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Export your Allo messages, photos and other media before March


Google Allo was launched to great fanfare at Google I/O in May 2016.  Less than 3 years later, it's scheduled for a shutdown, and will only work through March 12, 2019. Until it's shut down you can download your Allo chats and shared images and files.


Notably, because you don't sign in to Allo with your Google account, you cannot download your Allo data using Google Takeout. You must download the data from inside the Allo app.

To download your content:

  1. Open Allo on your Android phone (it needs to be the latest version)
  2. Tap the 3 line menu icon at top left and select "Settings"
  3. Tap "Chat"

  4. Select which data you want to export:
    • Export messages from chats: This only includes message text, not photos or videos. 
    • Export stored media from chats: This includes photos, videos, and other files. 
  5. Choose where you want to send the exported file 
    •  You can select Dropbox, Google Drive or other cloud storage app on your phone
Your messages will be in a CSV (comma separated values) file that can be opened in Google Sheets or any spreadsheet software.

Your photos, videos and other files will be in a zip file that can be unzipped to access the files.

See the help center article for more information about the exported message format, or click the image below to enlarge.

Comments

  1. This makes me so happy that I never went all-in on Allo. I don't think I could take 2 major shutdowns within a month of each other in the Google-verse. The lack of G+ is painful enough.

    More on topic: Will this CSV be of any use, in terms of importing to other messengers? Seems like it's just a way to save stuff, but not to actually make a transition.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know what you mean. There are so many shutdowns over the next month, it's pretty brutal.

      I'm not sure what the CSV can be used for, other than having a history of your conversations. I don't know of any other messaging app or service that lets you import your messages (other than SMS).

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