Messaging Now · The lead

The State of Instant Messaging in 2026

Five billion people, a dozen apps, and a quiet war over who owns the protocol. Here's where your messages actually go — and who can read them on the way.

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#mirggi
24 online

remember mIRGGI on the N70?

T9 IRC. the grind was real

honestly the uptime beat my modern apps

On the feed

Fresh from every channel

All sections

Protocols & Tech

Signal, Matrix, and the Protocol Wars

Two visions of how chat should work — one app-led, one federated — and why it matters to you.

The mIRGGI desk · 6 min read

Chat History

How Phones Chatted on IRC Before Apps

Before the app store, a Nokia and a keypad could join a live channel — the story of mobile IRC.

The mIRGGI desk · 5 min read

Privacy & Security

Is Your Chat Really Private?

Encrypted content is only half the story. What your messenger still knows about you.

The mIRGGI desk · 4 min read

Messaging Now

The Big Four of Modern Messaging

WhatsApp, Messenger, Telegram, Signal — what each is really for, and who it's for.

The mIRGGI desk · 4 min read

Protocols & Tech

How End-to-End Encryption Actually Works

Keys, not magic. A plain-language walk through what "end-to-end" really means.

The mIRGGI desk · 3 min read

Culture

The Etiquette of the Group Chat

Unwritten rules, read receipts, and the art of leaving without drama.

The mIRGGI desk · 2 min read

Signature

Thirty-eight years of chat

IRC → ICQ/MSN → the Symbian & mIRGGI era → WhatsApp → Signal & Matrix → now.

1988

IRC

Internet Relay Chat is born in Finland — the first real group chat.

1996

ICQ

The buddy list and the "uh-oh" — instant messaging goes mainstream.

1999

MSN / AIM

The messenger wars; a generation grows up on away messages.

mid-2000s

Symbian & mIRGGI

Chat goes mobile on keypad phones — IRC clients like mIRGGI put channels in your pocket.

2009

Data-based mobile messaging quietly replaces the SMS.

2014

Signal & Matrix

End-to-end encryption and open federation arrive in earnest.

2026

Now

A handful of giants, an encrypted default, and an open-protocol undercurrent.

The Project — a tribute

A Symbian-era Nokia keypad handset showing a services menu

mIRGGI — IRC on a keypad

mIRGGI began as an open-source IRC client for Symbian phones — a small community effort to carry live chat onto the keypad handsets of the day. This site keeps its name as a nod to that era; it isn't the original software, just an admirer carrying the torch.

Read The Project note

#mirggi
24 online

remember mIRGGI on the N70?

T9 IRC. the grind was real

6667 forever — no read receipts, no drama

honestly the uptime beat half my modern apps

Reference