- Microsoft is sunsetting video conferencing service Skype later this year.
- According to a detail within Skype’s latest Windows preview, its demise is set for May 2025.
- Microsoft suggests that users migrate to Teams instead.
You’d be forgiven for forgetting that Skype still exists — I sure did — but it seems that the long-lived video conferencing app’s days are numbered. According to a small detail buried within the latest Skype for Windows preview (h/t: XDA-Developers), the service is set to shut down in May, with Microsoft ushering remaining users and their chats towards its new darling, Microsoft Teams.
Skype launched back in 2003, before the age of Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. It allowed users to voice and video call contacts via the VoIP protocol, reducing the cost of communication for millions globally. Microsoft became Skype’s new owner in a 2011 deal worth more than $8 billion. While the app enjoyed some success under Redmond’s wing, forming part of its various communications efforts, it never really kicked on. During the video conferencing boom of the early 2020s, Skype was firmly in the shadow of newer services like Zoom.