Google breaks its promise, your Allo messages will be stored indefinitely

When Allo was unveiled at Google I/O, Google was very adamant that user privacy would be a very high priority for Google. The application does send your messages through an encrypted connection between users’ devices and Google’s servers and the app’s Incognito Mode offers end-to-end encrypted messaging, but Google also claimed that the company would only transiently store your messages and then delete them after a certain timeframe. 

That’s no longer happening.

The Verge is reporting that all the messages sent within Allo are stored indefinitely. Users still have the option to delete old messages manually or use Incognito Mode is they don’t want their messages to be stored on by Google at all. Apparently, the change was prompted to improve user interactions with the Google Assistant. Since Google Assistant learns from your conversations and becomes more useful over time, transient storage of your conversations would have been detrimental to the development of the platform.

At the end of the day, Google’s decision to flip-flop on this issue will not have a huge impact on the majority of users. Google will simply be keeping tabs on you with Allo as it does with your Google searches Gmail, Hangouts conversations or any other service which users your Google login. If you’re really worried about Google storing your messages or others snooping on your conversations, we suggest you use the Incognito Mode if you decide to make the switch to Allo.