Users are being urged to switch to its other messaging apps by its Russian owner.
ICQ, which was previously an extremely popular messaging service for a brief period of time in the 1990s and early 2000s, has only one month left before it joins the other applications and software of the past in the great big farm in the sky. According to the website for it, it will cease operations on June 26. Additionally, the website advises users to switch to VK Messenger for casual conversations and to VK WorkSpace for professional communications. ICQ came into being at a period when the majority of people were chatting over Internet Relay Chat (IRC). IRC, on the other hand, was primarily designed for group discussions, whereas ICQ made it an easy task to speak with a single person.
Due to the fact that it was distributed in a sequential fashion, the number that was given to anyone who registered for an account was one that grew longer over the course of time. Individuals that obtained the shortest numbers had five digits, which indicates that they were present at the very beginning of the process. At the beginning of the 2000s, when it hit 100 million registered accounts, ICQ achieved its highest point. And despite the fact that it didn’t take long for AIM, Yahoo Messenger, and MSN Messenger to surpass its popularity, the “uh-oh!” notification sound that ICQ used to have is still remembered by a significant number of internet users who were active during that time period.
ICQ, which is derived from the phrase “I seek you,” was invented by Mirabilis, an Israeli firm. After thereafter, it was acquired by AOL, and subsequently by the Russian business Mail.Ru Group, which is now known as VK. VK is a social networking and messaging service that operates independently.