Cross-platform instant messaging system and VoIP client
For other uses, see ICQ (disambiguation).
ICQ
Original author(s)
Mirabilis
Developer(s)
AOL
DST Global
Initial release
November 15, 1996; 27 years ago (1996-11-15)
Stable release
10.0.46867 (May 27, 2022)
Repository
github.com/mail-ru-im/im-desktop
Written in
C++ (Linux/Windows/MacOS)
Objective-C/Swift (iOS)
Java/Kotlin (Android)
Platform
iOS
Android
Windows
MacOS
web application
Linux
Windows Phone
Windows Mobile
Java
Symbian OS
Symbian S60
BlackBerry OS
Bada
Amazon Fire
Palm Pilot
iMode
Available in
Russian
English
Portuguese
Ukrainian
German
Czech
French
Chinese
Turkish
Spanish
Arabic
Vietnamese
Type
Instant messaging
License
Proprietary
Website
icq.com
ICQ New is a cross-platform instant messaging (IM) and VoIP client. The name ICQ derives from the English phrase "I Seek You".[1] Originally developed by the Israeli company Mirabilis in 1996, the client was bought by AOL in 1998, and then by Mail.Ru Group (now VK) in 2010.[2]
The ICQ client application and service were initially released in November 1996, freely available to download. The business did not have traditional marketing and relied mostly on word-of-mouth advertising instead, with customers telling their friends about it, who then informed their friends, and so on.[3] ICQ was among the first stand-alone instant messenger (IM) applications—while real-time chat was not in itself new (Internet Relay Chat [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,[4] and its influence is seen in modern social media applications. ICQ became the first widely adopted IM platform.[5]
At its peak around 2001, ICQ had more than 100 million accounts registered.[1] At the time of the Mail.Ru acquisition in 2010, there were around 42 million daily users.[6] In 2020, the Mail.Ru Group, which owns ICQ, decided to launch new software, "ICQ New", based on its messenger. The updated messenger was presented to the general public on April 6, 2020.[7] In 2022, ICQ had about 11 million monthly users.[8]
During the second week of January 2021, ICQ saw a renewed increase in popularity in Hong Kong, spurred on by the controversy over WhatsApp's privacy policy update. The number of downloads for the application increased 35-fold in the region.[9] In 2023, an investigation by Brazilian news outlet Núcleo Jornalismo found that ICQ was used to freely share child pornography due to lax moderation policies.[10]
^ abICQ Surpasses 100 Million Registered Users, Time Warner Press Release - May 09, 2001 (accessed 2015-05-12).
^"News". www.businesswire.com (Press release).
^"What Is ICQ? Myths, Scams & More (with pictures)". Easy Tech Junkie. 2023-06-19. Retrieved 2023-07-24.
^"What Ever Happened to ICQ?". TechSpot. 23 February 2022.
^"From AIM to Slack: Tracing the History of Chat Apps". Medium. June 9, 2017.
^Khrennikov, Ilya (29 July 2014), "ICQ Messenger Is Growing for the First Time in Years", Bloomberg Business
^Novinar, Novinar (April 7, 2020). "Mail.Ru Group Brings Back ICQ Messenger With Focus on Group Talks". Russia Business Today.
^"What Ever Happened to ICQ?". TechSpot. 23 February 2022.
^Purnell, Newley; Wang, Joyu (24 January 2021). "Dropping WhatsApp? Nostalgia Drives Users to ICQ". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
^"No Facebook, links com pornografia infantil circulam livremente" [On Facebook, links containing child pornography are shared freely]. Núcleo Jornalismo (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2023-06-22. Retrieved 2023-06-23.
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