Microsoft confirmed: Skype is history from May

Microsoft will switch off his Skype communication software in May and gives users the opportunity to switch to teams. This was announced by the company on Friday afternoon German time and thus confirmed speculation that made the round after the discovery of a hint in the binary file of the app.

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“We will retire Skype in May 2025 to concentrate on teams”, explains Microsoft manager Jeff Teper. According to this, Skype will be switched off for free users on May 5th. In the next few days, users should receive a way to switch to teams free of charge. You can also export your data – chats, contacts and calls – to teams.

Microsoft also stops marketing the credit packages and subscriptions as well as paid services. Existing customers with subscriptions and credit can continue to use the services by the end of the ongoing subscription or until the credit is used up. The selection keyboard in the Skype online portal or in teams is available.

Already on Thursday there were clear indications that the thing that was decided for Skype was. A user of the XDA forum found a corresponding notification in the code of the recent preview version of the Skype app for Windows. In the original it says: “Starting in May, Skype Will No Longer Be Available. Continue your calls and chats in teams.” In German: “Skype will no longer be available from May. Set your calls and chats in teams.” The text is entered as a ribbon measurement, which indicates a planned overlap for the users.

Microsoft has long been in the process of establishing teams with users and as Replacement for Skype to market. For example, you can communicate in teams with users of Skype since 2020. While Microsoft teams are further developed and maintained, Skype seemed to be on the siding for a while.

For the Skype Business Server, however, Microsoft delivers extended support until October 14, 2025, as long as there will be extended security updates (ESU). Microsoft refers to this on his own website. This affects both the Skype for Business Server 2015 as well as the 2019 variant. At least in the business environment, Microsoft Skype cannot turn off until this date. So this probably only affects the end user version.

Skype was originally a VoIP telephony software based on a P2P protocol, which was presented in 2003 by the developers of the Filesharing Client Kazaa Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis and had millions of users very quickly. Over the years, new functions such as messaging, telephone numbers and finally video were added. Skype was taken over by Microsoft for $ 8.5 billion in 2011.