Skype removed from messaging? Help me understand

[swanlee]

Skype has always been cluggy about how it interacts on default. So before this latest update my wife could Skype me and notices on my L 950 would pop up and show in the messaging app. Seems MS has removed skype from the messaing app so how does this work now?

Do I literally have to have the skype app open 24/7 on my phone to be notified I have a skype message sent to me?

Personally I think this sucks they removed Skype from the messaging app, it worked well and was convenient to have all communications in one place.

 

[Chintan Gohel]

Skype has always been cluggy about how it interacts on default. So before this latest update my wife could Skype me and notices on my L 950 would pop up and show in the messaging app. Seems MS has removed skype from the messaing app so how does this work now?

Do I literally have to have the skype app open 24/7 on my phone to be notified I have a skype message sent to me?

Personally I think this sucks they removed Skype from the messaging app, it worked well and was convenient to have all communications in one place.

skype has been removed in the latest redstone build so it shouldn't affect you if you don't have a redstone build.

Even if you do use the latest build, I believe you'll receive notifications the same way you receive notifications from other apps like whatsapp

 

[swanlee]

skype has been removed in the latest redstone build so it shouldn't affect you if you don't have a redstone build.

Even if you do use the latest build, I believe you'll receive notifications the same way you receive notifications from other apps like whatsapp

I'm on the fast ring so I was bummed to see it gone from messaging. What is the reasoning behind this? I really like how it was integrated and I did not have to manually open up skype to send messages etc.

Is it ever coming back?

 

[pankaj981]

Is it ever coming back?

It's not coming back. Microsoft is releasing a new UWP Skype app soon to replace the current mobile app. To answer your question on why it was removed, no one can provide you the exact reason but Microsoft. One reason could be due to the messaging app being affected by it. Besides who knows, skype UWP might have some kind of integration with the messaging app.

 

[swanlee]

Well I hope it comes back I want Skype as tightly integrated as possible with the OS. To be honest the entire messaging app should just be sucked into Skype itself and Skype becomes the OS messaging portion of the OS.

It was super convenient to view and interact with Skype/SMS in the exact same place.

 

[Chintan Gohel]

There is this big issue of fast battery drain when the integration is in place.

 

[swanlee]

There is this big issue of fast battery drain when the integration is in place.

I had the integration since I got my Lumia 950, battery was fine, was getting only 5% drain over night. If anything these latest fast ring redstone builds have been worse on battery since the de integration of Skype, probably not a direct correlation but it certainly has not helped the battery life having skype pulled from messaging.

It's a pretty stupid move IMHO, Skype needs to become the messaging portion of the entire OS not pulled from it and isolated as a separate app.

 

[Maurizio Troso]

Well I hope it comes back I want Skype as tightly integrated as possible with the OS. To be honest the entire messaging app should just be sucked into Skype itself and Skype becomes the OS messaging portion of the OS.

It was super convenient to view and interact with Skype/SMS in the exact same place.

It never will be, too much complains and negative feedbacks about it. Far better separated apps with separated notification, as Messenger, Whatsapp ,etc

 

[swanlee]

It never will be, too much complains and negative feedbacks about it. Far better separated apps with separated notification, as Messenger, Whatsapp ,etc

I disagree and think it's a horrible move, Skype should simply take over the messaging portion of the entire OS on mobile and PC.

 

[Maurizio Troso]

I disagree and think it's a horrible move, Skype should simply take over the messaging portion of the entire OS on mobile and PC.

Skype is only a fraction of the messaging portion.
According to your thinkin, every messaginng app should be reunited in only one app.
Most of people use skype video only, not skype messages. I'm sorry for you, but that's was the best MS move till now , and finally the followed users feedbacks

 

[swanlee]

MS should simply integrate Skype directly into the OS and instead of messaging handling things and skype handling thing separately SKYPE should just be sucked into the OS and be improved to take over all the OS messaging features.

Skype can still be a separate app for other platforms but for PC and Mobile Win 10 it really should be just integrated directly into the OS.

You can still have separate messaging 3rd party apps but their is not much point to have Skype and messaging be separate.

 

[seldzar]

I disagree and think it's a horrible move, Skype should simply take over the messaging portion of the entire OS on mobile and PC.

And I disagree with your disagreement.

I had HORRIBLE massive battery drain: 50% in 2hrs.

If you didn't experience this then you didn't really use Skype alot. I use it for work, my phone is linked to my work and using Skype ALL day at work with a LOT of messages absolutely eats the battery alive. Now, disconnect Skype from the messaging app and use the old, and slow, 8.1 app and all problems went away.

The integration was fine on weekends or after work hours with minimal Skype usage but during work hours it became unacceptable.

As for Skype taking over, I beleive that is what the new mobile UWP app will do as that is what they stated:

Skype Windows 10 UWP preview for Insiders adds group calls and messages support | Windows Central

The mobile release of the Skype UWP Preview app will bring you features you've asked for—like group calling and more—while leveraging the benefits of the Skype integration into Windows 10 you previously experienced, like a single view of your SMS and Skype conversations. This way you get the best Skype experience possible and you can take it across your Windows devices.

 

[swanlee]

And I disagree with your disagreement.

I had HORRIBLE massive battery drain: 50% in 2hrs.

If you didn't experience this then you didn't really use Skype alot. I use it for work, my phone is linked to my work and using Skype ALL day at work with a LOT of messages absolutely eats the battery alive. Now, disconnect Skype from the messaging app and use the old, and slow, 8.1 app and all problems went away.

The integration was fine on weekends or after work hours with minimal Skype usage but during work hours it became unacceptable.

As for Skype taking over, I beleive that is what the new mobile UWP app will do as that is what they stated:

Skype Windows 10 UWP preview for Insiders adds group calls and messages support | Windows Central

The mobile release of the Skype UWP Preview app will bring you features you've asked for—like group calling and more—while leveraging the benefits of the Skype integration into Windows 10 you previously experienced, like a single view of your SMS and Skype conversations. This way you get the best Skype experience possible and you can take it across your Windows devices.

Well I used skype integration since I got my Lumia 950 in Nov. and never had bad batter drain or any other issues. I hope the UWP truly integrates as good as it was and count me in the minority that does not like this change and thinks it's stupid.

Fix the app if it is causing issues their is no reason why it could not be correctly integrated with messaging or even integrated directly in the OS.

 

[slyronit]

I disagree with your disagreement to his disagreement.
I am on the latest production build and last week I have sent hundreds of messages daily via Skype (integrated into messaging), as part of a trial where I asked a few friends to use Skype to communicate with me instead of Whatsapp. I haven't noticed any excessive battery drain. In fact, since the latest production build, the phone has been cool all the time.

I agree that Skype is causing battery drain for some users and I guess there's a bug which triggers this for some, but it is clearly not because of the integration.

Even if it were an issue, for MS to ditch this all together and move to a separate app (again) is an admission of defeat.

Originally posted by seldzar

Originally Posted by swanlee
I disagree and think it's a horrible move, Skype should simply take over the messaging portion of the entire OS on mobile and PC.

And I disagree with your disagreement.

I had HORRIBLE massive battery drain: 50% in 2hrs.

If you didn't experience this then you didn't really use Skype alot. I use it for work, my phone is linked to my work and using Skype ALL day at work with a LOT of messages absolutely eats the battery alive. Now, disconnect Skype from the messaging app and use the old, and slow, 8.1 app and all problems went away.

The integration was fine on weekends or after work hours with minimal Skype usage but during work hours it became unacceptable.

As for Skype taking over, I beleive that is what the new mobile UWP app will do as that is what they stated:

Skype Windows 10 UWP preview for Insiders adds group calls and messages support | Windows Central

The mobile release of the Skype UWP Preview app will bring you features you've asked for?like group calling and more?while leveraging the benefits of the Skype integration into Windows 10 you previously experienced, like a single view of your SMS and Skype conversations. This way you get the best Skype experience possible and you can take it across your Windows devices.

 

[seldzar]

If you weren't exchanging a few hundred Skype messages inside an hour or two then you weren't going to see the battery drain that I saw. Anytime my usage was light (couple messages per hour) it was fine.

More often than not, "fixing" the app is done by building a new one within the scope of your design goal. Especially if you're cramming 2 different service types into the same "box".

SMS/MMS is vastly different than Skype:

SMS is a stateless communication protocol in which every SMS message is considered entirely independent of other messages. Enterprise applications using SMS as a communication channel for stateful dialogue (where an MO reply message is paired to a specific MT message) requires that session management be maintained external to the protocol.

It is almost certainly easier to build a robust Skype App that then integrates the simple stateless SMS protocols vs. trying to add a more complex protocol that requires session management onto what amounts to a very simple, stateless application design. We don't know what kind of limitations they had to work around. If it was feasible to simply just "fix it" they would have done that.

As mentioned above by Maurizio, this is the result of feedback from the insiders and users.

Also, for the record, I like having notifications on my Glance/Lock screen actually show me which messages were SMS and which were Skype. When integrated, I can't do that. I'm hoping any further integration allows for that.

 

[slyronit]

I am not a software engineer, so I wouldn't comment on most of what you wrote, but about your last point is not valid, as in the current implementation, you can choose to turn off Skype integration and use the standalone app instead, which would solve the notification problem.

Also, few hundred messages an hour? That would mean having the display ON all the time, which would kill the battery,Skype or not.

Let's see how good the UWP Skype app is, the current Skype app is probably the worst Windows Phone app. Makes my SD 810 feel 5-6 generations older.

Originally posted by seldzar
If you weren't exchanging a few hundred Skype messages inside an hour or two then you weren't going to see the battery drain that I saw. Anytime my usage was light (couple messages per hour) it was fine.

More often than not, "fixing" the app is done by building a new one within the scope of your design goal. Especially if you're cramming 2 different service types into the same "box".

SMS/MMS is vastly different than Skype:

SMS is a stateless communication protocol in which every SMS message is considered entirely independent of other messages. Enterprise applications using SMS as a communication channel for stateful dialogue (where an MO reply message is paired to a specific MT message) requires that session management be maintained external to the protocol.

It is almost certainly easier to build a robust Skype App that then integrates the simple stateless SMS protocols vs. trying to add a more complex protocol that requires session management onto what amounts to a very simple, stateless application design. We don't know what kind of limitations they had to work around. If it was feasible to simply just "fix it" they would have done that.

As mentioned above by Maurizio, this is the result of feedback from the insiders and users.

Also, for the record, I like having notifications on my Glance/Lock screen actually show me which messages were SMS and which were Skype. When integrated, I can't do that. I'm hoping any further integration allows for that.

 

[swanlee]

Why not give us the option to re integrate Skype into messaging? Simply an option to Show Skype communications in the messaging App On/Off?

I used it with my wife daily and it worked really well and I got no noticeable additional battery drain. Or maybe just fix the issue itself instead of giving up on it?

 

[seldzar]

I am not a software engineer, so I wouldn't comment on most of what you wrote, but about your last point is not valid, as in the current implementation, you can choose to turn off Skype integration and use the standalone app instead, which would solve the notification problem.

Also, few hundred messages an hour? That would mean having the display ON all the time, which would kill the battery,Skype or not.

Let's see how good the UWP Skype app is, the current Skype app is probably the worst Windows Phone app. Makes my SD 810 feel 5-6 generations older.

That's the thing, I wasn't using the phone AT ALL during this battery drain and massive Skype usage. I was using the desktop client only communicting with coworkers. So the screen was never on. The battery drain was directly related to messaging integration. My apologies on that, I did leave out that specific detail. Here's how it looks from my end:

Integration Enabled:
Phone screen off
messages exchanging via desktop client
massive drain at work while not directly using the phone to message (you could FEEL the heat of it constantly working to sync)

Integration Disabled:
Phone screen off
Skype 8.1 app installed and logged in
messages exchanging via desktop client
no battery drain at work while not directly using the phone to message

As for my invalid point, that is what I have been doing, using the separate 8.1 Skype app as it provides me the separate notifications and doesn't have message syncing issues. I'll be more than happy to keep them separate with a new Skype UWP app as well as the 8.1 app is slow and missing quite a few features.

Swanlee, please quit trying to judge the painting when the artist hasn't even finished. You ever watch Bob Ross? You're yelling at him right now for putting that big tree right in the middle of the painting but he's not finished yet. You can't see the forest through all the trees. What's the difference if it's "integrate messaging into skype" or "integrate skype into messaging" they're both the same regardless of which is the base messaging platform.

 

[swanlee]

I'm certainly going to judge MS actions to remove a feature I used and had no problems with when I used it on a daily basis. I most certainly can and will voice my displeasure with the situation. Why no just allow users to turn off the integration if it caused them battery issues?

I do not understand what the deal is with this forum but their is so much heat against people posting potentially dissenting opinions to the point of being told to shut up. Happens nearly every thread I post in. A very hostile environment here. It's pretty simple I loved the feature had no issues with it and want it back.

 

[pankaj981]

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