Google's Allo Smart Reply Coming To Android Messages For This Select Group Of Users

Show of hands, how many of you use Allo? Maybe a spattering of you reading this are in the category of Allo users, but by and large, most probably aren't. Well, the good news for those of you who don't and who are Android users is that Google is bringing one of Allo's most popular features over to Android messaging—Smart Replies. However, not all Android users are getting this, at least not initially.

For the time being, the Smart Reply feature on Android is only available to users of Google's Project Fi service, which is a relatively inexpensive phone plan that seamlessly bounces subscribers between three 4G LTE networks and around 1 million secure Wi-Fi hotspots.
In case you are not familiar, Smart Reply is a feature that has been around since 2015 when it was introduced to Gmail and Allo. It is an artificial intelligence (AI) technology that analyzes inbound messages and then suggests various reply options, which users can select and reply with. For example, if someone messages you with a suggestion to make or order pizza, the Smart Reply feature will come up with some appropriate responses, such as "What kind?" or a thumbs icon emoji.

Sometimes it works really well, and sometimes the results can be quirky. Either way, it's neat that Google is leveraging AI for simple tasks—it doesn't always have to be about taking down Go champions and decimating chess opponents. That said, Google is juggling several different mobile messaging services, including Hangouts, Android Messages, and Allo, each with different features. We have to wonder if Google might eventually combine all three into a single platform at some point.