Looking for a Whatsapp alternative? ICQ is back in the race

January 25, 2021, 12:29 pm

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The criticism of the leading messenger Whatsapp is getting louder. Users are increasingly looking for alternatives and now the focus is now on almost forgotten classics.

The announcements by Facebook subsidiary Whatsapp to change some of the data protection regulations resulted in many users turning their backs on Messenger and switching to other Messenger. Although Whatsapp has now assured that, at least in Europe, no personal data should be shared with Facebook and that the changes would not be as big as initially assumed, the number of users of competitors such as Signal increased visibly.

Another service that could benefit from moving away from WhatsApp is one that many are likely to know too well from their childhood and adolescence. We are talking about a pioneer of instant brass who had his wedding from the mid-90s to the late 2000s. But then it became increasingly quiet around ICQ. People switched from the desktop PC to the much more manageable smartphones and Whatsapp conquered the messenger market. ICQ was suddenly out. But ICQ was never dead and is now experiencing its second spring, at least in Hong Kong.

ICQ is experiencing another boom

As the Wall Street Journal reports, the download numbers are currently skyrocketing on the south coast of China. However, today’s application has little to do with the ICQ, which many will remember fondly. At that time still firmly tied to the PC, the tenth version of the messenger is now available practically everywhere and of course also as an app for iOS and Android. Under the name of “ICQ New“The developers want to breathe new life into the messenger and the flowery logo was recently replaced by a more modern design.

However, if you are thinking about switching from Whatsapp to ICQ for data protection reasons, it should be said that ICQ is now owned by the Russian Internet company Mail.ru. The operators are regularly confronted with data protection allegations.

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