Video conferencing is more important than ever. Though Zoom and Teams feel like they've taken over the world, there was already an app that was dominant in that space before most people knew about the newer players. Skype is a long-running and established video conferencing app, one that's still plugging along in an era in which its particular services are perhaps more in demand than ever and in which its shortcomings are becoming far more noticeable.

Features

Skype remains one of the go-to names in video calls, helping to connect people from across the world with one another without having to deal with any kind of extensive technical set-ups. The app version of the program is an incredibly simple, platform-agnostic build that allows users to video chat with one another regardless of what type of phone they're using, which allows it to bypass some of the walled-gardens that have sprung up around the native video call apps on most phones. Though fairly low on features, Skype is also an app that puts a great deal of effort into providing a simple experience for those who might not be too familiar with video call apps in general.

Benefits

Skype is hugely beneficial for those who need to set up video calls but who cannot count on other apps to get them connected. Since the software is free to use and has no limitations on one-on-one calls, it's become a useful tool for those who need to conduct one-on-one meetings but who don't want to deal with the time-based limitations that might be present in the free version of some other apps. Skype is simply a tool that's designed to facilitate easy communication, so it also carries the benefit of being virtually impossible not to use correctly.

Pros and Cons

The biggest benefit of Skype is absolutely the fact that the app is so easy to use. It works across virtually every type of phone system, interfaces easily with the programs that run on PCs, and requires no real technical knowledge to get working. You can get on a call with a person and talk as long as you need to talk without ever having to worry about making a payment, giving users the ability to accomplish important business without running afoul of app limitations.

The downside to Skype is that it does feel very outdated. You can't use it quite as effectively for multi-caller video calls and it lacks many of the features that make platforms like Zoom or Teams so popular right now. Skype feels like an app that is stuck in a pre-pandemic world, one that's great if you need to use it simply for one-on-one business calls but one that lacks the kind of utility that many users have come to expect from these now-ubiquitous communications apps. Simply put, it's hard not to see even the best parts of Skype replicated more cleanly and efficiently in other, more popular apps.

Conclusion

Skype is an app that still has an important place for many users, though there is now certainly much more competition than when the app first launched. It's a great video conferencing tool that also has some nice instant messenger elements, but it can be very easy to see how this app could get lost in the crowd of competitors. Still, it's a well-made that is worth a look if you have friends or colleagues who are already using the app.