Mandarin IM

Mandarin IM is a simple, fast messenger. A number of your own, statuses and old-school smileys — and everything you expect from a messenger today: groups, channels, reactions and one history on every device.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KEEP IN TOUCH

• Groups and channels — chats for your class, your family or your team, and channels for news. Replies, mentions and pinned messages.

• Reactions and edits — react, reply and forward. Fix a message you sent, or delete it for everyone.

• Photos, videos, files and voice messages right in the chat. A file can also go straight to a friend without being stored on the server.

• One history everywhere — your phone, your browser (web.mandarin.im) and a classic client share one history. To sign in on the web, scan the code it shows with the app.

• Sign in by phone — the first sign-in creates your account. You see every session and can end the ones you don't need.

• Privacy — you decide who sees your status, who can add you to groups and who can find you by your phone number.

LIKE THE ICQ YOU REMEMBER

• A number of your own — your Mandarin ID, like an ICQ UIN: a short number that stays yours even when your phone number changes.

• Statuses — an emoji and a few words, like an X-Status: “🎧 Listening to Radiohead” or “⛔ Busy”. For an hour, for the rest of the day or until you change it. You can appear offline for a while.

• Kolobok smileys — the very set of round yellow smileys, now moving. Type :-) or *HI* and a kolobok shows up in the chat.

CLASSIC CLIENTS WORK TOO

Mandarin speaks OSCAR, the protocol ICQ ran on. Your Mandarin ID works as a UIN: set a password for ICQ in the app and sign in from QIP, Miranda, Jimm, Pidgin or Adium at oscar.mandarin.im, port 5190. The app itself can also connect an account on another ICQ server.

SIXTEEN YEARS OF MANDARIN

Mandarin started in 2010 as an ICQ client for feature phones and has been installed over 600,000 times on Android since 2014. ICQ shut down in 2024. Now Mandarin has a network of its own, new apps and the same kind of number.

Chats from the previous version stay on the phone: save them as one file that opens in any browser (Settings › About). Old ICQ UINs and passwords don't work here — you get a new Mandarin ID.

Mandarin IM is an independent project, not affiliated with ICQ, VK or their owners. ICQ, QIP, Miranda, Jimm, Pidgin and Adium are names and trademarks of their owners. Kolobok smileys © Aiwan, kolobok.us.