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It was only a matter of time before Skype was gone. It seemed that the service was about to die, but Microsoft kept releasing updates to prolong its existence. This time, however, it’s serious: in May, the company will finally “turn off the lights” for Skype. What will be replaced? Well, you guessed it – a switch to Teams.
Vigilant users have noticed, and XDA has confirmed, that a message has appeared in the latest test version of Skype for Windows: “Starting in May, Skype will no longer be available. Continue calling and chatting in Teams.”. It also mentions that some of your friends have already switched to Teams Free, probably based on their contact list.
Skype was launched in 2003, and Microsoft bought it in 2011. A few years later, the company abandoned its own services such as Windows Live Messenger, and in 2015 tried to “embed” Skype in Windows 10.
This path was quite thorny: integration into Windows 10 lasted only nine months. At first, Microsoft made separate apps for video calls, messages, and phone calls, and then quickly removed them. In 2016, the company launched a UWP version of Skype to move away from Win32, but later changed its mind and went back.
In 2017, Microsoft introduced Teams, a collaboration platform that used Skype’s best practices but was designed to compete with Slack. Since then, the company has been actively promoting Teams, and one might have thought that Skype would have been retired when Skype for Business was shut down in 2019. But every time it seemed inevitable, some update was released, and everyone was surprised: “Is anyone still working on this app?”
To be honest, Skype never became the “star” that Microsoft was hoping for. Apple’s FaceTime occupied its own niche, Windows Phone sank into oblivion (may it rest in peace!), and Google launched new messengers every year and closed them just as quickly.
When Windows 11 was released in 2021, it had built-in integration with Teams, just like Windows 10 (version 1511) had with Skype. But then it became clear: Microsoft is betting on Teams, not good old Skype.
And now, the moment has come. In May, Skype will officially start disappearing. In the near future, the application will display the corresponding notifications. Microsoft hasn’t commented on the situation yet, but it’s obvious that this is the end.