About us · Nostalgia
MSN-style chat rooms are back: a free old-school messenger for New Zealand
Contact lists, nudges, emoticons, personal messages and that sign-in sound. Why we rebuilt early-2000s instant messaging for Kiwis, and what you can do on Chatroom.
Chatroom · 29 October 2026 · 2 min read
If you grew up in New Zealand in the 2000s, you probably remember the routine. Get home, wait for the family computer, sign in, and watch the little pop-up in the corner: someone has just signed in. Then three conversations at once, a personal message that was definitely about someone in particular, and at least one nudge you'll never live down.
Chatroom brings that back. It's a free chat site that looks and feels like the instant messengers of the early 2000s, built from scratch for New Zealand and running in your web browser.
What's on Chatroom
- A proper contact list. Online, Busy, Be Right Back and Away, each with a glossy little status orb, and a personal message under every name.
- Conversations the way they used to look. "kate says:", typed emoticons that turn into faces, and the most suspenseful words on the internet: is typing a message…
- Nudges. Shake someone's whole window. It's exactly as annoying as you remember.
- Sign-in sounds and pop-ups when contacts come online or message you.
- Chat rooms. The lobby, Throwback rooms like Class of 2004 and Noughties music, rooms for each island, sport, gaming, music and more.
- Group chats with up to 20 of your contacts.
- Windows. On a computer, every chat opens in its own window you can drag, minimise and stack, with a taskbar that flashes orange when someone writes.
Free, with Premium if you want it
Joining is free and so is everything above. Premium adds your own display picture, unlimited contacts and the Premium lounges, and right now everyone who joins gets three months of Premium free. Here's what's in it.
Why bother, in 2026?
Because modern apps are built for feeds, algorithms and endless notifications. Old-school messengers were built for chatting. You knew who was around, you said hello, and that was the whole point.
There's no app to download and nothing to install. Sign up on your phone or computer, pick a screen name (the more 2004 the better), and you're in.
Not MSN, just in the spirit of it
To be clear: Chatroom isn't affiliated with Microsoft. MSN Messenger is long gone (here's what happened to it). Everything here, from the window chrome to the sign-in chime, is our own, made to bring back the feeling.
Sign up free and send your first nudge.