The app and service are no longer available

Jul 17, 2018 00:01 GMT  ·  By

As of today, July 17, 2018, the famous Yahoo Messenger instant messaging client from Yahoo! used by millions of computer users over the past two decades is now officially dead.

About a month and a half ago, Yahoo! announced that it would discontinue the Yahoo Messenger app, as well as the instant messaging service behind the app beginning July 17, 2018. Today is that day, and Yahoo Messenger is now officially dead.

"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," said Yahoo in a support article.

If you try to access the official Yahoo Messenger website, you'll notice that the service has been terminated as of July 17, 2018, and now Yahoo! recommends you use Facebook Messenger, Viber, Telegram, Line, or Skype for your future instant messaging needs.

Yahoo! says users have six more months to download their chats

If you had chats that you needed to backup, you should have done so until today, July 17, 2018. If you haven't managed to download your chat history, they're not gone yet as it would appear Yahoo! gives users six more months to download their chat history on their PCs.

To download your chats, you need to access the downloader request site, sign in with your Yahoo ID, select a verification method of your choice, and then download the chat archive, which Yahoo! will send it to you shortly to a specified email address.

Yahoo Squirrel might replace Yahoo Messenger soon

Yahoo! is currently working a new, more modern instant messaging client called Yahoo Squirrel, which promises to meet the needs of today's consumers and compete with existing messaging services by focusing on innovative and exciting communication tools.

Yahoo Squirrel isn’t a replacement for Yahoo Messenger, but an organized group messaging app that's currently only available as an invite-only beta for Apple's iOS and Google's Android mobile ecosystems. The company didn't say when Yahoo Squirrel will be available to everyone.