ICQ was the first stand-alone instant messenger and the first online instant messenger service as such - while real-time chat was not in itself new to the internet (IRC being the most common platform at the time), the concept of a fully centralized service with individual user accounts focused on one-on-one conversations set the blueprint for later instant messaging services like AIM, and its influence is seen in modern social media applications.Īt its peak around 2001, ICQ had more than 100 million accounts registered.Īt the time of the Mail.Ru acquisition in 2010, there were around 42 million daily users. Users could register an account and would be assigned a number, like a phone number, for others to be able to contact them (users could also provide handles). The ICQ client application and service were initially released in November 1996 and the client was freely available to download. Ownership of ICQ passed from Mirabilis to AOL in 1998, and from AOL to Mail.Ru Group in 2010.

The name ICQ derives from the English phrase 'I Seek You'. ICQ is an open source instant messaging computer program that was first developed and popularized by the Israeli company Mirabilis in 1996. ICQ was a huge messaging client in the 1990s, before AIM/iChat/SMS came around.

You may not be able to register new accounts through the app, but old accounts should continue to work.įeel free to contact Bob Kiwi on his Mac OS 9 nostalgia machine on ICQ # 22536582 Can you believe this software still works? Well it does work still in 2017! Some minor issues you may see is a failure to add contacts- restart the app and you should see the new contacts added in.

Download icq im video