End Call: Skype signs off after 22 years of connection

CHENNAI: On Monday, May 5, Skype took its final resting place in the graveyard of early-2000s internet icons.

Launched in 2003, Skype revolutionised the way we communicated. It made free, real-time voice and video calls over the internet feel like magic. For many in the 2000s and early 2010s, Skype was the go-to platform for long-distance relationships, remote job interviews, international friendships, and late-night conversations with loved ones continents away.

Before we were stacked into squares on Zoom and Teams, and long before FaceTime became a verb, there was Skype — the sky-blue app that brought the world a little closer.

In its early years, Skype felt like a technological miracle.

Developed in Luxembourg, it was the first mainstream platform to offer free computer-to-computer voice calls.

Soon, it added video calling, ushering in an era of on-demand communication once imagined only in science fiction. Who could forget the moment in 2001: A Space Odyssey when an astronaut called home from space? Skype made that dream a reality — for everyone.

By 2011, Skype boasted over 150 million monthly users.

Microsoft acquired it for $8.5 billion, hoping to push it past the one-billion-user mark.

For a while, it seemed inevitable. Skype was everywhere — integrated into Windows, Xbox consoles, and smartphones. A global staple.

Cracks began to show

Frequent interface overhauls and clunky updates frustrated users.

As the competition grew — Zoom, Discord, Webex, Slack — Skype started to lose ground. Then came the pandemic.

In March 2020, video calling exploded.

Skype usage spiked to 40 million daily users, up 70% in a month. But Microsoft had already shifted focus, pouring its energy into Teams.

That same month, Microsoft encouraged social users to stick with Skype “in the meantime,” while Teams rolled out new features. It was a quiet sign of what was to come.

Zoom surged to 300 million daily users in just weeks.

Teams reached 70 million by the end of 2020. Skype, once the pioneer, was left behind.

By 2023, only 36 million people were still using it daily.

By 2025, that number had dwindled to just 23 million monthly users — a shadow of its former self.

Microsoft formally announced Skype’s retirement in February 2025. The service will be fully shut down on May 5, replaced entirely by Microsoft Teams, it said.

Today, we don’t care much which platform we use, as long as it works. But back then, Skype was the one that worked first. And for that, we remember.