Yahoo is finally putting its instant messaging app Yahoo Messenger to rest on July 17.
“Yahoo Messenger will no longer be supported after July 17, 2018. Until then, you can continue to use the service normally. After July 17, you’ll no longer be able to access your chats and the service will no longer work,” wrote Yahoo on its website.
Launched around 20 years ago in 1998, Yahoo Messenger was initially called Yahoo Pager. It was rebranded as Yahoo Messenger in 1999. The Messenger competed with AIM, MSN Messenger and ICQ for years.
In 2008, it had about 248 million users, but the numbers started decreasing as the smartphone and mobile apps like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Telegram emerged. In 2015, the messenger held only 5.8% market share in US.
To bring the users back, the company launched a new version of its messaging service in 2015, but that didn’t help much.
Currently, Yahoo is experimenting a new app for the replacement of Yahoo Messenger called Yahoo Squirrel. It is currently in beta.
“We know we have many loyal fans who have used Yahoo Messenger since its beginning as one of the first chat apps of its kind. As the communications landscape continues to change over, we’re focusing on building and introducing new, exciting communications tools that better fit consumer needs,” said Yahoo.
The users will have six months to download their chat history to personal computer or device after the shutdown date. Further, the users will be able to continue the use of Yahoo ID for other Yahoo services like Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Fantasy, etc.
Also read: WhatsApp launches free to download Android app for businesses
Other than Yahoo Messenger, the other old-school messaging apps to come to a halt in recent times are AIM last year, and MSN in 2014.
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