Skype in Teams: Experiences after the switch – and how to continue with credit

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One update and that's it: this week, Microsoft took its Skype clients for Windows and macOS out of operation via a software update, thus implementing an announcement made in February. Since then, anyone who installs the "recommended" update will no longer be able to access the data still available in the application – and will instead be forced to start the Teams client. "Thank you for being part of Skype", the company writes in the only remaining window of the app in English, "Skype retired in May 2025". When using a mobile device, i.e. Android or iOS, the same screen appears – and there is also no way to access previous chats or contacts in Skype itself.

Telephony without a client with a poorly designed interface

If you click further in the Mac and Windows version, you will be taken to Teams, which opens its window as a Skype replacement if it is already installed on your computer. It works independently of any business account that may also have been set up. The mishmash that is the takeover is not obvious. You have to look closely to see where which functions are located, the interface is entirely different to Skype. Even more confusing: Microsoft has outsourced landline telephony, which has been part of Skype for many years, to the web – but only in one direction. The promised "dial pad", with which you should still be able to make calls to landlines, is hidden in the "other settings", which are marked with three dots – and is not integrated into Teams. Instead, clicking on it opens the standard browser, where you then have to log in with your Skype account, even though you are actually already logged in to Teams.

Depending on the size of the browser window, the view you see looks huge and not programmed for the desktop. On the left you can see your call list (without SMS), at the top your Skype name including any remaining credit, on the right a gigantic number input field. To be able to make calls, you have to give the browser microphone access. Our first attempts to make a call in Safari under macOS failed at first, the Skype dial tone could be heard, but it did not go any further. We later managed to establish a connection. The call is handled via the website "calling.web.skype.com". As with the old Skype app, the cost of the call is displayed after entering the number.

Outgoing calls in the browser, incoming calls in Teams

The dial pad on the web is not an application that people like to use. It indicates that it is only used to allow users to use up their remaining Skype credit – or an existing call subscription, of which Skype offered a whole series that are still valid until they expire. Calling to landlines, which was recently one of the most popular ways to use Skype, will no longer be part of Teams for private customers in the long term (and as quickly as possible). Microsoft is just dragging the function along, as it was never part of Teams (except for corporate customers, but that is a different target group). The mobile version of Teams also only recognizes the dial pad on the web if you want to make an outgoing call. Here, the function is hidden at the bottom of the account settings. On iOS, an in-app browser opens in which you have to log in again, just like on the desktop. You can only make calls if you grant microphone access via the in-app browser settings. The setting can disappear when Teams (and the in-app browser) is restarted, so you may have to grant it again and again.

Confusingly, receiving Skype calls that go to a landline number that may exist with the provider works in Teams itself; you don't need a browser for this. You can then accept the call directly on both the desktop and the mobile device and communicate normally as if it were a Teams-to-Teams call. If Teams has not yet been activated on iPhone or Android, Skype may display information about a missed call and recommend installing Teams. Text messages can no longer be sent; the function has been completely removed, as Microsoft confirmed to heise online. This is unfortunate, as users actually had corresponding contracts with the company, which have now been unilaterally changed.

Skype credit must be used up – no refund

Initially, it was still unclear whether Microsoft would also provide an option to pay out existing credit instead of having to make a phone call via the inelegant dial pad on the web. A corresponding request to the company's press office, which heise online made in March, has so far remained unanswered. Microsoft does state on an information page that refunds are possible under certain circumstances. However, this page appears to date back to the time when Skype existed in its regular form. A request to support via chat (direct link) revealed (after a long wait) that refunds are only permitted if the credit was purchased in the recent past. The limit is a maximum of 90 days, depending on the type of purchase (subscription, credit) it can also be just 14 or 30 days.

So if you have purchased credit in 2023 or 2024, for example, but have not yet used it, there is no refund option – you have to use the dial pad until the money is gone. For Microsoft, this also means that the function may have to be "dragged along" for years until the last customer has spent their credit. This could also explain why landline telephony now only consists of a simple web application and has not even been integrated into Teams. Subscriptions for Skype numbers that can be used to make calls, on the other hand, only run until the end of the contract term; Microsoft has explicitly ended renewals. Thereafter, they will be gone forever and Teams users can only be reached via the Teams network, no longer by phone.

(bsc)