Google finally added the much needed chat backup option to Allo, their messaging service that was meant to rival WhatsApp. As much as we all probably forgot that Allo existed, Google didn’t.
I use Allo, Google Assistant sends me news every morning and occasionally someone will hit me up on Allo but beyond that, there’s nothing. I tried forcing my friends to switch but that didn’t go as planned.
Maybe these new updates to Allo will finally convince people that Allo is worth trying out. At the beginning of May 2017, Google updated Allo with chat back up and restore, incognito mode for groups and link previews.
As exciting as this is, Allo is still playing catch up to the competition. The major feature that got people to use Allo was Google Assistant, which is now available to all Android devices running Android Marshmallow and above. However, to ensure that Allo remains* attractive, Google has pushed another update to the app.
*This is if it was attractive to you in the first place
This update makes Allo a lot of fun to use. The update allows Allo to turn your selfies into cartoon stickers. In the spirit of Google, the user is allowed to edit almost every aspect of the sticker; from your eye brows and other facial features.
To use the feature, you simply tap on the emoji button in the messaging field, swipe left to scroll past the default stickers and tap the three dots menu. Then tap the smiling sticker icon on the next screen and on top of the list you should see a new option to turn a selfie into stickers.
In case you cannot see this new feature, clear the app’s cache, if this still doesn’t work, you can force stop Allo and reopen it. In case you cannot wait for the update, here’s the APK file.
Google has implemented machine learning and neural networks to map your facial features, so this isn’t just another “simple” tool that creates emojis. The process of developing the tool and how it works have been explained in this blog post by Google.
This feature is currently rolling out in Allo for Android, and will be coming to iOS soon.
