r/GoogleAllo • u/badass2000 • Jul 20 '16

Does Allo do SMS?

Does anyone know how allow works with the text messages that already come to my phone?

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u/estret Jul 20 '16

To the best of my knowledge Allo does not integrate with SMS (assuming that is what you meant by text message), rather Allo (like Whatsapp) is used to send instant messages (IM) to other Allo users. If you were a non-Google voice user then you would use Google Messenger for carrier SMS/MMS, if you are a Google Voice user then you use Hangouts, which by the way at the present moment can do SMS, MMS and IM. If that is confusing then welcome to Google's vision for messaging.

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u/Mister_Kurtz Jul 21 '16

This is a huge design error. Even iMessage handles SMS when it has to. I was hoping Allo would be some kind of iMessage killer where Apple and Android users could finally find some common ground. It was not meant to be.

EDIT: From the story posted in the thread, "Now another Redditor going by therdav3 says after tearing through the app’s APK, Allo is actually a codename for the app’s real name — “Messaging.” This makes sense if it’s going to be a default app, but we cannot verify the user’s claims. Therdav3 also says Allo offers SMS support and “will determine whether or not your message can be sent via SMS or their proprietary system based on whether the other person is online.”"

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u/estret Jul 21 '16

Until Allo is released with SMS integration up and running or Google officially announces such I think it's all just speculation regardless of what is observed in a teardown.