When Microsoft bought Skype, the company was buying into an app that had been downloaded one billion times and had hundreds of millions of users.

“Together we will create the future of real-time communications,” Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer said at the time.

But as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger grew in popularity, Skype was waning.

In 2017, Microsoft redesigned Skype, with some features looking very much like rival Snapchat. Users were not happy.

At the time, Rachel Kaser, a reporter at The Next Web, said: “People are annoyed by this update to the Skype app because it’s fixing something that was never broken to begin with.”

In June 2021, speculation persisted that it was the beginning of the end for Skype.

When Microsoft announced Windows 11, its new operating system, it stated that Microsoft Teams would be integrated by default, while Skype, for the first time in years, was not.

Teams had seen a boost in popularity during the Covid pandemic as people moved their work and personal meetings online.

As the news of Skype’s closure was announced, Microsoft published a blog post, external from Jeff Teper, the company’s president of collaborative apps and platforms.

In it, he said the company wants to streamline its free services to focus on Teams.

“With Teams, users have access to many of the same core features they use in Skype, such as one-on-one calls and group calls, messaging, and file sharing,” he said.

“Additionally, Teams offers enhanced features like hosting meetings, managing calendars, and building and joining communities for free.”

Skype users now have a choice – move over to Microsoft Teams or export their Skype data including chats, contacts and call history, the post added.

For Skype customers who pay for some features, Microsoft said they will be able to use their service up, external until their next renewal period.