MUMBAI: Yahoo Messenger, the messaging app, is finally shutting down for good.The app, which was acquired by Verizon in 2017, is shutting down on 17 July. The company didn't give any explanation for shutting its messenger. Yahoo Messenger users will now be directed to invite-based Yahoo Squirrel service. Testing of Yahoo Squirrel was done last month and it will soon be available for users.

With the increase in number of messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Snapchat continually capturing the market, it was probably hard to compete with the existing product.

Yahoo Messenger was one of the first instant messaging apps created, but it struggled to keep up with modern apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Snapchat. However, the app found a surprising niche- within oil trading companies. Older versions of Yahoo Messenger shut down in 2016, and oil traders voiced their concern about the app's demise at the time.

"You have no idea how much I'll miss Yahoo Messenger," one oil trader from Singapore told Reuters in 2016. "I built up hundreds of contacts on it over more than a decade. I have Yahoo friends I have never met, but with whom I spent many hours bantering and joking. It also made me a lot of money. Now that it's gone, I could cry, as per a blog post."

For the users who are still using Yahoo mail, their Yahoo ID will keep working for other Yahoo services such as Yahoo Mail.