Google Allo appears to be finally shutting down

The short-lived, and seldom used, messaging platform will finally be put out of its misery, according to sources.

Allo, Google's proprietary messaging platform, was originally launched to be the Hangouts replacement; it launched alongside Duo, Google's video-chat service that has seen tremendous growth. Complete with modern messaging staples such as stickers, read receipts, and web client, Google positioned Allo to finally be the long-awaited "iMessage Killer" that Android users have been clamoring for for years. Unfortunately, Allo was doomed from the beginning. While people enjoyed the feature-rich platform, platform fragmentation, Google's history, and, of course, lack of SMS support led to a slow adoption. When Google announced (Android) Messages as the default messaging service for Android, it was clear Allo was being phased out.

Earlier this year, along with the announcement of Messages supporting RCS Chat, Google made it official that Allo was done and Messages would be where Google poured their resources. However, rather than announcing the end of Allo, Google further complicated the matter by putting it on "pause", but now, it seems that the pause has finally come to end.

According to sources, and first report by 9to5google, Google plans to officially ax Allo and restructure the messaging field in to something that is (hopefully) a little more concrete. While Google is certainly not known for clarity (or sticking to one product), it appears they may have a road-map for messaging moving forward. Messages appears to be the one and only messaging platform for consumers as it will envelope the best of Allo's features as well as handle SMS/MMS plus RCS as it begins to roll out. The well-received Duo will continue to handle the video side of messaging for consumers as Google tries to make Messages and Duo a true competitor to iMessage and FaceTime.

On a side note, it also appears that Hangouts Classic will also cease to continue as Google pushes consumers to Messages. Hangouts will be utilized for enterprise purposes only as Hangouts Chat (text) and Hangouts Meet (video) will be wrapped in to G-Suite services.