Allo goodbye: Save your Google Allo chat history before app closes on Tuesday

After two and a half years of service, Google’s Allo chat app is being closed for good on Tuesday, March 12. Google launched the chat app in September of 2016, offering a feature-rich environment for messaging that relied on RCS messaging, the replacement for the outdated SMS messaging system. RCS messaging is an evolution of the traditional text message that allows it to act more like a chat app with group chats, more interactive media elements, and A.I. integration. First impressions of Allo were positive, and it came with an exclusive addition. When launched, the app was also the first place you could try out Google’s A.I. Assistant. Chatting to Google’s nascent A.I. was a great way to pass time, and it grew quickly. Unfortunately, the Assistant quickly outgrew Allo’s enclosure, leaving the app behind. However, it’s definitely done its job, and many of Allo’s primary features have made their way to the standard Messages app on Android phones. The writing has been on the wall for Allo for some time now, and today is the day. Rumors of the app’s shut-down began in December of 2018, and the rumors were quickly confirmed by Google, with an eventual end date of 2019. While Google wasn’t willing to offer a more definite date than that, it did recommend users back-up and export their chat histories ahead of the app’s closure. That day has finally come, but if you haven’t already exported your chat histories, today is the final chance you’ll have to do so. Thankfully, exporting your chat history is a simple process. You can choose to email the files to yourself, or simply upload them straight into your Google Drive account. The death of Google Allo doesn’t mean the end of Google’s messaging ambitions of course. The video-calling Duo app still exists, and Google’s Messages app will continue to be updated with many of the features people found most beguiling in Google Allo. The future is still bright for Google’s messaging apps — it just won’t include Allo. Smartphones are great tools for voice recording, whether it’s a simple voice memo or even an interview. If you have a Pixel phone, then the Pixel Recorder app is about to get a lot more useful with a new “Clear Voice” feature discovered in the latest update’s Android Package Kit (APK). With Clear Voice, the Pixel Recorder app will “reduce background noise while recording for clearer speech playback.” Basically, it will keep human speech while removing unwanted and distracting background noise. The feature was found via 9to5Google in some strings in version 4.2.20241001.701169069 of the Pixel Recorder app. Google is implementing a small yet significant change to its popular Google Photos app. As first noted by 9to5Google, the app’s “Memories” tab is being removed. Memories is an auto-organizing, scrapbook-like feature that utilizes artificial intelligence to create an AI-powered feed. Since its release, the Memories tab has been in the bottom bar of the Google Photos app. The Memories tab is being replaced by Moments, which will reside inside the app’s Collections tab. This is where you can find People & pets, Albums, Documents, and Places. Google Messages is one of the most popular messaging platforms on the planet — so popular, in fact, that companies like Samsung and Verizon are doing away with their in-house messaging apps in favor of it. More than 1 billion users engage with Google Messages monthly, and a large part of the experience is RCS. We’ve been eagerly looking forward to the introduction of quality control when sending photos, a feature first spotted earlier this month. Now, Google Messages has begun rolling out the “original quality” media-sharing feature, as noted by Android Authority. For now, it’s only available in the beta, but that’s a firm sign that all users will be receiving it shortly.