One of the pioneers in the field of instant messaging, Yahoo Messenger completed twenty years in March this year.

Yahoo will be putting to rest its instant messaging app Yahoo Messenger on July 17. One of the pioneers in the field of instant messaging, Yahoo Messenger completed twenty years in March this year.

As reported by The Next Web, the users who are continuing to use the messaging service will be redirected to Squirrel, a new group messaging application that will replace Yahoo Messenger and become available to the users after Yahoo Messenger shuts down.

Users will have six months to download their chat history. Yahoo has been beta-testing Squirrel since last month. You can request access to the beta here. It will be open to the public when Yahoo Messenger shuts down.

“There currently isn’t a replacement product available for Yahoo Messenger,” the company writes. “We’re constantly experimenting with new services and apps, one of which is an invite-only group messaging app called Yahoo Squirrel.”