People have myriad memories of Yahoo Messenger. It was once the go-to messaging app for most people, and it ruled the messenger sector before WhatsApp and FB Messenger took over. But Yahoo Chat Rooms are dead, so what should you use now?
Today, let’s discuss the rise and discontinuation of Yahoo Messenger, along with some of its best alternatives today.
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What Is Yahoo Chat Rooms?
Yahoo Messenger or Chat Rooms was an instant messaging service that allowed users to interact with people from across the globe, make friends, share media, and more. It was a completely free service by Yahoo that ruled the messenger industry for more than a decade before it was discontinued in 2012. The rise of other, more advanced messengers like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Telegram also hindered Yahoo’s market share in the messenger sector.
The Rise and Discontinuation of Yahoo Chat Rooms
People born in the early 90s or before will certainly have nostalgic feelings by thinking about Yahoo Messenger. The chat service became available to the public in 1997 and was renamed Yahoo Messenger in 1999. From 1999 till 2010, Yahoo remained the most popular messenger app in the world.
Unfortunately, Yahoo shut down Yahoo Messenger in 2012, citing their intention to focus on other Yahoo products. Millions of Yahoo Messenger users were unsatisfied by this decision.
Yahoo Messenger made a comeback in 2015 with an upgraded Yahoo Messenger. Unfortunately, people had already forgotten Yahoo and adopted other messenger apps like WhatsApp, WeChat, Line, and Telegram by then. Hence, Yahoo Chat Rooms didn’t receive the love and craze they did earlier.
Though the new Yahoo Messenger had exciting features like video calling, Flickr support, and in-chat YouTube streaming, it couldn’t get people’s attention. Yahoo also replaced Yahoo Messenger with Yahoo Together, another more advanced messenger app, but had enough of Yahoo by then. Finally, after four years of hustle, Yahoo permanently discontinued Yahoo Together in April 2019.
What Are the Best Yahoo Chat Rooms Alternatives?
Since Yahoo Chat Rooms are no more, you must be thinking, if not Yahoo, then what. Thankfully, we live in an era of messengers. There are more messenger apps than you can think of, and they’re all great alternatives to Yahoo Messenger.
Let’s look at some best alternatives of Yahoo Messenger along with their best features. We’ve divided the apps into two categories: personal use and business use. Not that you can’t use personal apps for business communications, but business apps have robust features best suited for business use.
Let’s start with the best alternatives for personal use.
WhatsApp is the most popular messenger apps in the world, with over a billion active users. The app gained popularity in the early 2010s, and by 2015, it had already overtaken almost all messenger apps out there. Since WhatsApp was a clear competitor of Facebook Messenger, Facebook acquired it in 2014.
WhatsApp is a great app for engaging with your friends and family members. It has bilateral and group chats, and you can add up to 256 members to the group. WhatsApp supports a wide range of media, including images, videos, GIFs, docs, texts, and other files.
Facebook Messenger
Facebook Messenger is one of the oldest competitors of Yahoo Messenger. It’s been out there for over a decade and has been the go-to chat tool for Facebook users. Earlier, FB Messenger was integrated into Facebook, but the company decided to make it a standalone application.
FB Messenger has all the features you’ll see in a messenger app. These include voice and video calls, sharing media, chatting with friends, creating groups, etc.
Telegram
Telegram is another instant messaging app that has gained a lot of popularity in recent years. The use of Telegram has soared over the past couple of years, as many people criticized WhatsApp’s privacy policy and moved to more secure platforms like WhatsApp.
Telegram has many amazing features, but its biggest advantage is security. It has client-server encryption, secure chat mode, self-destructing messages, and account self-destruction. It’s available for Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and Linux.
Line
Line is a WhatsApp-like instant messaging platform focused mainly on Asia. It has over 600 million users, most of which are in Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, and Taiwan. It has all the features you’ll find in other instant messengers, like secure chats, sharing media, and groups.
Kik
Kik is a unique instant messaging platform because of its anonymity. Unlike WhatsApp that requires you to provide your phone number, Kik lets you create an account with just your username. To connect with others, share your Kik username or a QR-like Kik code. It has all messaging features, like secure chat, anonymity, and media sharing.
Now, here are some apps for business communications.
Skype
Skype is a popular messaging app that’s been out there since 2003. It has all the features of a messenger, like secure chat, groups, and media sharing. However, it offers some advanced features as well, like VoIP-based telephony and debit-based calls. These features make Skype an ideal pick for businesses that rely on phone calls and virtual meetings.
Slack
Slack is a robust business communication and collaboration tool that enables you to streamline team communication and engage employees. It lets you create several chat channels for teams and departments and manage your conversations. You can perform all messaging activities with Slack, such as sending instant messages, sharing files, etc.
Slack is available on all major platforms, and you can use it on any device. It also has top-notch security, making it an excellent business chat alternative to Yahoo Chat Rooms.
Hangouts
Google Hangouts is an instant communications platform by Google. If you use Gmail, Google Meet, and other Google products, you can use Hangouts to consolidate all your communications in one place. It has features like media sharing and encryption.
Wrap Up: Yahoo Chat Rooms Alternatives
Yahoo Messenger was one of the most popular instant messaging apps in the world, with millions of users. But since it isn’t available anymore, you need to look for its alternatives. Feel free to choose from the messengers listed above. So, which one will you use?