AIM for MacOS

AIM for MacOS brings classic Windows AOL Instant Messenger to modern MacOS for both Intel and Apple Silicon platforms.

Overview

MacOS users who want to run Windows AIM typically do so on a clunky virtual machine. AIM for MacOS provides a MacOS wrapper .app that runs Windows AIM natively on the MacOS desktop environment via Wine.

Wine (originally an acronym for "Wine Is Not an Emulator") is a compatibility layer capable of running Windows applications on several POSIX-compliant operating systems, such as Linux, macOS, & BSD.

The wrapper .app is generated using Wineskin, a tool for packaging Wine and Windows apps into one runtime.

Releases are currently generated for AIM 5.1.3036 (year 2002) only, but additional versions can be added if there's demand.

Installation

The following explains how to configure the wrapper .app and install AIM inside of it.

1. Download the Latest Release

   Navigate to the Releases page of this repository and download the latest .zip archive.

2. Unzip the .app File

   Locate the downloaded file in your Downloads folder (or wherever you chose to save it) and double-click to unzip the archive.

3. Remove Quarantine Flag

   As the app is not notarized with Apple, you'll need to remove its quarantine flag before running. Open a terminal and run the command below. Adjust the file path to the .app extracted in the previous step as necessary.

   sudo xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ~/Downloads/AOL\ Instant\ Messenger.app

4. Relocate Application

   Drag AOL Instant Messenger.app to your Applications folder.

5. Download AIM

   Open AOL Instant Messenger.app. On your first startup, a prompt appears asking you to approve downloading the AIM installer from archive.org into the wrapper app. Click Yes to proceed and wait a few moments for the download to complete.

6. Run Installer

   Once the download is complete, the AIM installation wizard appears. Complete the installation wizard, leaving the default installation path untouched.

7. Configure AIM Connection

   Once installed, AIM should start up. Before you sign in, configure AIM to connect to your server of choice (see Modern AIM Providers).

   1. From the sign-on screen, click Setup.
   2. In the Sign On/Off category, click Connection.
   3. Enter the server address in the Host field.
   4. Click OK and exit the preferences manager.

Modern AIM Providers

Some new services have taken the place of AOL's AIM network after it shut down in 2017.

• Retro AIM Server - Run your own server for AIM 5.0-5.9!
• AIM Oscar Server - Run your own server for AIM 3.0 and older!
• AIM Phoenix - AIM service with a small, active community.
• Running Man Instant Messenger Network - AIM service for AIM 3.0 and older (not currently supported by this project's AIM client version).