Email, Messaging, & Video Calls > Texting & Messaging What Was Yahoo Messenger? Yahoo's long-running texting app was shut down in 2018, but there are plenty of Yahoo Messenger replacements that work better and still get updated By Tim Fisher Tim Fisher Facebook Twitter Senior Vice President & Group General Manager, Tech & Sustainability Emporia State University Tim Fisher has more than 30 years' of professional technology experience. He's been writing about tech for more than two decades and serves as the SVP and General Manager of Lifewire. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on October 7, 2022 Reviewed by Michael Barton Heine Jr Reviewed by Michael Barton Heine Jr Michael Heine is a CompTIA-certified writer, editor, and Network Engineer with 25+ years' experience working in the television, defense, ISP, telecommunications, and education industries. lifewire's editorial guidelines Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email Texting & Messaging Email Texting & Messaging Video Calls Yahoo Messenger was an instant messaging service from Yahoo that was provided for mobile devices through the smartphone app and desktop users through the web and a software program. Yahoo shut down the service on July 17, 2018. However, it isn't the only IM program available; there are lots of Yahoo Messenger alternatives that work in basically the same way. What Was Yahoo Messenger? Yahoo! The Yahoo Messenger app was much like other messaging apps. You could send free texts to your friends using the internet, and it worked on a variety of platforms. This meant you could install the app on your phone or tablet, or pull it up on your computer, to send free texts without paying for a texting service. Beyond text was support for other things, too, like GIFs, images, emoticons, and other files. As long as you had a valid internet connection, whether Wi-Fi or from a mobile data plan, you could communicate with friends and family absolutely free of charge. Lots of changes were made to Yahoo Messenger over the years. It was released in 1998 as Yahoo! Pager with a built-in chat room service before being renamed to Yahoo Messenger a year later. Features came and went, including the LAUNCHcast Radio plugin, in-chat YouTube streaming and gaming, VoIP, video calling, Yahoo! 360 integration, voicemail, Flickr support, and the ability to chat with Facebook friends. Learn the history behind the Yahoo name What Happened to Yahoo Messenger? It's not uncommon for services, especially long-lasting ones like Yahoo Messenger, to reach an end. The company evolves, users drop out, competing services emerge, the service loses money, etc. According to Yahoo, they ended Yahoo Messenger to divert time and resources to other communication tools: As the communications landscape continues to change, we're focused on building and introducing new, exciting communications tools that better fit consumer needs. Yahoo Messenger App Replacements There are dozens of apps you can use instead, such as Facebook Messenger, Skype, WhatsApp, and Signal. The replacement you choose should depend on what you want it to do. 9 Best Mobile Messaging Apps of 2023 For example, there are lots of ways to call someone using just an app. Or maybe you're wanting to make free video calls from your computer. Most messaging apps actually include all those features; they let you make audio and video calls, send and receive texts, and share files. Some, like Facebook Messenger, are more closely related to Yahoo Messenger than others and can run from your phone/tablet, computer, and a web browser. Yahoo introduced its own alternative to Yahoo Messenger in 2018, initially called Yahoo! Squirrel and then Yahoo Together. However, after just a year, on April 4, 2019, it was shut down, too. Although Yahoo Messenger is gone, you can still use your Yahoo account for other things like accessing Yahoo Mail. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit