Google Rolling Out New Features For Its Allo Messaging App

As stated by Google when it revealed the newest features of Google Allo, its messaging app, it turns out that people only use 3 percent of all emoji existing today. In other words, the remaining 97 percent of all emoji are all but underused. Obviously, the crew behind Google Allo does not want that to happen to the emoji they created, and they are actually doing something about it. 

The team is introducing a new Smart Smiley button, which when tapped by the user, will allow the Google Allo mobile app to generate a list of suggested emoji based on detected context clues. For instance, when the user types “eat” Smart Smiley could recommend burger, noodles, curry, or cutlery emoji. What makes this feature so clever is that it has the ability to suggest emoji even before the user is typing. It does this by looking in the conversation history. Some may see this new feature though as kind of reminiscent of that similar feature in iOS 10’s Messages app. 

Apart from debuting the new Smart Smiley button, Google is also launching the Fantastic Beasts sticker pack it promised about a couple of weeks ago, around the time it introduced a feature that lets users cast spells using their Android powered mobile devices. Not only that, Google also has a new functionality that helps mobile users discover new sticker packs easier and faster, plus explore fresh new background themes for the app.

Google has already started deploying the new features to its Allo messaging app this week. It is possible that some Android users may have already received the updates by now, but for those have yet to get them, they should be able to experience the added features in the next few days. Moreover, it should be noted that the Smart Smiley button will only function if the mobile device’s language is set to English, at least for now. For those who want the feature to have support for languages other than English, they may have to exercise some patience.

Some of the new features take full advantage of Google Allo’s ability to use machine learning, especially in suggesting suitable replies to text messages and even graphic messages (according to Google, the image recognition technology it developed is now capable of detecting specific types of food or animal with up to 90 percent accuracy. Google Allo also has support for Google Assistant, which Google says is the future of search.