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Microsoft will be shutting down Skype operations from May 5th, 2025. Let’s take a look at how it is going to affect users.
Microsoft announced that it will shut down Skype on May 5, 2025. After 23 years of making calls over the Internet, Skype is finally being closed down. Microsoft is also replacing it with the free version of Microsoft Teams for consumers. Users will be able to transfer their old account data to their new Teams account, which includes chats and contacts.
Skype is giving users 60 days to help them switch to Microsoft Teams and export the data. Let’s take a look at how this is going to affect users and what other options users have.
The Gradual Shift
Microsoft started to transition from Skype in 2017, and by 2021, Teams was chosen as the integrated communication app for Windows 11, which pushed Skype further down the line. Reportedly, Microsoft had stopped allowing users to add credit or purchase Skype phone numbers, nudging them towards monthly subscriptions and Skype-to-phone plans in 2024.
Microsoft confirmed that they will stop Skype services on May 5. The users will be able to migrate their contacts and chat histories directly to Microsoft Teams or use Skype’s export tool to download the data. Skype will hold on to the user’s data till the end of this year before deleting it.
User Base
In earlier times, Skype was the most famous internet communication application, allowing users to make voice calls, video calls, and share files. These features made Skype famous, and at its peak, it had 300 million users. Reportedly, Skype had a daily active user base of only 36 million in 2023, which is much lower than the 124 million active user base in the early 2010s, with more users during the pandemic.
Both Skype and Teams gained a huge user base during the pandemic, but after that, the Skype user base seems to have flatlined. Furthermore, a few notable differences between Teams and Skype are that the Teams Free version does not support PSTN support, which means users cannot call mobile numbers or landline numbers on Skype.
For Skype users who still have Skype credit, Microsoft will continue to allow support for Skype Dial Pad on both the Skype webpage and in Teams. However, since the subscription renewals for calling services ended on April 3, users have to transition to other services.
User Data and Experience
Skype users will be able to log into Microsoft Teams with their existing credentials, which will automatically transfer the user’s chats and contacts. Alternatively, the users have the option to export their data and information, although it is not practically feasible to do so. During this migration phase, Microsoft aims to help users protect and preserve their chats and shared memories during this transition.
Overall, Microsoft’s decision to discontinue Skype and continue with Teams is due to habits of users and changing market trends. Furthermore, Microsoft is helping users have a smooth transition from Skype to Teams and focus on enhancing the built-in feature of Teams, which is going to be Microsoft’s future communication application.
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