Skype is going to go the way of Dodo in a few months. Microsoft has now said you should jump on Teams instead. The Microsoft-owned video conferencing tool missed the boat on the pandemic-era boom, but it’s still sad to see it go, especially because Microsoft wants to keep pushing Teams in front of all Windows 11 users as a kind of default messaging app.
XDA Developers first confirmed that code found within the latest Skype for Windows preview build includes a line reading, “Starting in May, Skype will no longer be available. Continue your calls and chats in Teams.” That explicitly spells out the plans for Skype’s deprecation in favor of Microsoft’s main-line voice and video chat software. In an email statement, the company told Gizmodo that Microsoft is ending the service on May 5.
A Microsoft spokesperson wrote, “[Teams] offers the same core features as Skype, such as 1:1 and group calls, messaging, and file sharing, and comes with enhanced features like hosting meetings, managing calendars, and building and joining communities.”
Microsoft 365 president Jeff Teper told Techcrunch, “Putting all our focus behind Teams will let us give a simpler message and drive faster innovation.” Teper added that they had considered shutting down Skype “for a while,” but Microsoft was looking for when user numbers were low enough to justify taking the app off life support.
Users have until the big day to move all their contacts and chats to Teams, or they will need to export their data. Microsoft said users should be able to switch by logging into Teams with a Skype username and password, which should bring along all their contacts. The company provided a video explaining how the transition will work.
Skype is legacy software dating back to 2003, though it’s been in Microsoft’s hands since 2011 as a $8.5 billion buyout. Since then, it has had its own division within the larger company. The app includes voice, video, and text messaging, though I used it to call mobile phones over the internet abroad. In Microsoft’s hands, Skype was the reason Windows Live Messenger also suffered a sudden case of vaporware syndrome. Oh, how the tables have turned.
The company updated Skype to use a P2P protocol in 2017 within Microsoft Azure’s cloud services. There was even a time when the tech giant baked Skype directly into Windows 10. Now, it’s been replaced by Teams as Microsoft’s default video messaging app. Then, less than a year later, in 2016, Microsoft claimed Skype wasn’t meeting users’ needs and replaced it with a WUP app. In 2021, Microsoft set Teams as its default integrated communications app for Windows 11. The company continued supporting Skype with UI updates, even going so far as to add AI to it in 2023.
The thing is, people still use Skype. Microsoft last released user numbers for its aging call software in 2023; it claimed there were still 36 million daily active users. That number may have slipped since then, but a fair number likely won’t be happy about being forced onto Teams. That’s especially true because Teams still feels very business-oriented, even if searching for specific conversations or links can be occasionally awkward.
Teams came on the scene in 2016 as an alternative to Slack. It used to be a part of the default Office (now Windows 365) suite, though Microsoft separated Teams from Office last year to appease European regulators. Either way, Teams is supposed to be Microsoft’s mainline communication tool as it desperately tries to force Windows users to facilitate Microsoft-owned apps. Last year, Teams added the ability to chat in VR with 3D avatars through its Mesh service. Now that Microsoft is all about AI, Skype can be remembered as an app from a simpler time when apps did what they said on the tin.