On Monday, Skype launched a major redesign with brighter colors and new features.
According to the company’s blog post, the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service promises “an upgraded, quicker, more reliable, and incredibly modern-looking Skype” in the coming months. The new features were developed in response to customer feedback and requests, said Skype.
The most significant update is that Skype now supports all browsers, whereas previously, Skype was only available on Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Safari, or Opera. The latest Skype upgrade will also bring more color, new themes, and layouts to its call stage—you’ll be able to find yourself on the main screen during a call now that all participants are visible on the call stage.
The ability for audio-only participants to have their own colorful backgrounds, upgraded chat headers, adjustable notification sounds, a new reactions chooser, and more are among the other changes.
The platform also claims a 30 percent boost in desktop performance and a 2,000 percent improvement while using Skype on an Android device.
While these features will be available to the general public in the coming months, Skype said individuals who are members of the Skype Insiders Program will be able to try them out first.
Other video services such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams have seized the lead in the last year or two, and Skype’s redesign and updates could be the platform’s attempt to stay relevant. Zoom is the #1 video conferencing app in the workplace, according to Okta’s 2021 Businesses at Work Report, with a 45 percent increase in usership between March and October 2020.
However, that Skype will be available on any browser could make its daily users rise in the coming months, especially as the number of people working remotely continues to increase.
