Yahoo launches a redesigned Yahoo Messenger for desktop

Yahoo is not shutting down or disappearing after the acquisition by Verizon. Instead of being in the lull with the acquisition, the company has launched a redesigned version of the once popular, Yahoo Messenger. This redesign has long been in development with concept reported by Engadget in March 2015 . Yahoo took to its tumblr  blog to announce the redesigned version.

The redesign comes with features that are uncommon on personal chat clients like the ability to unsend a message. Other features include the ability to search for GIF replies like Telegram or Slack, drag and drop to share multiple photos and the ability to like the post. The new client is available for Windows as well as Mac users though there is no sign of any Linux version. This comes in line with the phase out of the old Yahoo Messenger app on 5 August 2016.

Yahoo Messenger was most prevalent messaging app before WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger arrived at the scene with old school features like chat rooms and sticker-like emoticons. Yahoo tried to combat the dwindling user engagement of the Messenger with redesigns (with a few scrapped redesigns) and other productivity enhancements, but it didn’t really help. The company even baked the messenger with Yahoo Mail to increase the relevance and usage.