Skype receives a major version upgrade to 6.0 for users on Android and iOS devices while Windows users continue to wait for a Universal Windows Platform app that has been promised for later this year.
The Skype team has announced the immediate availability for this update on iOS devices and the beginning of its roll out to Android hardware.
"We’ve redesigned Skype to be much more natural and intuitive, and have added a bunch of new capabilities to make it even more delightful to use. Whether you’re using an iPhone or iPad, or an Android phone, it’s the same Skype you know and love – but way better!"
Here are the highlights for Android users with this update:
- Redesigned for Android – Inspired by material design, we’ve made Skype even easier to use on Android phones. It’s simple, elegant, and delightful!
- Floating action button – The floating action button makes it incredibly simple to start a new conversation, whether you’re starting a video call, audio call, chat, or sending a video message.
- Enhanced search – With an upgraded search you can now find your most important contacts and conversations much faster.
- Improved messaging – It’s now quicker to see how many unread messages you have as we’ve made it easier to identify what you’ve read and what you haven’t.
Over on the iPhone and iPad side there are similar upgrades to the overall experience:
- Redesigned for iPhone and iPad – We’ve redesigned Skype for both iPhone and iPad to make the apps easier to use than ever before. The new navigation is simple, familiar and gets you to your conversations fast. With Skype 6.0 you can use swipe gestures to quickly make calls and easily manage your messages. We have also made it easier to share photos, web links, emoticons and your location while you’re on a voice or video call.
- Enhanced search – We’ve made it easier to find things in Skype. Simply use the new recents tab to search your messages and find contacts and groups.
- The features you love, now on iPad – All the features you love on Skype for iPhone are on your iPad too. We’ve made messaging on Skype for iPad a whole lot better – you can share your location, send large emoticons, see web link previews and easily send and receive photos. Skype for iPad also helps you stay in touch with your groups – now start a group chat or a group voice call straight from your iPad.
I checked on the iPad and the 6.0 version is already in the App Store however, over on my LG G4 it is not showing the update yet. I even tried to initiate the upgrade through the web version of the Google Play store but it only pushed down the same version of Skype I already had.
