Google launches messaging app Allo to compete with Whatsapp and Facebook

Google has released its messaging app which it hopes will provide serious competition to a market dominated by Facebook and its subsidiary company Whatsapp - Allo.

Allo represents the latest venture for the artificial intelligence powered Google Assistant.

Released on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store on Wednesday, the app can only be used by users of Android or iOS software devices.

Users can begin a chat with the Google Assistant to subscribe to various news and information sites in order to receive articles every day at a specified time.

A variety of tasks can be performed by the GA through the messaging app, such as providing results for sporting events, checking cinema times or asking for directions.

Google has been trailing Facebook's Messenger and Whatsapp programmes in the instant messaging market, pulling business away from the company's key areas, as the likes of Messenger stuffs its app with things typically thought to have been the Alphabet-owned company's territory.

Nick Fox, head of Google's communications products business, has dismissed fears that the Allo app may be intrusive on conversations between friends.

"In all cases, we never want the technology to get in the way of people having a conversation," Fox says. "[The virtual assistant] is visible, but not intrusive."

The app will debut a host of new features, such as the ability to write over photos sent to friends, and an incognito mode which allows users to send messages which will then be deleted afterwards.