Skype
Skype consumer service
The service that helped make internet calling ordinary was retired into Microsoft's newer communications platform.
Quick facts
- Existence state
- Officially Gone
- Peak stage
- general release
- Research confidence
- high
- Last verified
What it was
The consumer voice, video and messaging service that Microsoft acquired in 2011 and retired in 2025.
Skype made computer-to-computer calling, low-cost telephone connections and later video communication widely accessible. This entry concerns the consumer service, not Skype for Business or every later use of the brand.
Existence timeline
Skype begins offering peer-to-peer internet calling to the public.
eBay acquires Skype as the service expands internationally.
Microsoft acquires Skype and later integrates it across its communications products.
Microsoft says it will retire Skype in May and focus its free consumer communications offering on Teams.
Skype users begin receiving a path to sign into Teams with their existing credentials and carry over chats and contacts.
The independent Skype consumer service ends; Skype for Business is not part of the retirement.
Microsoft retains export and limited dial-pad paths for eligible users after the main service closes.
Why it ended
Microsoft announced the retirement on 28 February 2025 and ended the consumer service on 5 May. Users could move many chats and contacts to Teams Free or export their data.
Last confirmed trace
Client software, personal exports, recordings, Skype-branded hardware and Microsoft's migration tools remain after the independent consumer network ended.
What it left behind
Skype helped normalise everyday long-distance video calls and shows how a service can disappear while selected accounts, data and functions migrate into a successor.
How we classified it
The mass-market consumer service operated for more than two decades and was retired on 5 May 2025. Skype for Business is outside this archive unit.
Skype was a mass-market public service.
Sources & verification
Last reviewed 2026-08-01. Sources are linked so readers can inspect the evidence directly.