Google Allo now has a desktop client, available from any web browser.
Google's Allo messaging client is nearing its first birthday, and the service is finally launching one of the biggest components of other messaging apps: a desktop client. I didn't use Allo at all for the first nine months of its existence because I could not have my phone at my previous job, and no web interface meant I could not use the service during the day. Google teased a web interface back in February, but there wasn't been any movement since then.
That changes today. The Allo application has begun showing the "Allo for The Web" option in its menu, with the application instructing the user to visit the Allo website and scan a QR code to get going on the desktop. Individual computers and browsers can be deregistered from the mobile Allo application.
The web version of Allo includes the same feature set as the mobile application, including emojis, smart replies, stickers, media sharing and access to the Google Assistant. Because the user needs to use their phone to register on the Allo website, we can presume that chats are still tied to a phone number and not centrally backed up like Google Hangouts, which is similar to the way WhatsApp approaches its web client, too.
Google's Allo messaging client is nearing its first birthday, and the service is finally launching one of the biggest components of other messaging apps: a desktop client. I didn't use Allo at all for the first nine months of its existence because I could not have my phone at my previous job, and no web interface meant I could not use the service during the day. Google teased a web interface back in February, but there wasn't been any movement since then.
That changes today. The Allo application has begun showing the "Allo for The Web" option in its menu, with the application instructing the user to visit the Allo website and scan a QR code to get going on the desktop. Individual computers and browsers can be deregistered from the mobile Allo application.
The web version of Allo includes the same feature set as the mobile application, including emojis, smart replies, stickers, media sharing and access to the Google Assistant. Because the user needs to use their phone to register on the Allo website, we can presume that chats are still tied to a phone number and not centrally backed up like Google Hangouts, which is similar to the way WhatsApp approaches its web client, too.