The legendary "ICQ" has been coolly updated

07 April 2020

Today not everyone would remember what ICQ (in common parlance - "ICQ") is. This messenger appeared at the end of the last century. Young users prefer WhatsApp, Viber and Telegram.

Image from icq.com

Some will ask - does ICQ still exist? Yes, in 2010 the project was bought by the Mail.ru Group. Since then, the program has been improved many times. The hour of the next update has come.

It would be better to call it a rebirth. Mail.ru Group has announced a complete overhaul of ICQ. The client even changed its name to ICQ New. Quite reasonably, judging by the number of innovations.

What is good about ICQ New? The emphasis on group chats and calls. A real gift for those who are sitting in self-isolation. You can chat with up to 25,000 people at once. And you can call up to 30 people.

Image from icq.com

Said will come in handy for remote work and training. ICQ New will help you get through the age of the coronavirus. There are many interesting features. For example, there is a transcription of voice messages. The latter are automatically transcribed into text, so you don't have to listen to them.

Agree, it is convenient. The quality of the result is guaranteed by the built-in AI. Also artificial intelligence generates fast answers (taking into account the context). A boon for time-savers.

In addition, it is allowed to create and maintain channels. Special mention should be made of the support of bots. A prime example is GiphyBot, which searches for animated GIF images.

The list is completed by the synchronization of the history of correspondence. Among other things, ICQ New has no problems with aliases. They are no more difficult to share than phone numbers.

The design has changed, too. All that's left of the old ICQ is the daisy icon. The icon, by the way, was redrawn. Now there are 5 petals on it instead of 8. As for the rest, it was inspired by Telegram.

ICQ New is available on all popular platforms. There are versions for mobile devices. They are already available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. It's a similar situation for PC owners.

Image from icq.com

First of all, ICQ New launches in your browser. You won't need to download anything. But if you want, there are builds for macOS, Linux and Windows. No one will go away offended.

We will soon find out how much the public likes the novelty. The Russian audience of ICQ numbers about 400,000 people. The statistics are unofficial - from Mediascope. Mail.ru Group hides the real numbers.