AOL ends dial-up service and Shield browser in 2025

AOL has ended its long-running dialup internet service, retiring the AOL Dialer and the AOL Shield browser on September 30, 2025, the company said, closing a chapter that helped introduce millions of households to the World Wide Web. The company said in an August update on its support site that it routinely reviews its offerings and had decided to discontinue dialup and related software optimized for older operating systems. AOL Mail and several other AOL services will remain available.

AOL removed dialup references from its public site and posted instructions to help remaining customers transition off legacy connections. Company help pages that once guided users through connecting with the AOL Dialer were no longer available after the shutdown, and long-time users took to social media to mark the moment and share memories of the service's distinctive connection sounds and the era of mailed trial CDs.

The number of households still using dialup is small relative to the broader internet population. U.S. Census Bureau figures from 2023 put the number of households relying on dialup alone at about 163,401, roughly 0.13 percent of homes with internet subscriptions. Estimates and...