Skype has languished in recent years, with other apps like Discord becoming more popular for group communication, and Teams serving as Microsoft’s own successor. It’s not exactly surprising, then, to see that Microsoft might be about to kill off Skype after a long 21 years.

Microsoft seems to be gearing up to sunset Skype. How-To Geek has corroborated that in the latest Insider preview of the Skype app, the company has added a few strings for a dialog box that, once it goes live, will indicate to users logging into the app that Skype will no longer be available starting in May. Those who want to keep in touch with their Skype friends will be directed to download the free version of Microsoft Teams instead to do so.

The Evidence

I downloaded and installed the latest Insider build of the desktop version of Skype, version 8.137.76.425. From there, to extract the strings, I took the app.asar file in the “resources” folder within Program Files > Microsoft > Skype for Desktop, and used 7-Zip and the Asar7z plugin to crack it open.

After unpacking it, I went into that file’s “resources” folder, where the strings for all languages are located within individual JSON files for each language. The strings that were recently added by Microsoft about Skype’s impending demise are the following:

"TFLMigration":{"RibbonMessage":"Starting in May, Skype will no longer be available. Continue your calls and chats in Teams.","RibbonButtonLabel":"Start using Teams","RibbonMobileButtonLabel":"Get","BannerTitle":"Move to Teams today","BannerContent":"{userCount} of your friends have already moved to Teams Free","ChatInTeamsButtonText":"Chat in Teams","LearnMoreButtonText":"Learn more","DialogTitle":"Microsoft Teams","DownloadingMessage":"Downloading Microsoft Teams...","InstallingMessage":"Installing Microsoft Teams...","OpeningMessage":"Opening Microsoft Teams...","InformationMessage":"Teams will open automatically once the installation is complete.","CancelButtonLabel":"Cancel"},

These are strings that are meant to be used in either a ribbon-style pop-up or a dialog box warning people that Skype will be discontinued in May. As of the time of writing, these strings are not live in the app yet, and Microsoft has not publicly announced if it’s planning to kill off Skype or not.

The “RibbonMessage” string lets users know of the upcoming discontinuation in May, and directs users to continue talking in Teams. The “BannerContent” string, on the other hand, tracks which of the user’s friends have made the move to the free version of Teams, and tells you how many of your friends “have already moved to Teams Free.” It also looks like the app will help you download, install, set up, and properly migrate to Teams. Most, if not all, of the JSON files found here have translated versions of the strings.

We have asked Microsoft for a statement about the possible shutdown of Skype, and we’ll update this article when we hear back.

The Writing Was On The Wall

We can’t say we’re exactly surprised about this. Over the last few years, Skype has seen a sharp decline in users. Business users have since moved on to Teams for the most part, while a lot of other users have just moved to different instant messaging/VoIP apps.

While Microsoft has continued to update Skype, updates have been few and far between. The app still has a dedicated user base, and that’s probably the reason why it has stayed alive for so long. It remains relevant for certain use cases, such as international calls through the app’s VoIP function or video calling with old relatives. However, Microsoft did recently shut down Skype credits and directed users to get a subscription instead.

As a reminder, back in 2013, Windows Live Messenger was discontinued, and its userbase was migrated to Skype—the app wasn’t quite the same experience, but the transition itself was pretty seamless. Now, Skype might be about to live its own Messenger moment 12 years later. We’re not sure if it will be nearly as impactful, though.

Thanks to Tamara Morgan for the tip!