Skype 5.0 now available on the App Store

Skype 5

Just one day after teasing a brand new design for Skype for iOS, Microsoft has released the updated app on the App Store for iPhone. Our own Christian Zibreg walked through several of the new features, ranging from a sleeker user interface and faster performance to cross-platform read receipt syncing and the ability to start group chats from the hub. Details ahead… 

Skype 5.0 has a new modern hub-centric design that displays recent conversations first. Users can swipe to reveal favorite people or contacts, and can now view in-app notifications for quick conversation switching. Notifications can be managed through in-app controls. Unfortunately for iPad users, Skype has not yet been updated for the larger screen — but it’s coming. In the meantime, Skype for iPad remains at version 4.17.3 with the older style design.

Here are the official release notes:

• Overall performance improvements – faster start up and fluid animations.

• A new modern hub centric design putting recent conversations first – just swipe to see your favourite people or contacts.

• Richer and more reliable messaging: create groups, share photos (even to offline contacts) and video messages.

• In-app notifications for quick conversation switching, and in-app controls to manage notifications.

• A new simplified, modern voice and video calling experience.

Skype 5.0 is free on the App Store for iPhone and iPod touch.

Update: Appears to be in the Canadian store only at the moment. We’ll update this post when that changes.

Update 2: Skype 5.0 has reappeared on the App Store.