Google Allo v26 adds Shocked breaking news effect and Sender ID [APK Teardown]

google allo apk teardown v26

Google is rolling out an update for its Allo app that brings us v26. There are only minor changes that we are able to spot on the UI part, but when we looked into its code, we did find a couple of interesting features that might make a debut in near future.

While the code inside Allo isn’t that revealing at the moment, you would like to know that the APK teardown on YouTube app revealed that we might see a dark mode in YouTube soon, as well as a new section called YouTube Albums.

Related: Top download manager apps for your Android

Unofficial changes in Allo v26

allo v26 apk teardown

There is only one change, and it’s a small one. When you long press on a chat, you get an option called ‘Leave group.’ It has been replaced with ‘Leave chat’ now. Which isn’t much but we are also spotting a couple more changes like this in the code, which basically hints at Google calling the group chats as simply ‘chat’ in place of ‘group’ in menus.

Now, what we found in the APK teardown.

About APK Teardown…

Well, a teardown is based on the code we find buried within an APK of an app, which we look upon to speculate features that may or may not become official in future. So, do not take these features to become available for granted, as this is merely a rumor, although based off something official.

Allo Sender ID

Looks like Allo is gonna have a sender ID, for which we found two lines of code, reproduced below.

<string name=”default_sender_id_pref_key”>fireball_default_sender_id</string>
<string name=”default_sender_id_title”>Default sender id</string>

New ‘Shocked breaking news’ effect

There is a new effect called Shocked breaking news found in the code: two lines for the effect, as is the case with other effects that are already present in the app’s code. In case you’re wondering how many and what effects are there in the Allow app, well here you go:

  • Amazed face rays effect
  • Blur effect
  • Confused question marks
  • Shocked breaking news (found in v26)
  • Face kaleidoscope
  • Bollywood zooms

<string name=”camera_shocked_breaking_news_effect_cancel_asset_download”>Cancel asset download for shocked breaking news effect</string>
<string name=”camera_shocked_breaking_news_effect_toggle”>Toggle shocked breaking news effect</string>


That’s it.

Do you use Allo? Can Google make you switch from WhatsApp/ another messenger app to Allo?

Posted by
Kapil Malani

A die-hard Liverpool FC fan, Kapil is a big fan of Batman, Android and street Cricket. In that order, probably. Email: [email protected]