Skype to shut down on May 5, 2025

On May 5, 2025, Skype will officially close for all users. This applies to both free and paid accounts. Instead of Skype, Microsoft suggests switching to the free version of Teams using the same credentials.

Tech May 6, 2025 0 6 Add to Reading List

Microsoft has officially announced that Skype will be shutting down on May 5, 2025. All current users of the platform will be automatically transferred to Microsoft Teams, where their accounts will be migrated.

Skype data can be exported or deleted until January 2026. If you sign in to Teams before then, your chat and call history will be preserved, otherwise the information will be deleted.

Skype's closure was announced back in February 2025. The service, launched in 2003, has long been a key tool for personal and business communication. The first steps towards its demise began in 2019, when Microsoft announced it would end support for Skype for Business, completely shutting it down in 2021. Business customers were then offered to switch to Teams, a service introduced in 2017 and integrated into Office 365.

At its peak, the service had 300 million users. In 2023, when Microsoft last disclosed data, the number of Skype users had dropped to 36 million.

The main reason for the closure is competition. Skype is losing out to Zoom, WhatsApp * , 3CX and its own Teams, which combines chats, video calls and collaboration. Microsoft is betting on Teams as a single platform for communications. Supporting two similar services is ineffective, so Skype is leaving.