AOL will cut off third-party app access to AIM

Enlarge (credit: K W Reinsch)

On Tuesday, AOL (yes, it's still around) suddenly announced to users of AOL Instant Messenger (including yours truly) that it would be disabling access to its network through at least one third-party messaging app (Adium) as of March 28. Third-party chat apps like Adium, Trillian, or Pidgin use the company's OSCAR chat protocol to handle AIM messages.

The service will continue to live on through AOL's proprietary standalone chat app, which exists for MacOS, Windows, iOS, and Android.

Just got this AIM message. Anyone else still using AIM out there? pic.twitter.com/2WpR1lTwmH

- Cyrus Farivar (@cfarivar) February 28, 2017

One Ars editor reported no such message when using the Trillian app, while another editor reported that her AIM account would not connect via Adium at all.

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