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The official ICQ service is no longer running: the public shutdown happened on June 26, 2024, and old clients can no longer sign in to the original infrastructure. If you install an old copy of QIP, Miranda, or Jimm and try the old official servers, login will fail. What still exists is the idea of ICQ: OSCAR-style messaging, UINs, contact lists, statuses, and retro clients. Today those can be used through independent servers that recreate a similar experience for nostalgia, experiments, and old devices. The project website provides new UIN registration, Jimm for Java phones, and QIP for Windows. This is not the official ICQ coming back and it does not migrate old accounts from the original network. It is better to treat it as a new retro network where you can sign in from an ICQ-like client, add friends by UIN or nickname, set a status, and hear the familiar message sound again.
The old official servers are offline, so archived clients cannot authenticate where they used to. A connection error does not always mean QIP or Jimm is broken; the client simply needs another compatible server.
A new retro server provides a similar flow: new UIN, password, contact list, statuses, and classic client login. Old accounts are not migrated automatically, so create a new number and share it with friends.