What happened to MSN Messenger? (And where to get that feeling back)

If you've ever typed "is MSN Messenger still around?" into a search bar, here's the short answer: no. But the story is worth a minute.

The short history

• 1999: Microsoft launches MSN Messenger. Over the next few years it becomes, for a whole generation, the way to talk to friends after school.
• The mid-2000s: It's renamed Windows Live Messenger, adding more features over time.
• 2013: Microsoft retires Windows Live Messenger and moves its users to Skype, which it had bought in 2011. Your Messenger contacts could come with you, but the old contact list, nudges and pop-ups didn't. (TechCrunch covered the announcement.)
• 2025: Microsoft retires Skype too, in May 2025, pointing people to Microsoft Teams (report).

So the original is gone, and so is the app that replaced it.

Why do people miss it so much?

It wasn't the technology. It was the feeling:

• You could see who was around at a glance, and just say hi.
• Your personal message said what you were up to (or what song you were very pointedly listening to).
• Chats were live and a bit chaotic: three windows open, someone typing, someone nudging.
• There was no feed, no algorithm and no ads trying to keep you scrolling.

Where to get that feeling back

Chatroom is a free, independent New Zealand chat site built in the spirit of those early-2000s messengers. It's not MSN and isn't affiliated with Microsoft. Everything is our own design, and it runs in your browser:

• a contact list with Online, Busy, Away and Be Right Back,
• personal messages, display pictures and emoticons,
• nudges, sign-in sounds and pop-ups,
• chat rooms (including Throwback rooms) and group chats.

Joining is free, and right now new members get three months of Premium free too.

Sign up free, or read 15 things everyone who used MSN will remember.