What The Hell America!

Skype, the online video-calling service, is shutting down in May after more than two decades of service. For those of a certain generation, Skype changed everything. 

Before it launched in 2003, making international calls was prohibitively expensive and few viable digital alternatives existed. Skype offered users a cheap and easy way to call anyone in the world, skirting the draconian landline industry. When Skype added video calls a few years later, it felt as if the future had arrived: Students used Skype to stay connected to families back home , international friendships were born , and a generation of cross-border relationships began — or ended — over the service. By the late 2000s, Skype was so ubiquitous that its name became a verb, much like Xerox and Google. Its bouncy ringtones and audio notifications were iconic.

At its peak, Skype had about 300 million users around the world. But it was a product of the desktop era, and as users went mobile, Skype lost its edge to upstarts like WhatsApp and FaceTime. Today, the app is forgotten on most phones and computers, particularly in the West.

The platform still has dedicated pockets of users in countries like Turkey, Russia, India, and the Philippines, according to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower. “Skype has been an integral part of shaping modern communications and supporting countless meaningful moments,” Microsoft said in a blog post announcing its imminent shutdown.

Before Skype goes the way of other early internet icons like AOL Instant Messenger and Friendster, Rest of World readers shared their favorite memories of the service. Here are their stories.

Gloria Bettoni

40, Italy

I will always remember Skype because when my now ex-boyfriend was living in Latin America and working there, we would use Skype sometimes to talk to each other. Then he came back home to Italy, and he was using my computer and he was Skyping that night with a girl he hooked up with for the past few weeks when he was in Latin America. He forgot to log out. I found the conversation open on my laptop and that was the end of the story and the relationship.

Kazi Prottoy Ahmed

31, Bangladesh

I was in my second year at the university. … I was chatting with her on Skype, but mostly on chat, not video call or something like that. One time, I requested her [to] basically keep her Skype on. Because they have this feature — that green dot — that stays on if you’re online. So she put her machine on sleep, and that night was amazing because I didn’t really feel like I’m alone. That really meant a lot to me and that really meant a lot for her, as well. She’s basically the champion of the story.

Zaki Wamia Aunushua

30, Bangladesh

We did not go to the same university or to the same school, not even the same subject, so it’s not like we were connected. At that time we were hardly dating. So when he mentioned that he would like me to stay up with him and accompany him for his studies and that he was feeling very lonely, that was like the best moment ever because I was secretly crushing on him. It was a wonderful feeling and, you know, seeing that green dot also made me feel very special. It made him feel not so alone, [and] it made feel like the most special person in the world.

Arifa Gani

38, India

I used Skype every day to call my parents when I was pursuing my master’s in Birmingham, U.K. It was my world those days. It kept me connected with my family. I never felt away from them only because of Skype. It just filled the gap of being away from friends and family. I couldn’t feel the time difference between London and Kashmir, or spending my first Eid away from home.

Skype was originally called Skyper, but the “r” was dropped when the domain was taken.

Nicole*

26, Singapore

Three months after meeting my now-fiance, Covid forced us apart. We were from different countries, and without Skype, staying connected the way we did would have been impossible. Sometimes, we’d leave Skype on all day and night, not always speaking, just being part of each other’s routines. It became a quiet but constant presence in our relationship.

Today we’re buying a home together. So you tell me — did Skype matter?

*Nicole chose not to share her full name.

Zoe Mau

33, Hong Kong

I was 17 when I left home for the first time. My parents were worried. … I was all alone in a small town in Italy. We talked on Skype, where I have cried many, many times, and usually got even more homesick afterwards. In university, Skype remained as the means of communication even though we were on WhatsApp already. Adding someone on Skype is not like adding a new contact on your phone. It does feel like when you add that person, you will actually talk to them. We also often used Skype on the first day of the Chinese New Year, to talk to relatives in the U.S. and Australia. It was one of the most joyous things for my late grandma.

Jorge*

39, Argentina

When I was 23, I met and started dating a girl from Russia. After visiting each other’s country, we maintained our relationship via Skype. When she moved in with me in Buenos Aires, she would call her parents via Skype and speak for long hours in Russian. To me, Skype meant a window to the world, and a milestone in my adulthood when I started making deep connections with others.

*Jorge chose not to share his full name.

Annalisa Merelli

42, USA/Italy

I have had Skype forever … and I always use it a lot. Before WhatsApp, it really was the only way to call home or, like, to call phones for not too much money. [I still have it on] my phone to call my grandma’s [landline] because it’s much cheaper. When they announced that they were closing it, I was like, I don’t know what service I should use now to [call my grandma], and then I looked [at my call history] — literally all you see is, like, this history of just me calling [my grandma’s] landline forever. Like I haven’t used it for anything else in years, literally years. I’m actually sad it’s closing because of that. Because I’ll have to figure out another way to call my grandma. I can’t think of anyone else I know who doesn’t have a cellphone. But yeah, she’s not getting one. And she’s not even mentioned it. She’s 94.

The verb “skype” was added to the Oxford English Dictionary on June 15, 2006.

Joel Burke

32, USA

While I was a longtime Skype user, I think the biggest impact of Skype was what it did for Estonia. I went to Tallinn in 2018 for work. During my time there, it was apparent that Skype was the foundation of much of modern Estonia. Most of the angels and VCs made their money from Skype, which they pumped back into the tech ecosystem. Many of the next generation of entrepreneurs in the country cut their teeth at Skype and learned how to scale a company. Plus, Skype helped put Estonia on the map for many in Silicon Valley, and gave the country a positive reputation that made it easier for future entrepreneurs to raise funding. Truly, the effect of Skype has been profound on Estonia.

Marta Angelillis

34, Switzerland

Skype reminds me of my first trips to Japan in 2006 and 2007. I was almost 16, and very far from home for the first time. Skype meant being able to talk with those at home. Later on, when similar services became more common, I still used Skype to call friends and family who only used landline phones — my husband’s grandmother, and a priest friend in a secluded monastery.

Abha Ahad

24, India

I used to be so active in the Skype fan communities. There was a Bollywood fan community, a Shah Rukh Khan fan community, a One Direction fan community. I was not a very popular teenager, so I did not have many friends in school. But then I found a lot of like-minded people on these communities and they were from around the world. I remember there was a Zoya Khan somewhere in the Middle East, and there was somebody from Kazakhstan, and that is how I learned geography because all my friends were all over the world. Skype was how we used to connect. Skype was our go-to platform. You’re like, hey, whoever is online, join. It was amazing.

The Skype sound design was created using a blend of natural sounds like wind, water, and even a human breath to make it feel both familiar and abstract.

Camille Bromley

39, USA

I lived abroad after college from 2007–2011, and Skype was indispensable. Its jaunty ringtone is forever stuck in my mind when I think of certain friends I called often during that time.

Nguyễn Tuấn Anh

35, Vietnam

I use Skype for business. I have Philippine teachers who teach English one-on-one to Vietnamese students and students from other countries like Thailand and Korea. They use Skype to teach students. I have over 100 teachers and about 2,000 students, so Skype is quite important to my business. I think it is very helpful for the students, for my staff, and for my business.

Amrutha Rao

34, India

When I was moving to Mumbai for my master’s in 2011, my mother and I were worried. How would we see each other? That was the main concern. Seeing the loved one every day, isn’t that the greatest gift? I told her about Skype. I helped her [install it] on her old computer a day before I left. And the next day, we had our first ever online meeting. We saw each other, even though we were miles apart, and we returned to our daily routine. It gave us a sense of control at a point of time when my life and her life were changing and evolving. And I cherish that really and hold it close to my heart.

William Rubin

30, U.K.

For a long time, it was really the only practical way that my wife and I could speak with one another. She was based in mainland China and I was based in the U.K. over Covid. Pretty much every night and every morning when I woke up, we would call each other over Skype and just lie in bed with the phone on, or next to our pillow as we fell asleep and woke up. If Skype wasn’t there, it would have been basically impossible for us to maintain our relationship. Doing long distance over Covid was extremely difficult in the first place, but without actually being able to see each other and speak with each other reliably … [and] Skype was the most reliable of the options at the time. Long-distance relationships are much less likely to survive if it’s just emails and instant messages. It was really important to actually be able to see each other.

Dela*

28, U.K.

Skype was a well-known platform to a lot of Iranians living outside of Iran. It was probably the most popular way of connecting with families back home. Around 2019, when we had that weeklong [internet] shutdown, people were really worried about all their families, and they were trying to do everything just to make sure they’re okay. People noticed that they could phone home through Skype. When you would call them through Skype, it would [display] a random number. So it wouldn’t be a recognized number, and it felt like a safe way of connecting with your family when the internet was shut down. And I remember our friend was the first one to, then it had a ripple effect where everybody started saying, okay, let’s use Skype. We’ve been using Skype for years; it’s great that we can use it this way. It was one of those moments where Skype came through and really, really helped the community. 

*Dela chose not to share her full name.

Sharan Bishwakarma

35, Nepal

In 2010, when I moved to Qatar, I used to call my family in Pokhara in Nepal from a telephone booth, paying 1 riyal for every three minutes. Then I found Skype and could video-call my family for free. I also attended many job interviews via Skype in the UAE. I appreciate how Skype made my overseas stay easy. 

When Microsoft bought Skype in 2011, it had 150 million monthly active users, but by 2020, only 23 million were still Skyping!

Lucía Tejo Arribas

35, Spain

The first time I used Skype, it was in 2010. I [had] just started my Erasmus year back then, and it was something very new for us. I [used it] to speak to my then boyfriend, now husband, [and] also with my family. I remember that the first time I called my grandfather, he was like, “I can’t believe it. I mean, how is this possible? Like you are thousands of kilometers away in another country, and we can talk like you were here.” I was 22 years old, and I remember that [my boyfriend and I] talked every day thanks to Skype. We used to watch movies together and also have an anniversary dinner. … It was very important for us and for our relationship. It was basically the only way that we could be in contact, and for free. I don’t know what we would have done without Skype.

Sunayna Roy

42, India

We used Skype in 2005 for an intercontinental play called Call Cutta in a Box, directed by Rimini Protokoll and performed over Skype in Kolkata and Berlin. It was about call centers. The first form of Call Cutta — all of us were taken to a call center and we would perform over the phone. Skype was brand-new and it was very exciting technology. Though I had access to the internet, I couldn’t really call up my friends because maybe they didn’t have access to the internet. Or your access to the internet would be limited to when you were home. So even though Skype connected you, there were a lot of barriers to that connection. In version two of Call Cutta, in 2008, we used Skype to greater impact and performed much more widely, across the globe. Skype made all of that happen.

Matt Schiavenza

44, USA

I lived in China from 2004 to 2010. I used Skype constantly to keep in touch with my family and friends in the U.S. and elsewhere. There was just something extra-special about seeing their faces. I doubt I’ll ever have any warm nostalgia about Zoom.

Skype is available until May 5, so Skype your grandma, your dad, or your long-lost love one more time.