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Yahoo is testing a group messaging app called Squirrel

Is Yahoo nuts to think about getting back into the messaging game? Maybe, but it looks like it's going to try.

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Katie Collins Senior European Correspondent
Katie a UK-based news reporter and features writer. Officially, she is CNET's European correspondent, covering tech policy and Big Tech in the EU and UK. Unofficially, she serves as CNET's Taylor Swift correspondent. You can also find her writing about tech for good, ethics and human rights, the climate crisis, robots, travel and digital culture. She was once described a "living synth" by London's Evening Standard for having a microchip injected into her hand.
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Squirrel is still in invite-only mode for now.

 Yahoo/Screenshot
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How many messaging apps do you have on your phone right now? It's probably at least one, if not two or three. Now Yahoo wants to add another.

The company is testing a messaging app called Squirrel focused on group messaging. Spotted by Android Police on the Google Play store, the app is currently in invite-only mode.

"Organize groups and chats the way you want, so you can keep up without getting lost in the noise," reads the description. It lists a number of features, including rooms to chat in, secret rooms for the most private conversations and blasts that will ensure everyone sees the most important messages. It also allows people to share documents, links and photos.

Squirrel looks like a more consumer-friendly version of popular workplace chat app Slack. If and when it opens up so that anyone can use it, Squirrel will have to compete with the likes of WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, each of which boasts over a billion users and also allows group messaging. To reach those heights, Squirrel will have a long climb ahead of it.

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