Skype: Video Calling App Officially Shuts Down After 22 Years

Video calling service Skype has finally officially shut down, ending its 22-year history.

The Microsoft-owned software announced plans to shut down late February this year and according to the Washington Examiner, Skype officially shut down on May 5.

First released in 2003, Skype was bought by the tech giant in 2011 for $8.5bn (£6.1bn) - its biggest-ever acquisition at the time.

“In order to streamline our free consumer communications offerings so we can more easily adapt to customer needs, we will be retiring Skype in May 2025 to focus on Microsoft Teams (free), our modern communications and collaboration hub,” said Jeff Teper, Microsoft president of collaborative apps and platforms, said at the time.

Microsoft decided to shut down Skype to focus its resources on developing its Microsoft Teams app, which includes all the services that Skype provided plus more, Washington Examiner revealed.

As part of the transition, Microsoft announced it would offer a free version of Teams to all consumers who previously utilized Skype.

“With Teams, users have access to many of the same core features they use in Skype, such as one-on-one calls and group calls, messaging, and file sharing,” Teper was quoted further.

According to its most recent statistics, there were 1.95 billion registered accounts on Skype.

Microsoft promised users that Teams' messaging, file sharing, and one-on-one and group calls would satisfy their needs.

Following the February announcement, Skype posted a message on its X account that read: "In the coming days, you may sign in to Microsoft Teams Free with your Skype account to stay connected with all of your chats and contacts. Thank you for joining Skype."

Social media users have expressed their opinions regarding the service's termination; many have referred to it as "the end of an era."

Since its inception in 2003, Skype has been a popular means for individuals to communicate with each other without having to pay a phone provider. However, as the smartphone age arrived, its user base shrinked, which was made worse by the rise in popularity of comparable services like Zoom and Microsoft Teams during the COVID-19 pandemic.