Communication · 13:10
Instant messaging
Seeing that a friend is online and messaging them right away feels obvious now. In 1996 five Israeli developers made it a free download.
The everyday moment
You see a green dot next to a friend's name and send a quick question. They answer in seconds. Before 1996, that took an email and a wait, or a phone call.
How it worked
- A number for everyoneEach user got a unique ID number, starting from 100,000.
- Who's onlineThe app showed which of your contacts were connected at that moment, so you knew who could answer.
- Straight to themMessages went to your friend immediately instead of waiting in an inbox.
- Spread by friendsICQ was free and grew mostly by word of mouth, as people asked their friends for their number.
The Israeli story
Mirabilis was founded in June 1996 by Yair Goldfinger, Sefi Vigiser, Amnon Amir, Arik Vardi and Arik's father Yossi Vardi. Their app, ICQ, a play on 'I seek you', came out as a free download in November 1996.
It spread through word of mouth, and in June 1998 AOL bought Mirabilis for $287 million up front plus up to $120 million more over three years. ICQ peaked at over 100 million registered accounts around 2001.
It changed hands in 2010 and was finally shut down in June 2024. By then the idea it popularised, seeing who's online and messaging them instantly, was in every chat app on every phone.
Where you meet it today
WhatsApp, Messenger, Slack and Teams all build on what ICQ made normal: a contact list, an online status and messages that arrive the moment you send them.
Did you know?
ICQ grew mostly by word of mouth rather than advertising, as people swapped their ICQ numbers.