Some have loved the new chat app and its Google Assistant features, while others have decried its lack of features, the potential privacy issues, and more. This massive U-turn in policy has caused Snowden to warn users against using the app.
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Snowden tweeted, “Free for download today: Google Mail, Google Maps, and Google Surveillance”. Google originally promised that Allo would store messages transiently instead of indefinitely in a log. Owners of the upcoming Pixel phones may want to start getting used to Allo now, as it is highly likely that the app will be baked into Google’s new devices. There is no detailed notifications whenever the Incognito mode is activated for the chat.
The records will now persist until the user actively deletes them, giving Google default access to a full history of conversations in the app.
Allo has only recently been launched, so the likelihood of people using it on a daily basis is relatively slim right now.
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End-to-end encrypted Incognito released intact and no messages sent while in that mode are logged. However, with Snowden’s public warning about the app, some users might be hesitant to use the service now.
