or you can select "Export stored media from chats" to grab your photos, videos, and other files. Your messages will be stored in a CSV file while the media will be in a zip file.
When Allo is no longer supported, all your messages will be deleted and your backups in Google Drive will no longer be readable.
It's never good to see a messaging service shut down, but it's also not surprising to see Allo going away. The chatting service never seemed to gain much traction with users after its launch in late 2016, and Google eventually shifted its focus to other messaging apps, like its Messages app for Android.
Did you ever use Google Allo?
