Google’s new messaging app, called “Allo,” is either an incredibly creative or creepy innovation — depending on your point of view.
The new app, which was teased at the Google I/O developers conferecne in May, was released Wednesday.
At its core, Allo is a messaging app that uses artificial intelligence to predict how you might want to reply to a friend, saving the time and energy of typing on a smartphone.
Sounds like a dream, right? Well, not so fast.
Related: How to Stop WhatsApp From Sharing Your Info With Facebook
Edward Snowden called it “Google surveillance” in a tweet and urged people not to use it. The former NSA whistleblower tweeted that Allo “records every message you ever send and makes it available to police upon request.”
Allo does record every message you’ve ever sent and uses that chat history to suggest smarter and more relevant replies.
But a Google representative told NBC News in an email that users have “transparency to control their data in Google Allo.”
“And our approach is simple — your chat history is saved for you until you choose to delete it. You can delete single messages or entire conversations in Allo,” the spokesman said.
Snowden, however is right on one thing. If a user didn’t delete their conversations and authorities issued a subpoena for those messages, it’s possible Google would have to share them.
If you’re privacy conscious, Allo offers an “incognito” mode with end to end encryption, meaning the messages will never live on Google’s servers, a person familiar with the matter told NBC News.
Users who chat incognito, however, won’t be able to use the smart replies feature or Google assistant, which allows them to bring Google into the conversation to help answer questions — essentially turning Allo into just another end-to-end encrypted messaging app.
