Google’s Duo video calling app launched last month following its announcement over the summer, and now a new report claims that Google’s other new app will hit app store shelves soon.
Google Allo will launch this coming week, says prominent leaker Evan Blass. The exact launch date wasn’t given, but this launch window is certainly more specific than the “summer” launch window that Google gave us back in May.
As a refresher, Allo is Google’s new text-based messaging app. It’s got features like emoji, stickers, and the ability to increase or decrease the size of your text to “Whisper” or “Shout” your messages. You can also enable Incognito Mode for end-to-end encryption and expiring chats.
Also also includes support for Google Assistant. With it, you can perform Google searches within the app to look up images and more. Developers can build support for their apps into Allo, too, letting you do things like book an OpenTable reservation from within the app.
One other notable feature of Allo is Smart Replies. With this feature, Allo will analyze images that are sent to you and suggest automatic replies. For example, if you’re sent an image of a dog, Allo could suggest “Cute dog!” as a reply to save you time.
Also will be offered on both Android and iOS. With it, Google is taking another stab at the messaging market, following apps like Hangouts and its Messenger app for Android. Allo offers many of the features that you’d expect from a messaging app in late 2016, like stickers and emoji, as well as Google-y features like Assistant and Snapchat-like expiring messages. Allo faces a tough battle against established messaging apps like WhatsApp and iMessage on iOS, though, and so it’ll be interesting to see if Google can make Allo into a competitor in the messaging market.