Yahoo rolled out upgrades to its Yahoo Messenger service on Thursday as a Messaging app with additional features. Yahoo has launched its next-generation messaging platform in an ambitious bid to rival other messaging platforms like WhatsApp, Snapchat, Facebook Messenger and many more. There are several popular messaging apps currently on the market. Now, Yahoo also wishes to enter the list with the next evolution of its Messaging app, which is designed to provide unique features to its users and make the overall experience even faster with a contemporary look.
Yahoo Messenger, the company’s instant messaging client that was popular in the late 90s and early 2000s and now gets a revamped version with a set of new messaging apps which is launching on Android, iOS and the web. You can even find this Yahoo Messenger inside Yahoo Mail where it pops up as a Gmail-style talk widget.
Jeff Bonforte, Senior Vice President of Communication Products and Engineering at Yahoo said, “We’re excited to introduce the next generation of Yahoo Messenger. It has long been one of our core products but, it was time to redesign the product from the ground up and reinvest in one of the most important products in our history as a company.”
The new revamped version of Yahoo Messenger is the first complete revamp since it was launched 17 years ago and comes as smartphone lifestyles have driven to a flourishing trend of hurl off digital missives or photos at nearly any opportunity. The new Yahoo Messenger features technology with multiple acquisitions and it has integrated features from Yahoo-owned Flickr, Tumblr, and Xobni, Cooliris, and Tomfoolery.
Yahoo Relaunches Messenger as an App With New Features
Yahoo rolled out the revamped version of Yahoo Messenger service with new features that include photos, animated GIFs along with an ability to “unsend” messages that could eventually lessen the embarrassment-by-tech incidents. Yahoo has made appropriate changes to its new revamped version with the ability to share multiple photos much more easily within the app, they appear in a grid that scrolls horizontally. You can send a large number of photos instantly regardless of whether you’re connected to Internet or on Wi-Fi.
The photos within the app can be downloaded in full resolution photos are compressed. This feature is a unique one which is not present in the popular messaging platform, WhatsApp. Most interesting feature for the users on the new Yahoo Messenger is that it provides the capability to Unsend anything they’ve posted on Messenger. You can “Unsend” a message you’ve sent at any time.
Suppose, if you’ve sent a message accidentally or revealed something embarrassing to one of your friends or in a group chat, then it is possible to reverse the action just in two taps. Whether it might be a message, photo or a GIF image and regardless of how long ago you sent it, you can delete those missives at any time. Posts that are “unsent” disappear from the conversation threads at the service.
Features of Yahoo Messenger
- Ability to share multiple photos almost instantly.
- Hit a GIF button to search for the trending animated GIFs.
- Simply tap on a message, photo or GIF to like that you do on Facebook.
- Offers smart contacts that make faster and easier to add people to message groups.
Yahoo Rolls Out Messenger App to Rival Popular Messaging Platforms
Yahoo’s revamped version of Yahoo Messenger seems to target some well-established rivals such as WhatsApp, Snapchat, iMessenger, Facebook Messenger, Skype, and Viber. People have been using almost all the messaging apps on their smartphones to get connected with their friends. All these popular messaging apps offer bounteous benefits for its users and every app has its own peculiarity.
“Yahoo decided it was time to build a ground-up rewrite of the platform that was completely modern and prepares Yahoo to ship really disruptive innovative features,” Yahoo Messenger senior director of product management, Austin Shoemaker, said while giving AFP a look at the platform.
Yahoo Messenger is now available as a messaging app for iOS, Android, web app and also appears within Yahoo Mail on the desktop, which has similar functionality to Google Hangouts within Gmail. If you have a Yahoo Mail account, you need to log in with your phone number and the app scans your contacts for people you know who also use the app. If you use the legacy version of Yahoo Messenger, you’ll be able to see contacts from those services. The older version of Yahoo Messenger will continue in its current form for at least a couple months but will ultimately be replaced entirely by the new service.