Roger Fingas
Microsoft on Friday announced updates to its Skype iPhone and iPad apps, primarily adding a slew of iOS 9-related features such as full multitasking support on iPads.
Skype for iPad users can now use Slide Over to bring another app (or Skype) into view temporarily. On an iPad Air 2, Mini 4, or the upcoming iPad Pro, Split View allows Skype to run simultaneously alongside a second title.
Both iPad and iPhone users can reply to chats from lockscreen notifications, or start one from iOS 9's Spotlight search. Tapping on a Skype contact located in search results will launch directly into a chat.
Both apps are free downloads, and will run at least basic features on devices with iOS 7 or later.
iOS 9 was only officially launched on Sept. 16, and many popular apps are still in the process of upgrading to support it. Making things more difficult is that Apple has already issued two point releases, the most recent being Wednesday's 9.0.2..
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3 Comments
Skype really needs to do only two things well: Skype to Skype (free calls and video chats) and Skype Out (VOIP calls to phone lines for a small fee). So why is it still so complicated to use? It's nearly impossible to figure out where things are or how to add a Skype friend. Contrast Skype to WhatsApp and Viber, which can be set up from scratch in a minute and instantly show who of your contacts are online and ready to call for free. They look and behave a lot like Apple's Phone app, so you don't have to guess how they work. They're not perfect apps, but they leave Skype usability in the dust.
[quote name="edac2" url="/t/188641/microsoft-updates-skype-for-ios-9-with-split-view-multitasking-spotlight-search-support#post_2785578"]Skype really needs to do only two things well: Skype to Skype (free calls and video chats) and Skype Out (VOIP calls to phone lines for a small fee). So why is it still so complicated to use? It's nearly impossible to figure out where things are or how to add a Skype friend. Contrast Skype to WhatsApp and Viber, which can be set up from scratch in a minute and instantly show who of your contacts are online and ready to call for free. They look and behave a lot like Apple's Phone app, so you don't have to guess how they work. They're not perfect apps, but they leave Skype usability in the dust.[/quote] There was a time when it was simple but that of course was before it was sucked into the company from the 1990's aka Microsoft.
[quote name="edac2" url="/t/188641/microsoft-updates-skype-for-ios-9-with-split-view-multitasking-spotlight-search-support#post_2785578"]Skype really needs to do only two things well: Skype to Skype (free calls and video chats) and Skype Out (VOIP calls to phone lines for a small fee). So why is it still so complicated to use? It's nearly impossible to figure out where things are or how to add a Skype friend. Contrast Skype to WhatsApp and Viber, which can be set up from scratch in a minute and instantly show who of your contacts are online and ready to call for free. They look and behave a lot like Apple's Phone app, so you don't have to guess how they work. They're not perfect apps, but they leave Skype usability in the dust.[/quote] Those are two different approaches, and both have merits, imho. Viber is, indeed, more straightforward... unless you don't want everyone from your address book (with Viber) to have access to you, even if you still want to keep them in your address book. I cannot see a way to "hide" myself from some people, or to completely remove them from Viber without deleting them from my address book. Trivial as it might be, my wife has received mid-night Viber calls from two of her childhood friends' mothers. Ladies were not aware of time-zone issue and didn't even bother asking if that was a good time, they just needed someone to chat with and try the new "toy". She does have a lot of people from our parent's generation (or even our grandparents) in her address book; we live in New Zealand and so do many of our friends, but our parents (and our friend's parents) are mostly across Europe, so it is handy to have basic contact details such as address and phone - when we travel, we are occasionally asked to take something to their families, little gifts and such... but she'd rather not have all of them on Viber. Phone is on expensive side between NZ and EU, so it works as natural deferment from pointless calls. Viber is "free", and bored senior citizens are often in a mood for chitchat about weather, politics and whatnot. So she prefers Skype approach where you can add, block people, be "invisible" etc... basically differentiate who can reach you over Skype and over phone.