• by Ray Schultz , June 11, 2018

Yahoo Messenger, one of the first chat apps, is being discontinued on July 17 after 20 years of service, Yahoo reports.

Users will be unable to log into the service after that date, according to a Yahoo Help post.

The email service provider says it is focusing on building new communication tools. One possible replacement is a messaging app called Yahoo Squirrel, now in beta. 

Yahoo advisers users to delete the Messenger app after they have downloaded their chat histories. They can download for the next six months, the company says.  

According to the UK Register, Yahoo killed the desktop version of Messenger in 2016. The app was launched in 1998 as Yahoo/Page, the Register adds.