Verizon Communications subsidiary Oath has announced that it would shutter the Yahoo Messenger service in just over a month. Yahoo Messenger will shut down on July 17th.
Oath acknowledges that Yahoo Messenger has many loyal fans, but the company wants to move away from antiquated messaging platforms and “focus on building and introducing new, exciting communications tools that better fit consumer needs.”
Yahoo already offers a replacement messaging application called Yahoo Squirrel. The app is still in beta, and it requires an invite to gain access (you can request an invite at squirrel.yahoo.com).
After July 17, the Yahoo Messenger app will cease to function. Oath said that your chat history would remain accessible for six months, but the desktop app would serve no other function during that timeframe. The change will have no effect on your Yahoo ID for other Yahoo services, such as Yahoo Mail.
