Skype shuts down after 22 years

Microsoft shuts down Skype after 22 years, shifting users to Teams

Skype has been retired by Microsoft as of May 5, 2025. The service lost popularity as video calling competition surged over the years.

Microsoft is turning off the video telephony service "Skype" today. This is turning past into what was once a future.

The pioneer of free internet telephony with the earworm as a ringtone says goodbye: Microsoft shuts down Skype after 22 years.

Skype users will no longer be available via the app on Monday, but will still have the opportunity to back up their conversation archive. Microsoft wants to redirect users to another service.

Farewell to Skype, the Technology That Changed My Life

Shortly after my mother’s 89th birthday I called her landline via Skype. It was our last such communication ever. Don’t worry, mom’s fine. Skype, however, is as dead as the dire wolf. Deader, probably, because nobody is trying to figure out how to bring Skype back. My mother was born before humans discovered how to use antibiotics and she’s still going. Skype was born in 2003 and only just made it past 20 years.  [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]…

Skype shuts down after 22 years

A once popular video-calling platform, Skype, is set to shut down on May 5. It brings an end to a 22-year period where it connected people across the world. One of the pioneers of internet communication, Skype quickly became a revolutionary tool for free voice and video calls over the internet. At its peak in the mid-2010s, it amassed over 300 million monthly users. Microsoft acquired Skype for $8.5bn in 2011, hoping to make it a central part of…