Two months ago, the Skype team announced that it would drop support for its app on several platforms in October as the messaging app is currently transitioning from a peer-to-peer based architecture to a cloud based one. The deprecated versions include the Skype apps for Windows RT, Windows Phone 8 and Windows Phone 8.1, although the team explained at the time that the apps would continue to work until early 2017.
As we’re nearing the end of October, we spotted that the Skype app seems to have disappeared from the Windows Store on our Windows Phone 8.1 phones. The app no longer appears in search results nor in the ‘top free apps’ section, though you can still access the store listing and install it on your WP8.1 handset by opening the web store listing on Internet Explorer.
If you already have the app on your Windows Phone 8.1 handset, it still works as expected and should continue to do so for a few more months until the Skype teams completes its transition to the new cloud based architecture.
However, the fact that the app is now hidden on the Windows Store could mean that Microsoft is getting ready remove it permanently for Windows Phone 8 era handsets. If your Windows phone is eligible to the Windows 10 Mobile update, we invite you to install the latest version (1607) to get access to the Skype Preview UWP app which offers a much better experience.
