The writing has been on the wall for Skype for a long time, but every time you think it’s dead, Microsoft launches some big update. This time, however, that’s not happening, as Microsoft is finally retiring Skype in May. The solution? You guessed it — use Teams instead.
I won’t miss Skype. My last real use of the app was recording a Command Control Power podcast in 2023, but I recently started getting spam chats about cryptocurrency scams and whatever a “translated conversation” is. I considered deleting Skype from my iPhone but figured it was worth keeping around just in case. No longer.
Microsoft wants Skype users to transition to Microsoft Teams, but it remains unclear if Teams will fulfill all the functions for which people used Skype, such as calling landlines and cell phones from an app. If you’re still using Skype, how do you plan to replace it?
[Bringing this independent discussion into the comment thread. -Adam]
Numerous publications seem to say today that MS has decided to close Skype for good. As usual, many will have simply copied each others reporting. Either way, I haven’t used Skype anymore for years, how about you?
MS wants us to use MS Teams, which I think is one the most clunky systems I have come across for many years.
Skype’s horrible UI is only surpassed by the mess that is Teams. One of the best things about retirement (mine) is no longer having to use that Microsoft abomination.
Skype should be a lesson to software product managers everywhere. In its early days, it thoroughly owned the market for video chat and Internet telephony, especially for international users. It had a clear product vision, and the software was feature-rich yet usable by people who weren’t tech experts. Somewhere along the way (after Microsoft acquired it?), Skype started adding features and redesigning its interface in clumsy ways, and usage plummeted. It didn’t help that Microsoft muddied the waters by renaming its unrelated Microsoft Lync/Communicator product as “Skype for Business,” accomplishing little other than confusing people.
I’ve actually maintained a US$60/year Skype telephone number (including an unlimited calling plan) because I subscribed early enough to get a number that is very easy for people to remember, the voice mail service has a pleasant, posh English accent, and call quality has been excellent and rock solid. People have no idea I’m using Skype when I use that number. Assuming the story is true, it will be interesting to see if it migrates to Teams at a comparable cost. Maybe it is time to move on.
That reminds me of what’s going on with Zoom now. Skype worked well until after Microsoft bought it, and I finally lost access to it. Teams also is terrible; sometimes I can receive incoming but I can’t send outgoing. Maybe it’s because I won’s buy Office 365
We have used Skype for decades and still find it useful, regardless of its clunky interface. We live and travel internationally and it is often the only way we know of to call ordinary small businesses and actual humans on their actual telephones from abroad, as our mobile phone plans don’t include international calling.
We also have a MagicJack device and its annual subscription for the few occasions a year we need to call people ‘from’ a US number (or recieve calls) that used to be our landline. That service requires a small plastic box connected to the Mac or phone line while Skype can be used with an App.
We’d be fairly sad if Skype shut down. Not everyone we ever call internationally has the same App, or even an App at all. Hoping the reports are only rumors!
Feature creep, functionality dilution, and eventual shutdown are normal occurrences when Big Tech Company™ buys out Small Innovator™. The pattern happens so regularly that it’s almost axiomatic. It seems to be most consistent with Google, but it’s common with just about all of them. Apple is one of the few that consistently likes to integrate and retain features from products they’ve bought out, but even they aren’t innocent of this.
Today I Learned. Normally used in conjunction with a fact that you either were extremely surprised to learn or feel like you should have already known (or both).
Sorry, I sometimes forget that some abbreviations aren’t well-known outside Reddit.
MagicJack no longer requires the dongle. They have an App for the iPhone that works independently. I’ve used it for years. It supports the same phone number.
Moving forward, we will no longer offer paid Skype features to new customers, including Skype Credit and subscriptions that allow you to make and receive international and domestic calls.
I guess the question of ambiguity depends on exactly what is meant by “After May 5, 2025, the Skype Dial Pad will be available to remaining paid users from the Skype web portal and within Teams.”
Separately from Skype, Microsoft does support phone services in the business edition of Teams. I’m not sure what options might exist for the personal edition, whether from Microsoft or via third parties.
I still use Skype to call international numbers (customer support lines and such) at reasonable rates. I’d love any recommendations for a replacement for this aspect of the product.
I use Google Voice for this too, but it’s not always as well suited to the task because of how it works. (Skype calls are routed over the internet on the caller’s side, whereas Google voice dials a phone number on the caller’s side, similar to using a calling card in the days of old. This is a pain when traveling, where I often have lots of data but limited voice minutes.)
Good point, @bhupesh. I looked at that when it came out many years ago and it reportedly had problems at the time, taking over the iphone’s own number and so on. Never looked at it again, and today we don’t need that functionality but maybe some do, so thanks for pointing it out!
Per Microsoft’s penchant for confusing product naming, Microsoft had two versions of Skype: Skype and Skype for Business. They had absolutely nothing in common save the name. Skype for Business was actually a re-named Lync. I still miss it; it was far better than the Teams that replaced it.
The original Skype (not Skype for Business) started out as a peer-to-peer system. This creates a problem for clients that are behind Network Address Translation (NAT), such as most home users. A client can reach out to the Internet, but unsolicited traffic can’t come in. So how do two users Skype each other, if they’re both hidden behind NAT?
The answer is that if you were not behind a NAT firewall or router, your “node” could be elected by the Skype system to be a “supernode”. Which meant that other people’s Skype traffic was routed through your computer, using up your bandwidth. And that’s why Skype was evil (just kidding, but not really).
