Weeks after closing the book on Google Talk — better known as Gchat — for good, Google is bringing a new chat application to the web. On Tuesday, Google chat app launched Allo for web on Chrome, but if you want to use it, you’re going to need a mobile device to pair with it first.
That’s right — in order to use Allo for web, you need to scan a QR code from your browser with a mobile device that has the Allo app installed already. For now, only Android devices can be used to pair with Allo on the browser, but Google says that iOS support for this feature is coming soon as well.
Allo was originally unveiled at Google’s I/O developer conference in 2016 alongside video chat app Duo. It took less than a week for over 10 million users to download the app, but growth slowed considerably after that. By bringing the app to the web, Google is making the app more accessible for those who have adopted it as one of their primary forms of communication, which could increase its longevity.
Some of the highlights of Google’s smart messaging app Allo include its smart replies, the ability to shout and whisper by changing the size of the font, photo editing, stickers and support for Google Assistant. A majority of these feature are available on Allo for web as well, but taking photos, deleting conversations or starting chats with someone who isn’t in your contact list won’t be.
If you want to try Allo for web yourself, just head to this link and follow the instructions.
