Google Is Discontinuing Allo, One of Its Messaging Apps, in March ⇥ blog.google

Matt Klainer of Google:

We want every single Android device to have a great default messaging experience. We’ve been working closely with the mobile industry to upgrade SMS so that people around the world can more easily enjoy group chats, share high-res photos, and get read receipts on any Android device. Thanks to partnerships with over 40 carriers and device makers, over 175 million of you are now using Messages, our messaging app for Android phones, every month.

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Allo will continue to work through March 2019 and until then, you’ll be able to export all of your existing conversation history from the app — here are instructions on how to do so. We’ve learned a lot from Allo, particularly what’s possible when you incorporate machine learning features, like the Google Assistant, into messaging.

Google’s desire for a great default messaging experience on every Android device has seen them launch and kill several apps with no clear argument, definable strategy, or even a sense of which one they think users should actually use.