After more than two decades as a pioneer in internet calling, Skype officially shut down today [May 5, 2025], closing a chapter in digital communication history. Microsoft, which acquired Skype in 2011, confirmed the service’s retirement earlier this year, citing a shift in focus toward its newer platform, Microsoft Teams.
“Starting in May 2025, Skype will no longer be available,” Microsoft announced in February, adding, “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.”
Launched in 2003, Skype revolutionised how people connected across the globe, offering free voice and video calls long before the rise of Zoom or FaceTime. At its peak in the mid-2010s, Skype boasted over 300 million monthly users, but numbers dwindled to about 23 million by 2025 as new competitors and changing user habits took hold.
A Microsoft spokesperson explained the rationale behind the move: “A major factor behind this transition is the substantial progress and uptake of Microsoft Teams. Teams Free provides many of the essential features that Skype users are familiar with.”
For current users, Microsoft has provided a path forward. “Skype users can sign in to Teams for free using their Skype credentials. Once logged in, all their chats and contacts will automatically transfer to the app,” the company stated. Users who prefer not to switch to Teams have until January 2026 to export or delete their Skype data.
The closure affects both free and paid users, though Skype for Business will continue for a limited time as organizations complete their own transitions. For many, the end of Skype marks the departure of one of the most recognizable technology products of this century, a tool that “transformed the way people engaged across international lines.”
As the digital landscape evolves, Microsoft’s focus now turns to Teams, which it says will “drive faster innovation” in communication and collaboration.
