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Is anyone sitting somewhere out there thinking "Darn... if there were just more messaging platforms I could use.."

Don't think so - we already have a lot of platforms on both android and iOS- why yet another one?
 
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Two things I like Apple to do (but probably never will) is to merge iMessage and FaceTime into one App and release it on Android, believe me, plenty of people on Android would move away from Google's crap (except of course android itself/GMaps/GSearch) and other messaging Apps.
I think anyone looking for that option would best move to iOS and enjoy the aspects that whole system offers.
 
Two things I like Apple to do (but probably never will) is to merge iMessage and FaceTime into one App and release it on Android, believe me, plenty of people on Android would move away from Google's crap (except of course android itself/GMaps/GSearch) and other messaging Apps.
I thought iMessage and Facetime are already kinda "built-in." Sure, there are two apps per se, but initiating an iMessage or Facetime happens under the same app, Contacts. So all you need is find the contact, and from there you can initiate iMessage or Facetime, seamlessly. that's it. So to most people it's already seamless.

Making iMessage for Android is probably difficult. Unlike iPhones, roughly all non-nexus and pre-marshmallow phones are not encrypted by default. I bet this will create issues in how Apple like to implement their services.
 
Most other Android people Ive seen, like on the Reddit Android board are very disappointed in this. We were hoping this would be Androids answer to imessage, seamless SMS fallback etc. Now it's just another chat app we have to try and persuade people to download, a chat app that offers nothing over most of the alternatives.
 
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Nope. Google will just abandon this like they did with hangouts and a number of other products. They will get bored as they always do. They couldn't get SMS fallback so instead I get a message from a short number if I don't have it installed with a link spamming it. Ugh
 
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Google Assistant will be huge. Maybe not for a good while yet, maybe not under that name, and maybe in the end it won't even be part of any messaging app as such, but that way of interacting with our devices will become standard.

I can see it working as part of a messaging app though. My interest is certainly piqued. But they really need to come up with a desktop implementation.
 
Does anyone know how to use your actual number when texting other people? I tried it out, seems neat, but my wife (who doesn't have the app) received my texts sent through Allo from a "437-53" number. If there's no way to fix this, then its a non-starter for me.
 
Come on, Google, you can do better. Just a few more and you can claim to have 10 overlapping communication tools.

And all of them invading your privacy.
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Two things I like Apple to do (but probably never will) is to merge iMessage and FaceTime into one App and release it on Android, believe me, plenty of people on Android would move away from Google's crap (except of course android itself/GMaps/GSearch) and other messaging Apps.

iMessage, like other Apple services, is designed with privacy and security as default, central features. If you extend this to the Android platform, that potentially flushes privacy and security down the toilet. Apple can't guarantee secure, end-to-end encryption when its users communicate with Android devices.
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It has to beat WhatsApp.
No one I know (in Europe) is using iMessage (not cross-platform so wtf cares).

It's funny how Europeans were outraged to find out their governments were colluding with the NSA to snoop on their online activities, yet they happily surrender their personal communications to Google and Facebook.
 
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Does anyone know how to use your actual number when texting other people? I tried it out, seems neat, but my wife (who doesn't have the app) received my texts sent through Allo from a "437-53" number. If there's no way to fix this, then its a non-starter for me.

I dont think it has built in SMS fallback, so thats what you have to deal with unless the other person has the app as well. Its just another in a long line of half baked messaging apps from Google, stay away from this POS
 
I thought iMessage and Facetime are already kinda "built-in." Sure, there are two apps per se, but initiating an iMessage or Facetime happens under the same app, Contacts.

Nobody sends messages this way. The vast majority of the time you go directly to iMessage and either start a new chat or continue an existing one from there.
 
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And in typical Google fashion, I'm willing to bet the app will be better on iOS than Android. Also, this looks much cleaner than that mess Apple calls iMessage.

Sure, if you like running apps on your iOS device that completely disregard iOS design conventions.
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What's wrong with hangouts?

Aside from years of complaints about sluggishness and late to market features? Also, don't Google's users get tired of having ten different apps with overlapping functions, and then having to start over every time Google abandons one of them?
 

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I can see it working as part of a messaging app though. My interest is certainly piqued. But they really need to come up with a desktop implementation.

This is sadly a deal breaker for me. I like how it has SMS relay for iOS users but being able to only use the app on a single smartphone is a non-starter. I reply to messages all day from any one of my Apple device--so easy to quickly reply, especially using a full hardware keyboard, to both iMessages and SMS/MMS.

Ugh....I really want to switch back to Android full time but it's these kinds of things that keep me from doing it.
 
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The fact that they didn't launch Allo as a replacement for Google Messenger on Android says a lot about the future of this product. It should have been an SMS replacement with full desktop, tablet, and phone integration.
 
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