Yahoo! Messenger version history

The following is a history of all versions of Yahoo! Messenger on all platforms by Yahoo!, Inc.

Windows

There are many versions between those listed here and prior to last version listed here. These are "major releases". See one of several sites listed in external links to find other, older versions of the product.

Oldest version for which customer care support is available: 8.0 (as of April 2, 2007)

Oldest version that can log in (has not reached end of life): 8.0 (as of September 30, 2009)

Version	Release date	Notes
1.0	March 9, 1998	The first public version, released with the name "Yahoo! Pager". It included basic messaging support, a buddy list with status message support, the ability to block other users, alerts when a buddies came online, and notifications when a new Yahoo! Mail message arrived.[1]
3.0	August 17, 2000
3.5	November 17, 2000
4.0	May 8, 2001
4.1
5.0	November 2001	animated emoticon
5.5	August 15, 2002
5.6
6.0	August 2004	Support for Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0 dropped.[2]
6.1
7.0.0.426	August 8, 2005	Renamed to "Yahoo! Messenger with Voice" Drag-and-drop photo sharing Drag-and-drop file sharing PC-to-PC calling Voicemail Ringtones Yahoo! 360° integration Pop-up Contact Cards Spam Reporting New tabs New emoticons Archive updates LiveWords (Beta)
7.0.0.437	August 30, 2005
7.5	March 21, 2006	Added 'always-on' SWF advertisements
8.0.0.505	June 20, 2006	Plugins possible
8.0.0.508	July 13, 2006	Interoperability between Yahoo! Messenger and Windows Live Messenger contacts
8.0.0.701	August 10, 2006	The release date signifies the release of a beta version. This is not clearly documented on the Yahoo site.
8.0.0.716	September 15, 2006
8.1.0.195	October 24, 2006	Renamed "Yahoo! Messenger" Ability to check for updates from the help menu
8.1.0.209	December 4, 2006	Patched an ActiveX Control Buffer Overflow
8.1.0.239[3]	January 19, 2007	Improvements in voice quality and sign-in, fixes for minor bugs with Windows Vista
8.1.0.244	March 14, 2007
8.1.0.249[4]	March 28, 2007	Patches a security flaw
8.1.0.401	June 8, 2007	Fixes a vulnerability with the Webcam ActiveX control
8.1.0.402	June 15, 2007	Fixes a buffer overflow in an ActiveX control
8.1.0.413	July 17, 2007
8.1.0.416[5]	August 22, 2007	Changes to voice library for better Vista support. (Users can get voice in Windows Vista without using a proxy app anymore, provided they still install codec themselves) Fix to two Cam exploits
8.1.0.419	August 29, 2007	Two more security patches
8.1.0.421	September 6, 2007
9.0.0.797 Beta[6]	October 29, 2007	New beta release of Yahoo! Messenger. It provides an improved user interface. Brand new skins and emoticons Flickr integration in the photo sharing feature New in-line media player New features for voice calls Unicode support for better international messaging.
9.0.0.907 Beta[7]	November 7, 2007	Fixed issues with Windows Vista installation problem Message formatting in the IM window Compact list view enabled
9.0.0.922 Beta	December 17, 2007
9.0.0.1389 Beta[8]	May 27, 2008	Bigger emoticons Games are back Status message improvements New contact list format button Import Contacts - new & improved Voice in chat rooms for Vista users & faster Captcha process Yahoo! Updates
9.0.0.1912 [9]	September 19, 2008	Pingbox New skins Return of the (original) emoticons Ignore list enhancements Inline video & picture viewer New emoticons inspired by our users Import Contacts wizard Yahoo! Updates Call forwarding & new voicemail delivery Yahoo! Games are back Changes to the look and feel
9.0.0.2018	October 16, 2008
9.0.0.2034 [10][11]	November 6, 2008	Implements several bug fixes that reduces the number of crashes that occur on Windows Vista.
9.0.0.2112[12]	January 8, 2009	Various bug fixes to address sign-in issues that some users were experiencing. Another fix for a Windows Vista crash that occurred due to a conflict between 9.0 and IOLO antivirus software. A new location for the typing notification message. The typing notification now appears inline with the conversation. Added text ads in the status bar of individual IM windows where the typing notification used to be. A new version of the offline message window.
9.0.0.2123	January 24, 2009	Left aligned voice user's ID in Yahoo! Chat and conferences. Fixed fading issue with voice user ID in Yahoo! Chat and conferences.
9.0.0.2128[13]	February 4, 2009	Fix for the sign-in issues that have been affecting some users. If you were seeing an error code "81003005" when trying to sign in
9.0.0.2133	February 18, 2009	Test build for users still experiencing the sign-in issue which gives you error code "81003005" when trying to sign in.
9.0.0.2136[14]	February 20, 2009	Includes fixes that should help those that were having problems installing 9.0. Alleviates problems that may have been caused by software conflicts with anti-virus programs or add-ons like Speedbit Video Accelerator.
9.0.0.2152	March 18, 2009
9.0.0.2160	May 13, 2009
9.0.0.2161	May 22, 2009	Test build issued by Yahoo The option to disable the IMVironments feature has been removed from preferences. This change has not been documented on Yahoo's website.
9.0.0.2162	May 26, 2009
10.0.0.331 Pre-Alpha	June 2009	This build was leaked from Yahoo. Support for Windows 2000 dropped.
10.0.0.525 Beta[15]	August 24, 2009	High-quality video calls New "Y! Updates" view of your contact list All-new Yahoo! Insider Change your language easily New ways to sort your contacts New icons in the IM window
10.0.0.542 Beta[16]	September 29, 2009	Improvements in the webcam detection logic Explanation for grayed-out video call button Smoother handling of unanswered calls Better explanation for downgraded video calls Y! Updates star-like notifier no longer appears when user has disabled all update notifications
10.0.0.1102[17]	November 12, 2009	Incorporates many bug fixes Improved the overall stability of the product High-quality video calls New "Y! Updates" view of your contact list Change your language easily
10.0.0.1241[18]	March 3, 2010	Several bug fixes to enhance stability and performance of our new video call feature Several of the fixes improve video calling on PCs running Windows 7
10.0.0.1258[19]	March 23, 2010	Includes several security enhancements
10.0.0.1264	May 6, 2010
10.0.0.1267	May 14, 2010
10.0.0.1270	June 3, 2010
11.0.0.1751 Beta[20]	November 16, 2010	Facebook, Twitter and Zynga integration Users can play and share games such as Mafia Wars and Fishville across Yahoo's homepage Chat with Facebook friends Sign into multiple computers with the same ID Archived messages and SMS now stored online
11.0.0.2009 [20]	June 28, 2011	Facebook, Twitter and Zynga integration Users can play and share games such as Mafia Wars and Fishville across Yahoo's homepage Chat with Facebook friends Sign into multiple computers with the same ID Archived messages and SMS now stored online Invite your friend to play a game Keep up with friends wherever they are Post one status to multiple social networks Always be available Easy access to recent conversations Personalize your experience with fresh new skins many bugfixes and stables of the product
11.0.0.2014	August 26, 2011
11.5.0.152	November 29, 2011	Tabbed IMs Improved Spam Management New Social Games Easy Access to Recent Contacts Smart Archiving Snap and Share Quick Access to All Emoticons Added Romanian language support
11.5.0.155
11.5.0.192	February 24, 2012	New application desktop icon
11.5.0.228 [21]	March 13, 2012	General stability improvements Fixed some potential security flaws Made it possible to customize your "Recent Contacts" and hide them

macOS

Version	Release date	Notes
Prior Releases	Undocumented
2.5.3 [22]	September 24, 2003	Chat Webcam Conference chat
3.0 beta 1 (build 17006)	June 28, 2006	New UI Display Images Avatars Support Stealth Settings Interoperability between Yahoo! and Windows Live Messenger contacts YMSG14
3.0 beta 1 revision 2 (build 18274)	July 13, 2006	Auto Reconnect YMSG14 related bug fixes.
3.0 beta 2 (build 65474) [23]	September 6, 2007	Tabbed IM windows Chat rooms Improved stability for webcam and file transfer More emoticons Message archiving YMSG15 No voice calling Fixed scrolling up issue when Safari 3/Webkit 522+ is installed.
3.0 beta 2 revision 2 (build 75170) [24]	October 25, 2007	Improved stability and compatibility with Mac OS X Version 10.5 (Leopard) Some small interface improvements, including a new Show/Hide Display Images button in the IM and chat room windows Improved chat room layout, with the list of chatters in a left hand, scrollable panel with age/sex/location details available on hover (if the user is sharing his/her profile) Contextual (right click) menu's added to chatroom adding support for finally viewing a persons cam who isn't on contact list who's in the room.
3.0 beta 2 revision 3 (build 78326) [25]	November 21, 2007	Improved stability and compatibility with Mac OS X Version 10.5 (Leopard) Crash Reporter now works under Leopard. Improvements to the sign in process when behind a firewall. Couple of crash bugs fixed.
3.0 beta 3 (build 98855) [26]	March 25, 2008	Free voice conversations with other Messenger users on both Mac and Windows. Cheap PC-to-phone calls: make calls from Messenger to landline and mobile phones at low rates with Yahoo! Phone Out. Receive phone calls: get a phone number for your Messenger and start taking phone calls on your computer with Yahoo! Phone In. Plus, choose *your area code! Now it's easier than ever to send SMS text messages to your friends. Forward calls and voice conversations to another phone number. Get voicemail by email. Numerous improvements to stability and user experience.
3.0 beta 3 (build 126432) [26]	August 28, 2008
3.0 Beta 4 (build 156957)	February 10, 2009	File transfer, Display images, voice, chat rooms, stealth settings webcam. Added clearer messaging when receiving anonymous messages from your Pingbox Added a preference to separately enable/disable archiving for chat room conversations. When you report an IM as spam, it also adds the sender to your ignore list Cancel automatic sign in when you're launching Yahoo! Messenger for Mac Various performance and memory bug fixes Added a new message style called "Kobi lite".[27]
3.0 Beta (build 191946) [28]	September 3, 2009	New features and many bug fixes to help enhance overall stability and performance Yahoo! Insider is now available "Report a Problem" feature Other changes were made to ensure compatibility with Apple's latest version of Mac OS X, Snow Leopard.
3.0 Beta (build 192773)[29]	September 28, 2009	Fix for a sign-in issue
3.0.1 (build 35554)[30]	July 20, 2011	Bug fixes for display images Unspecified crash bug fix Adds support for Mac OS X Lion Does not run on OS X Yosemite
3.0.2 (build 235554)[31]	July 14, 2012	Drops Public Chat Rooms Drops Pingbox Drops Microsoft Windows Live Messenger interoperability Drops Yahoo! Voice Phone

Other versions

Unix/Linux

The last public version of Yahoo! Messenger for Unix was released in September 2003, while an unofficial beta (v1.0.6) from a Yahoo employee was released around the same time.

Yahoo! Messenger for Vista

A special version was designed to exploit the new design elements of Vista's Windows Presentation Foundation and entitled a whole new user interface and features. It lacked some basic functions such as webcam support and Chat, and has since been discontinued. It was arguably the better looking and functional in respect to windows and tabs management but was eventually discontinued by Yahoo.

Yahoo! Web Messenger and Yahoo! Mail integration

Beginning in 2006, Yahoo made known its intention to provide a web interface for Yahoo! Messenger, culminating in the Gmail-like web archival and indexing of chat conversations through Yahoo! Mail. However, while Yahoo! Mail integrated much of the rudimentary features of Messenger beginning in 2007, Yahoo did not succeed initially in integrating archival of chat conversations into Mail. Instead, a separate Adobe Flex-based web messenger^[32] was released in 2007 with archival of conversations which take place inside the web messenger itself.

In 2011, Messenger 11 Beta began to archive past messages on an online server which is accessible through the client.

References

1. "Stay in Touch with Yahoo! Pager". Yahoo Inc. 1998. Retrieved 2009-07-27.
2. "What are the system requirements?". Messenger 6.0 Help. Yahoo!. 2004. Archived from the original on 2004-08-11.
3. "Yahoo! Messenger Blog » New Build & Free Voice Feature". Ymessengerblog.com. 2007-01-26. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
4. "Yahoo! Messenger Blog » Security Update in Latest Version". Ymessengerblog.com. 2007-04-03. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
5. "Yahoo! Messenger Blog » New version: 8.1.0.416 (with security update)". Ymessengerblog.com. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
6. "Yahoo! Messenger Blog » New Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 Beta". Ymessengerblog.com. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
7. "Yahoo! Messenger Blog » Update for Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 Beta". Ymessengerblog.com. 2007-11-07. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
8. "Yahoo! Messenger Blog » New Release of Yahoo Messenger 9.0 Beta". Ymessengerblog.com. 2008-05-29. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
9. "Yahoo! Messenger Blog » Bye bye Beta – Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 launches". Ymessengerblog.com. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
10. "Yahoo! Messenger Blog » Updated 9.0 addresses Vista issues". Ymessengerblog.com. 2008-11-18. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
11. Yahoo! Messenger online setup initialization file
12. "Yahoo! Messenger Blog » Updated version of 9.0 now available". Ymessengerblog.com. 2009-01-12. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
13. "Yahoo! Messenger Blog » New 9.0 version: may fix sign-in issues". Ymessengerblog.com. 2009-02-05. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
14. "Yahoo! Messenger Blog » Update for 9.0: installation fixes". Ymessengerblog.com. 2009-02-24. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
15. "Introducing Yahoo! Messenger 10 Beta | Yahoo! Messenger Blog". Ymessengerblog.com. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
16. "Yahoo! Messenger 10 update: video bug fixes | Yahoo! Messenger Blog". Ymessengerblog.com. 2009-09-29. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
17. "Yahoo! Messenger 10: Final version now available | Yahoo! Messenger Blog". Ymessengerblog.com. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
18. "Updated version of Yahoo! Messenger 10 now available | Yahoo! Messenger Blog". Ymessengerblog.com. 2010-03-02. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
19. "Updated version of Yahoo! Messenger 10 now available | Yahoo! Messenger Blog". Ymessengerblog.com. 2010-03-23. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
20. "Introducing Yahoo! Messenger 11 Beta! | Yahoo! Messenger Blog". Ymessengerblog.com. 2010-11-16. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
21. http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2012/03/13/updated-version-of-yahoo-messenger-for-windows-now-available/
22. "Downloads for Mac - Free Mac software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com". Versiontracker.com. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
23. "Yahoo! Messenger Blog » New Mac version: Beta 2". Ymessengerblog.com. 2007-09-06. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
24. "Yahoo! Messenger Blog » New release of Mac 3.0 Beta 2". Ymessengerblog.com. 2007-10-25. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
25. "Yahoo! Messenger Blog » New update for Messenger for Mac 3.0 Beta 2". Ymessengerblog.com. 2007-11-21. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
26. "VersionTracker". VersionTracker. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
27. "Mac 3.0 Beta 4 now available | Yahoo! Messenger Blog". Ymessengerblog.com. 2009-02-09. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
28. "Yahoo! Messenger Blog » Update to Yahoo! Messenger for Mac 3.0 Beta". Ymessengerblog.com. 2009-09-03. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
29. "Updated Mac version helps with sign-in issues | Yahoo! Messenger Blog". Ymessengerblog.com. 2009-09-28. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
30. "Yahoo! brings its Mail, Contacts, Instant Messaging and Calendar Sync | Yahoo! Messenger Blog". Ymessengerblog.com. 2011-07-20. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
31. "Change is in the Air: Updates to Yahoo! Messenger Features | Yahoo! Messenger Blog". Ymessengerblog.com. 2012-11-30. Archived from the original on December 31, 2012. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
32. "Yahoo! Messenger for the Web" (Adobe Flex). Sunnyvale, California: Yahoo! Corporation. 2007. Retrieved 2010-07-08.