Yahoo has launched a new messenger app. Called Yahoo Together, it looks like Slack in terms of design, and it is meant to rival WhatsApp.

Facebook’s WhatsApp and Messenger both have over two billion users each. In an attempt to siphon off some of those users, Yahoo earlier this year quietly began testing an iOS and Android messaging app, called Squirrel. Now, it's officially launching the service as Yahoo Together. It's designed for people who are in several group SMS threads, with many people talking about a number of different things at once.

It's hard to follow along with that many chats. Yahoo Together hopes to change that. It's nearly identical to collaborative messaging services, from Slack to Microsoft Teams, in that you can organise group chats into separate rooms (called threads), as well as private ones and 1:1 conversations. You can also do things like set group reminders, design custom reactions, reply and react to messages, mute rooms, and so on.

Google tried to do something similar a couple years ago with Allo, but that never took off. WhatsApp and Messenger are king. That isn't stopping Yahoo, though, from trying its best to build a new product for people who like to share content and conversations in groups. The most intriguing thing about Yahoo Together is that it's for friends and family but has the look and functionality of a collaborative messaging service.

You can download Yahoo Together now for iOS devices from the Apple App Store and Android devices from the Google Play Store.