Over two decades after revolutionising the way people connected across the globe, Skype will be shutting down on Monday (May 5), marking the end of an era. Skype's parent company, Microsoft, announced the closure in February, stating that the free video-calling portal will be replaced by Microsoft Teams.
While the closure affects both free and paid Skype users, the Skype for Business users will be assimilated into Microsoft Teams, which offers many of the same core features and more.
Here's what will happen to your Skype account:
- Users simply need to log in to Teams with their existing Skype credentials, and their chats and contacts will be automatically available to them.
- If a user does not want to use Teams, they can opt to download their Skype data and transition to another video-calling service.
- Users will have until January 2026 to export or delete their Skype data.
- If users log in to Microsoft Teams Free by then, the Skype call and chat history will remain available to them.
- If the user does not take any action, the Skype data will be deleted in January 2026.
How to export Skype data?
- Sign in to the Skype Export page using your Microsoft account
- Select the option to download your conversations, files, or both.
- Select Submit request, then select Continue when prompted.
- When the export process is complete, click Download.
Also Read | From Slack To Zoom, Alternatives To Skype As It Shuts Down After 22 Years
Why did Skype shut down?
Such was Skype's meteoric rise that Microsoft integrated it across platforms such as Windows, smartphones and Xbox consoles. At one point, Microsoft was aiming to reach 1 billion users. However, frequent interface changes and bloated updates made it clunky. The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic and competitors such as Zoom, Webex, Discord and Slack was the final death knell for the platform.
In 2025, Skype dwindled to about 23 million monthly users, down from its 150 million in 2011, and far from the 400 million registered users it once claimed.
