ByBill Toulas-April 11, 2019.918 Gmail will now support new encrypted and authenticated communication protocols for email servers. Man-in – the-middle actors will now have trouble doing their thing and shielding it from administrators. Gmail will be the first email provider to support the new requirements but in the near future more will follow. Google Duo app crosses 1 billion downloads to become the company’s most popular app on the Play Store. Duo’s success paves the way for Google to develop a new contact and messaging strategy. Allo is expected to sunset in 2019 while Hangouts will be taking on a new role in the business environment. Google Duo has reached 1 billion Play Store downloads, making it the second most downloaded non-pre-installed software on Android (only Subway Surfers). Due to its usability and flexibility, Duo gained this recognition because the mobile video calling software features excellent content and works fairly consistently. Google decided to take it outside of their classic hangouts ‘ interactive sense in 2016 so they launched Duo and Allo applications dedicated to video and chat, respectively. While the former was an immediate hit, the latter was already scheduled for shutdown with investment having been stopped for quite some time now in its further growth. GoogleDuo is not only available on Android smartphones and tablets though it also came along the way as support for Chromebooks and iPads. In reality Duo is quite common on iOs as well as its simplicity and the quality of the video has gained considerable user commitment. On the chat front, and to fill in the gap created by Allo Google’s departure, they plan to improve their consumer-oriented “Messages” feature. Only business users can continue to use the Hangouts Chat. Google plans to increase the adoption of Rcs and integrate machine learning capabilities into Messages in order to prepare for an organizational upgrade.