Popular video-calling platform, Skype is officially saying goodbye today, May 5, 2025.
It brings an end to a 22-year period where it connected people across the world.
Microsoft has finally pulled the plug, sticking to the plan they announced back in February. It’s the end of an era for a service that, for many (myself included), was their first foray into voice and video calls over the internet.
Before smartphones made video calls easier–and even for a while after they did–Skype was the way you talked to family across the world or had a face-to-face chat with a friend without racking up a massive phone bill.
For years, Skype was the name in online communication. You didn’t just make a video call, you “Skyped” someone. It was one of those rare brands that became a verb–like “Googling.” But like many internet pioneers, it eventually got overtaken by newer, faster, and better alternatives. While Skype tried to keep up, adding features and changing its interface, it often felt as old as it was. The rise of messaging apps and the corporate world’s embrace of platforms like Slack and eventually Microsoft’s own Teams spelled doom for Skype.
TechCrunch