Yandex has officially ceased development of its standalone Messenger application. While the service remains operational for current users, the company confirmed that no further updates or new features will be released for the platform.
The company has opted to migrate existing functionality from Messenger into its Telemost service. Originally launched in 2020 as a video conferencing tool to compete with Skype and Zoom, Telemost has since evolved to include chat and call capabilities.
Telemost transitioned to the proprietary Yandex 360 platform in August 2024. By the end of the first half of 2026, the service reached an audience of over 8 million users. Yandex continues to focus its development efforts on this integrated communication ecosystem.
Yandex has a long history of attempting to establish a presence in the messaging market. Previous initiatives included Ya.Online, which operated from 2008 to 2016, the Yamb corporate messenger introduced in 2017, and the Yandex Chats project, which was later rebranded as Yandex Messenger in 2020.
