Popular instant messaging service ICQ to shut down after 28 years

Prestigious Instant messaging platform ICQ has announced it will permanently cease operations in June.

A brief notice on its website says “ICQ will stop working on June 26,” giving no further details, and recommending VK Messenger as an alternative.

It is being said that the official account posted a GIF on X on May 24, which featured Arnold Schwarzenegger in “The Terminator”, with the caption “I’ll be back.” This was his first post since 2022.

pic.twitter.com/JZRmAAlpk1

— ICQ New (@ICQ) May 24, 2024

ICQ, which stands for “I Seek You” and was launched in 1996, had nine million users and 2.5 million daily active users at its peak. This number was considered remarkable because users relied on dial-up connections.

AOL purchased the company from Israeli developer Mirabilis in 1998 for $407 million, creating competition in the messaging market as Yahoo and Microsoft launched their own services. Despite operating independently from AOL and facing issues with problematic users, ICQ managed to garner 100 million users.

However, with the collapse of dial-up Internet and the emergence of new competitors, ICQ’s popularity waned.

In 2010, the Russian company Mail.Ru, later rebranded as VK, Acquired ICQ Due to its popularity in Russia it is planned to update it for cross-platform use.

Snapshot as of March 2023 Internet ArchiveThe updated version of ICQ works just like other messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram. However, the app is no longer available on Apple’s App Store or Google’s Play Store.

Supporters are demanding the return of ICQ

Following the announcement, users expressed their support for the service on X, with some saying they have been using the program “religiously” for decades. Others shared stories of meeting their significant others via ICQ.

Please don’t cancel it, I have been using this program regularly since 1998

— Josiah Crossman (@UncleRectus) May 25, 2024

I met my wife on ICQ in the mid-1990s. I was in Seattle, she in Zurich. It was a business inquiry.
We kept in touch via ICQ and phone.
In 2003 I went to meet him in person. We fell in love. I returned to Zurich and married him on 27 July 2007 (27.07.2007)
Since then, we have never been apart.

— Ministry of Truth (@Truth_Reports_) May 24, 2024

A new version of the program was launched in 2020, but it appears to have been neglected in the years that followed. TechSpot According to the report, the most recent stable desktop version was released in April 2023, while the mobile versions have been discontinued in favor of current owner VK’s own messaging system.

Featured Image: Ideogram