Google Allo is shutting down in March 2019. What remains: Android Messages and Google Duo for consumers, Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet for enterprise.
In the past week, two 9to5Google reports unveiled the fate of two Google messaging apps: Hangouts is shutting down in 2020 and Allo is shutting down “soon.” Google has now gone on record to explain the plan.
Google Hangouts is not shutting down, but the classic version is being replaced, and Google is not sharing when. All Hangouts users will be transitioned to Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet, just like enterprise users have been. In the meantime, Chat and Meet are being actively updated. Meet last week doubled its participation limit to 100.
Google Allo is shutting down in March 2019. Allo features will continue to make their way to (Android) Messages, part of Google’s rich communication services (RCS) strategy.
Google Duo was also mentioned today, but nothing is changing there. Unlike Allo, Duo has found a set of loyal users (Google says Duo is one of its “highest rated mobile apps”). Duo now works on Android phones, Android tablets, iPhones, iPads, Chromebooks, and Smart Displays. Today, the app gained the ability to send a video message.
Allo launched in September 2016 as Google’s attempt to build a modern messaging app from scratch. The team learned a ton from the effort, but Allo was largely an exercise. It was doomed from the start, and all the updates were merely feature additions — there was never a focus on growing adoption.
