Yahoo launches revamped, future-ready version of Messenger

New Delhi: US-based technology major Yahoo, which is known for its free mail and web search engine, has launched a revamped version of its free multi-tasking enabled service platform -- Messenger, which is available on the Web,iOS Store and Google Play store.

Yahoo Messenger is a free service that allows users to see when friends come online and to send them instant messages. It also can alert users about new e-mails in Yahoo Mail or Yahoo Personals accounts, or when users have upcoming events recorded in their Yahoo Calendar. It also offers firewall support, a standby mode that minimises the programme until an Internet connection is made, the ability to save and print conversations, and a tabbed interface that provides quick access to favourite stocks, news, and sports scores.

The new features, which draw integrations from Flickr, Tumblr and Xobni platforms, include faster photo processing, un-sending pictures or messages and liking them, smart contacts and faster delivery of messages sent.

"It has long been one of our core products but it was time to redesign the product from the ground up and reinvest in of the most important products in our history as a company, Jeff Bonforte, senior vice-president of communication products and engineering at Yahoo, said in a release.

The revamped Messenger draws expertise from Flickr allowing users to send hundreds of photos at a time and these photos appear to everyone in the conversation almost instantly without loss in quality. An user can choose to download the original quality of the image. "Users also don't need to worry about storage as the app downloads the photos once the users want them to be downloaded locally," Yahoo said.

The new Messenger also uses GIFs which seems to be the new flavour after emojis or emoticons. Currently all instant messaging platforms are moving towards GIFs or short clips to make user experience on the app better than before and to keep people hooked onto the platform. Microsoft's instant messaging and voice/video chatting platform Skype recently included special emojis and short clips recently.

"The messaging space has grown dramatically and yet people ultimately want a fast and easy way to communicate with each other. The new Yahoo Messenger was designed first and foremost to meet those needs. This is just the beginning of what's to come," Bonforte said.

Another interesting feature of the new version is the "un-send or like" option in the chatting platform which is currently not offered by any rivals. Users can choose to un-send messages and pictures on the chat platform and they would disappear completely. "Our users can also choose to like a message or a picture on the platform making it more social and interactive," Yahoo said.

In addition, Yahoo Messenger desktop users (on the Web or in Yahoo Mail on the desktop) can also use the extended Account Key feature (another app) which sends push notifications to their mobile Messenger app.

As of February 2015, Yahoo Search is the third largest search engine in the US by the query volume at 12.8%, after its competitors Google at 64.5% and Bing at 19.8%.