Instant Messaging App For Windows 8: ICQ

ICQ is a official ICQ app for Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 devices that allows you to connect and stay in touch with your friends. The app lets you connect with your Facebook or your ICQ friends via the main screen of the app. The app has a clean look to it, and looks very minimalistic and at the same time, extremely professional as well! ICQ allows you to create group chats as well, and the only drawback that it has as of now is that it doesn’t support sending stickers on Facebook chat, which was a very latest addition to Facebook. Apart from that, the app is fully featured, and works as an incredible IM client!

ICQ is available for free from the Windows App Store.

icq app icon

Features of ICQ for Windows 8…

When you install and launch ICQ on your Windows 8 or your Windows 8.1 machine, you will be presented with the account setup screen which will look like the below screenshot.

ICQ Sign in page

In the above screen, you will be able to select the account through which you want to connect. You can either use your existing ICQ id, or use the options presented at the bottom to log in. As I didn’t have an ICQ id, I chose to use my Facebook account to login. Once I clicked on it, I was prompted to login using my FB credentials, and upon doing that, I was asked to accept certain permissions. Once all that was done, I was finally taken to the main screen of the ICQ app for Windows 8 from where I could start chatting away!

ICQ Logged In Online

You can see that all your online Facebook contacts appear at the left side of the screen. You can click on them , and start a conversation with them towards the right side of the screen.

ICQ Contact typing message

You can see that my contact is typing a message in the above screenshot. I can see that in real time right above the message text field. Once I receive the message, the ping sound is played which is pretty pleasing to the ear and the message pops up on the screen.

ICQ Message received

You can also use the options to the left of the message text field that allow you to send files, photos or SMS (which requires you to purchase credit). The camera button fires up an integrated webcam which can be taken for clicking photos which are then sent instantly to your contact.

ICQ Webcam

I look stoned in the above pic, but don’t mind me, I was just sleepy! this just demonstrates how the webcam works. You can click in the center of the screen to take a pic and send it to your contact. ICQ also allows you to set your online status via the button at the top right in the screen. You can choose from online statuses as shown in the below screenshot.

ICQ Set Status

The app also has a fully featured control bar which can be used to perform various actions like signing out, creating chat groups and a lot more. Most of these options are pretty much self explanatory and don’t need any detailed explaining to do.

ICQ Control Bar

The app also supports a lot of emoticons that add fun to your chat!

ICQ Emoticons

Overall, this wraps up the main features of this app in a nutshell. Have fun using it!

Also see: Free Yahoo Messenger App for Windows 8.

The verdict…

ICQ is a really well designed and polished app that will allow you to chat with your friends and family without any hassles. The app makes connectivity a lot easier, and the clean look to the app makes sure that you don’t get tired while using it on your device. I really love the app, and I’m sure that you’ll love it as well!

I rate it a well deserved 5 out of 5!

Get ICQ.