Microsoft has announced that Skype will be retired on 5 May 2025, as part of a shift to consolidate its communication services under Microsoft Teams. The tech giant wants Teams to be for both professional and personal use.
Founded in 2003, Skype was once at the forefront of online communication and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology. Its popularity has waned in recent years as other platforms such as Zoom and Teams became available and offered improved solutions.
Skype will remain operational until the retirement date next month, allowing users time to make the switch or consider other options, but Microsoft is encouraging Skype users to make the transition to Teams now. Users can log into Teams using their Skype credentials and users will find their existing chats and contacts available in Teams. During the transition period, Skype and Teams users will also be able to call and message each other across platforms for continuity.
Teams offers many of the same core features including 1:1 and group calls, messaging, and file sharing. However, users who do not wish to move to Teams can export Skype data, including chat history, contacts, and call records, until January 2026. At this time, all Skype data will be automatically deleted, unless manually exported or removed beforehand.
Microsoft has also announced that paid Skype services are no longer available to new users. This includes Skype Credit and subscriptions for international and domestic calling. Existing subscribers can continue using these services until the end of their current renewal period. After 5 May, remaining Skype Credit users will only have access to the Skype Dial Pad via the Skype web portal and within Teams.
Microsoft is providing relatively well for the transition, and retirement of Skype has been increasingly likely due to lack of development on this service, with Microsoft’s focus being very much on Teams. However, this official announcement does not give much time at all for users, the vast majority likely being individual consumers, to make the switch. Individual consumers do not necessarily have the knowledge or resources (e.g. an IT department) to support them in such a transition. And it’s safe to assume that many entrenched users of Skype are still using the service and haven’t already switched to Teams because they either do not want to or have struggled to do so.
A longer official period of transition would have been more user friendly. Also, somewhat surprisingly, electroiq.com lists Skype’s worldwide market share of messaging apps at 16% for Q1 of 2025. Which is, in fact, more than Teams! And not at all insignificant; circa half of Zoom, the same as Discord, and more than FaceTime. The assumption, therefore, is that Microsoft are looking to combine their userbases of Teams and Skype, to increase their overall standing in online communications.