Microsoft, which acquired Skype in 2011 for $8.5 billion, had announced the retirement in February, giving users ten weeks to back up or migrate their data.
Originally launched in 2003, Skype reached a peak of over 300 million monthly users but saw its popularity decline in recent years, dropping to about 36 million by 2023. The rise of platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams shifted user preferences towards newer and more feature-rich tools for both personal and business communication.
To help ease the transition, Microsoft is directing former Skype users to its Teams platform, which includes free options for one-on-one and group calls, messaging, and file sharing. Existing Skype users can log into Teams using the same credentials, with chat history and contacts carried over automatically. However, the free version of Teams does not support Skype’s calling feature for mobile and landline numbers.
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