It's last call for Skype as the once-popular video calling app shuts down

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NPR

May 5, 2025 3:39 PM ET


Skype, the pioneering online video calling service that has been around for more than two decades, will go offline for good after Monday. Microsoft, which owns Skype, announced in February that the service would be available until May 5 and urged users to switch over to the free version of Microsoft Teams, its communication platform that features the ability to video call.

"Skype has been an integral part of shaping modern communications and supporting countless meaningful moments, and we are honored to have been part of the journey," Jeff Teper, Microsoft's president of collaborative apps and platforms, said in a blog post earlier this year.

Skype, founded in 2003 by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, began as a service offering phone calls over the internet. Later, it also let users video call each other and send private messages — all for free. It was among the first video conferencing apps and exploded in popularity, at one point boasting more than 300 million users, according to the Washington Post.

In 2005, eBay purchased Skype for $2.6 billion. eBay then sold its controlling interest to a group of investors in 2009, who in turn sold the video calling service to Microsoft. But Skype's user base has dwindled in recent years, as the app has faced growing competition from video calling and messaging alternatives such as Zoom, WhatsApp and Slack.

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2025/05/05/nx-s1-5387436/skype-shutting-down

[Puppyjive]

1. I don't like teams

Skype was much easier to use than teams. But as always, we must fix something that isn't broke. Nothing like technical giants force feeding you something you didn't want.

[Oopsie Daisy]

2. Neither does my husband, nor any of his colleagues.

[Polybius]

8. I still miss AIM

Lots of once great things are now gone.

[BumRushDaShow]

13. Or

ICQ?

[Polybius]

17. Technically, ICQ is still around

I still visit Bulletin Board Systems occasionally too, also knows as a BBS.

[BumRushDaShow]

18. I used to use USENET back in the early '90s (that later was coverted to "Google Groups" )

before the world wide web

Had a Prodigy account to get on the internet (at home). Was already on it at work (being a ".gov" ).

[Oopsie Daisy]

3. Even though Skype is going away, the genericized verb "to-Skype" will be with us for much longer.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. But even "to Skype" has been supplanted by

"Zoom meeting".

I know before I retired, our agency was using stuff like WebEx, Adobe Connect and MS's NetMeeting (which I think preceded "Teams" ). I was gone before Zoom became a "thing" (if they actually use it).

[Oopsie Daisy]

6. Yep... I always think of skype-ing as being one-on-one and a personal call with friends/family *

* and zoom-ing as being business or medical with colleagues or with physicians. I guess it's also used a lot in place of in-person court appearances too.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. "Yep... I always think of skype-ing as being one-on-one and a personal call with friends/family "

In the case of the one-on-ones - at least with my family - "FaceTime" is the video call app of choice.

[Oopsie Daisy]

10. Indeed... I've had so many "Hey! Let's facetime!" requests from family members but *

* coming from an Android household, that wasn't an option for us. We'd settle on Skype and/or using Facebook's video chat instead (even though FB was sometimes a little laggy and jittery).

[BumRushDaShow]

11. LOL

Yeah, one of my sisters is an almost-all Samsung/Android household except my niece has the iPhone there so they have used her phone if necessary (if they can dislodge it from her hands).

I have both phone types.

I just found this where apparently non-Apple users can "join" an in-progress FaceTime session - Apple Has a Surprising FaceTime Feature for PC and Android Phone Owners

The iPhone user texts a link to the Android user that when clicked, will open up a browser that will allow that Android person to join in that way.

[Oopsie Daisy]

16. Thank you!!!

[Cne99999]

5. Skype was obsolete

more than 20 years ago. Any I.T. pro knows this. I mean W.T. hell?

[Puppyjive]

9. It wasn't obsolete for me

It worked fine for what it was meant for. That's the problem with technology. You all think we need something different and better. I will say it again. I don't like teams.

[bdamomma]

19. I used Skype

to keep in touch with friends and family. So what's the alternative??? Facetime???

Any feedback on an alternative would be appreciated.

[AllaN01Bear]

12. i have teams as only as a stop gap. hate the interface .

i dont use zoom as it costs $$$$$$$

[BumRushDaShow]

15. "i dont use zoom as it costs $$$$$$$"

I've never had to pay anything to use Zoom. I expect a more fuller featured version has some cost. They have a "Basic" (free) one that at least for "work" purposes has a 40 minute meeting time limit (where you could restart to do another 40 minute session).

One of my cousins does big family Zoom sessions and since they usually go longer than 40 minutes, I am guessing she probably has a paying account (although as a participant, I have never had to pay anything).

[SharonAnn]

14. It was a godsend for us and we taught hundreds (thousands?) to use it to connect with family.

We have family in foreign countries and it was an affordable way to communicate with them, especially during serious and terminal illnesses. First, computer to computer, then computer to phone, then phone to phone. International calling was very expensive 20 years ago.

We taught others in our large retirement community how to use it so they could stay in touch with their far-flung families. It was a wonderful production its day. We were so appreciative of its capabilities.