Skype's last call set for 5 May as Microsoft retires it for Microsoft Teams

Microsoft will be shutting down Skype, the company's telecommunications application, on 5 May 2025. In a statement, Jeff Teper, president of Microsoft 365 collaborative apps, said Skype will be retired to prioritise Teams, which offers many of the same core features, including one-on-one and group calls, messaging and file sharing.

Teper highlighted that Teams also provides additional capabilities such as hosting meetings, managing calendars and creating and joining communities for free. He noted that hundreds of millions of people already use Teams as their primary platform for communication and collaboration across work, school and home.

Don't miss: MCMC, Microsoft in discussions over LinkedIn licensing

"In the past two years, the number of minutes spent in meetings by consumer users of Teams has grown four times, reflecting the value Teams brings to everyday communication and collaboration," Teper said. 

Teper thanked users for being part of the popular app, adding, "Skype has been an integral part of shaping modern communications and supporting countless meaningful moments, and we are honored to have been part of the journey. "

Furthermore, he said, "As we take this next step with Teams, we’re excited about the opportunities ahead. We look forward to continuing to support people’s everyday connections, starting by making it easy to log into Teams with their Skype account."

Over the coming days, Microsoft will roll out the ability for Skype users to sign into Teams on any supported device using their Skype credentials. By logging in to Teams with a Skype account, chats and contacts will automatically appear in the app so users can pick up where they left off.

During the transition period, Teams users can call and chat with Skype users and Skype users can do the same with Teams users. This aims to ensure that users can stay connected with everyone, regardless of the platform they are using during the transition.

For those who do not wish to migrate to Teams, they can instead export their data including chats, contacts, and call history.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Microsoft for more information. 

In October last year, Microsoft rolled out autonomous artificial intelligence (AI) agents that could work on behalf of an individual or team. It could also function to execute and orchestrate business processes. 

In a blogpost by Microsoft, the tech giant said that customers could create autonomous agents with Copilot Studio. These agents draw on the context of work data and were able to support businesses from IT help desk to employee onboarding. It could even act as a personal concierge for sales and service. 

In addition, Microsoft introduced ten new autonomous agents in Dynamics 365. These agents were designed to help sales, service, finance and supply chain teams to drive business values.

Related articles: 
GoTo partners Microsoft ID in move to adopt AI tool    
ID airlines urged to upgrade technology following Microsoft outage     
Microsoft and MCMC to ink MoU to upskill MY workforce