The old version of Yahoo messenger will not be available from August 5, officials of the internet company announced on Saturday. Launched in 1998 under the name of Yahoo Pager, the app become obsolete after Yahoo came with up a newly redesigned, cross-platform version of the app in 2015.

"While today, we provide basic interoperation between the legacy product and the new Messenger, we encourage all of our users to complete their transition to the new Yahoo Messenger as we will no longer support the legacy platform as of August 5, 2016," Yahoo chief architect Amotz Maimon wrote in a post.

The redesigned version of the messaging service includes features like instant photo sharing, support for GIFs, and also an option to unsend messages.

"We're excited to introduce the next generation of Yahoo Messenger. It has long been one of our core products but it was time to redesign the product from the ground up and reinvest in one of the most important products in our history as a company," Jeff Bonforte, Yahoo's senior vice president of communication products and engineering, said in a statement."

Apart from desktop and mail versions, the new messenger will also be available on Android and iOS. Besides, the company will also shut down its Yahoo Recommends service – a personalised widget that provides links to related stories to the reader – on September 1.