Skype will officially suspend its operations during May

Skype was once synonymous with video calling. Launched in 2003, the platform experienced peak popularity until Microsoft bought it in 2011 for $8.5 billion. Despite attempts to develop the product, Skype gradually began to lose ground.

As free alternatives like FaceTime, Zoom, Google Meet and Telegram grew in popularity, Skype began to lose its audience. Adding numerous features that few people wanted only made matters worse. Gradually, the platform fell by the wayside.

In late February, Microsoft officially announced the end of Skype – for both free and paid users. The complete shutdown of the platform will happen in May 2025. It’s important to note that Skype for Business users won’t be affected – the enterprise version will continue to function.

Microsoft has long promoted Teams as its primary communications platform. Launched in 2017 to compete with Slack, Teams is aimed at businesses and organizations. Now the company is encouraging Skype users to go there.

The transition will be automatic: all Skype users will be able to start using the free version of Teams, where the usual features – personal and group calls, messaging, file sharing and calendar integration – are available. However, Teams Free is missing one important option – calling phone numbers and receiving calls to a Skype Number.

For paid Skype users, the Teams web interface will retain access to the Skype Dial Pad, but Microsoft will remove the 70-minute calling feature from Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions starting in March 2026.

Microsoft 365 users will still be able to make group calls of up to 30 hours with up to 300 people – all through the free Teams version. This partially makes up for the loss of Skype’s familiar functionality.

The story Skype will officially suspend during May was first published at ITZine.ru.