Google may finally be trying to consolidate Messaging – Allo now rumoured to be shuttered

After the rumours of Hangouts demise began circulating this past weekend, it seems Google is also looking at their other instant messaging client with thoughts of shuttering it as well.

Allo development, as slow as it was, has been on hold since Google announced they were re-focusing their messaging efforts on the Rich Communications Services (RCS) powered ‘Chat’ platform in their Android Messages app back in April.

The impending shutdown of Allo has been reported by 9to5Google who said:

Google will announce that it’s shutting down the shortlived Google Allo chat app “soon,” according to a reliable source familiar with the plan, although the timeline of the announcement may have been delayed by the backlash stemming from our report about ‘Hangouts classic’ being shuttered.

The team behind development on Allo was reportedly moved to focus on the Chat platform, headed up by Anil Sabharwal, now Vice President, Chrome, Comms and Photos + Australia Site Lead, at the time of the announcement. With little staff assigned to work on Allo, and very small amount of consumer adoption for Google’s instant messaging service there’s little reason to keep it around.

Allo was lambasted for launching with many features such as multi-device and multi-account support, ‘missing’, though they slowly added in features like a desktop client. The Allo service was never really adopted by users like their video calling service ‘Duo’ which has seen continual development with new features being added.

The announcement to end Allo may not be coming soon, but we’re now on the lookout for it. If you’re a die-hard Allo fan, you may want to look around for an alternative.