Microsoft finally shutting down Skype in May

Skype’s days are probably numbered. Microsoft plans to shut down the service in May this year, and users will have to switch to Microsoft Teams, Report informs via Techzine.

XDA Developers’ examination of the latest Skype for Windows preview reveals that Microsoft has hidden code built into this version announcing the end of the service. This hidden code states the following: ‘Starting in May, Skype will no longer be available. Continue your calls and chats in Teams‘. No more announcements are made, but the message is clear.

Microsoft has probably tied its knots and is now making Skype users compulsorily migrate to Microsoft Teams, which is probably the consumer version of this tool.

Microsoft’s move is not surprising. Skype, which the tech giant acquired in 2011 for $8.5 billion, has already been used much less in recent years, especially since 2019, when Microsoft Teams, as well as competing services such as WhatsApp, iMessage, and Discord, gained the upper hand in the VoIP calling and messaging market. To illustrate, during the pandemic, Skype as an alternative (video) conferencing platform hardly got any attention.

Microosft Teams and Skype have so far always coexisted for business users. In doing so, Skype was even used as the backbone for further building out the more popular Teams.

In recent years, Microsoft did try to revive Skype, for example by adding features such as sending short videos or the AI chat app Bing, the precursor to Copilot. However, Microsoft did not succeed in recruiting many new users. It did release necessary patches for Skype from time to time.

The last update dates from May 2024 and since December last year it has no longer been possible to buy so-called Skype credits.