Skype for iPhone: Update for iOS 4 coming soon
We’ve updated our iPhone app – you can now make video calls.
Update: it’s out 
There’s a lot of excitement among the mobile team here at Skype, as both iOS 4 and the iPhone 4 will arrive on our desks this week. And we’ve been hard at work building an update to our iPhone app which will support multitasking in iOS 4.
With every update to the iPhone OS (now called iOS), Apple introduces a number of changes to the software. In order to make sure we give you the best experience possible, we need to carry out some additional tests with the final version of iOS 4.
When we’re confident that the app will live up to your high expectations, we’ll make it available for download. Stay tuned!
Skype why are you dragging your feet here. I’m one of your revenue generating customers, an early adopter. 50+ million mobile iphone devices, this was your dream a few years ago, have you lost it?. Fring should be a warning, it won’t take much to jump ship.
tick tock, tick tock, tick tock…
Am I the only one wondering how much they’re going to start charging come August? I can’t find any information about it anywhere and nobody here seems to be thinking of anything but the update.
Solution to your Skype/iOS4 woes = Nimbuzz
Instead of spending time blowing off steam here, why not just go download Nimbuzz and be happy. It’s Skype client along with others like gTalk, AIM, MobileMe, MSN, Yahoo, etc, etc. Supports push. Even supports using your skypeout account for outgoing calls. It’s awesome. It loads much faster than Skype. It’s the new version of Skype you’ve been waiting for
I discovered a big flaw of Nimbuzz though: they limit push notifications to 4 hours (unless, of course, you’re on their Nimbuzz calling plan).
I thought it was great too until I discovered that. fring looks like the best option now (I think their servers are finally getting up to speed to handle the new update).
Nimbuzz does not work properly with skype. If the screen is off, calls go to voicemail. Fring has removed all reference to skype in it’s application and on the app store, so it looks like fring and skype have parted company; I hope I am wrong about this, but this looks like it is more than temporary?
Yeah, looks like lotsa people bent up about fring removing Skype. Temporary or permanent? Because of servers or because of competition?
I can say that, if you aren’t trying to stick with Skype, fring works great with a Google Voice/Gizmo5 SIP setup! I wasn’t that attached to my Skype number, so happily switched to Google Voice, and bought someone’s Gizmo5 acct on eBay.
Please hire a PR agent
How long do you think your customers are going to wait for the update? I’m about running inpatient
PETER PARKES: YOU NEED TO BE FIRED!
PETER PARKES: YOU’RE FIRED!
Thanks to those who suggested Nimbuzz. Installed and tested it on my iPhone 3gs, it works beautifully and perfectly to send and receive skype calls even if the phone is in sleep mode so it definately does what iOS4 promised – perpetual and seamless multitasking. Thanks Nimbuzz, sorry Skype. You snooz, you looz.
@eshan2 It’s not up to the Skype app — iOS 4.0 does not support the microphone on Bluetooth devices yet. The headphones will work, but not the mic. I was going to buy a pair
Skype is not going to release for a while and I bet they charge for the app or service. I am letting my account expire and switching services and I suggest all do the same. There’s no reason to give a company with faulty promises and marketing your support. I had planned to use Fring to offset my need for Skype on iOS4 until the Skype app came out, but they broke their relationship. I will also email Apple, since they demoed a product I was hoping for when I purchased my iPhone 4.
I ‘un-jailbreaked’ my phone for use with the skype app… in the appstore its NOT saying it’s not ready for ios4! everyone updated to ios4, even the smallest companies, except you guys… wtf is going on?
@nightvisiongear Thanks for pointing out Acrobits! It works perfectly! I wish Skype had non-proprietary SIP servers so Acrobits would work with it too.
I’m actually stunned that Skype hasn’t yet been updated to support iOS 4. I mean this is supposed to be the flagship VoIP app that was used to demo the new backgrounding capabilities of the latest and greatest OS! Almost every app I have has been updated for iOS 4 support…and none of them had a working demo to show off to the world two months ago like Skype did. It’s a bit laughable at this point, honestly.
Thanks for having such a great application, I personally have 3 Skype in numbers and use the Skype out functionality, also I use Skype on an everyday basis. Since I got my first iPhone (acquired b/s I was expectant that could use Skype in it) I found it like a little toy, why? could not had Skype “on” all the time, for receiving messages, or receiving calls, in the early days there were only voice support under Wifi, so it was a little bit more than useless. Now with the iOS4 and its multitasking announcement, I got excited again (yes, for the second time), I was about to have Skype for all my everyday communications and my iPhone, not useless anymore, it was the real thing, using Skype while having my phone in my pocket… but surprisingly this isn’t happening yet.
Can you please be polite with your loyal customers and answer, what does “soon” means to you? it is OK that you say “in a month” or “in a week”, some of us would wait or not, but with a certainty on head, not like this, we don’t know a word from you.
Thanks
Hey Harry,
Yeah me too! I tried 3 or 4 different VOIP applications, and Acrobits was the best of them. I like the call recording too, because it saves you having to take notes if somebody is giving you phone numbers or email addresses. What I really liked about it though was that it worked in the background before ios4; OK, if your 3G connection is poor, it can be slow to start up (but if your connection is that poor anyway, there is no point in taking the call ) All the best!
hope the update will take advantage of the new front-facing camera. Otherwise it’d be disappointing…
Well, it looks like censorship is in play – A post where I mentioned f.r.i.n.g was held pending approval, possibly because it contained a link to the website of said company where they have stated that Skype threatened them with legal action if they did not remove it from their great new updated app which allowed skype to work properly on the Iphone. just when you thought skypes PR had gotten as bad as it could get……..
Skype was my favorite app
But no iOS4 support just made me go snap
So I let my account lapse
“Just payment!” perhaps
For developers that aren’t worth a crap!
BTW skype gets spanked by fring’s iOS4 support -> Skype bans fring. That’s pretty pathetic sour grapes you guys. Don’t think we don’t know why you did it.
Skype doesn’t want to release anything (info, apps etc) except their legal team to denounce fring. Customers are frustrated, dismayed and confused and they feel abandoned by a 2B company who is sitting on their hands except making sure no one damages their “brand and reputation”. That’s what their working on…making sure that no one damages their brand and reputation…the hell with informing customers as to what is going on…and forget about working on any apps…I’m surprised they are not running 50 million dollars in commercials to “protect their brand and reputation” like BP because their garbage is spewing out onto cyperspace.
To those excited about Nimbuzz, just know that it’ll log you out after 4 hours of idle time (ie n incoming calls after 4 hours). I prefer fring to route my FREE Google Voice +
Gizmo5 VoIP through. Acrobits is good, but doesn’t work too well with Google Voice.
As a frequent complainer on this thread, I’m now moving on with my happy fringe solution, and am going to leave you with these parting words:
“F$&@ SKYPE!!!!!”
Skype, you’re embarrassing yourselves. It’s time to either take this post down or give us an update.
Skype are too busy suing the competition right now *cough* fring *cough*
Hurry up you lazy devs. You are my last app that needs updating!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey guys dont get mad at skype. Maybe they are adding a video call for ios 4 update for 3g 3gs and 4g users (kinda suprise) thats why it takes time for them to test it or to make it posible in there app. Maybe skype realize that they can be beaten by fring because of that!! Hahaha A very BIG HOPE for that!!
Hey guys dont get mad at skype. Maybe they are adding a video call for ios 4 update for 3g 3gs and 4g users (kinda suprise) thats why it takes time for them to test it or to make it posible in there app. Maybe skype realize that they can be beaten by fring because of that!! Hahaha A very BIG HOPE for that!!
How are tiny independent companies like fringe and nimbuzz beating you by weeks? Is there only one person in your dev team? This whole situation is weak skype, if you didn’t have complete Market domination I would have switched weeks ago. And you say you’re “looking into iPad” – Well bring on 2020
@nightvisiongear I can’t see your comment in our spam filter, so I’m not sure what’s happened to it. You can see the link to Fring’s post and our response in Robert Miller’s blog post.
And I hope everyone knows u can already call for free and video call for free on fring. Since like 2 weeks ago.
Peter, I am sure it must be very distressing for you to see so much raw hostility towards you and your company – the blog you have linked to is even more hostile to skype than this one – isn’t it a little ironic that a company like yours that makes it’s money in communications cannot seem to communicate? Frings version of events seems more plausible btw, and I think that skype now has major credibility problems.
The thing i don’t get with this whole fuss over the telcos is this. We can already make 3G calls over skype and it is absolutely brilliant. I don’t see how being able to run an application in the background and receive notification of calls via push notification would make the situation any different for telcos?
If this telco thing is true… I hope skype bosses are in it because the have a passion for skype and seeing it grow. Not for a huge payout to their own pocket. In the long run, what is a business, without it’s customers??
I love Skype and their services, however the current situation is definitely disappointing. The positive side of my mind wants to think that they are holding out on the update for the pure reason that they are testing something out that will be really great for us. On the contrary, they could also be holding out as to get more money from us users. It states on the application as of now that Skype over 3G calls will be free until at least August 2010. Well by the time they release the update it could be right up to that date. As a result, Skype might be holding out so that people can’t have Skype running in the background and receive free calls over 3G. This in turn would mean that Skype and its motives are purely motivated through money-sucking antics and that they are a less classy group than I had assumed. If you’re going to take THIS long to release an update, then push the free 3G calls over Skype through the end of 2010. At least this would prove to us users that you weren’t just holding out as to not let us use this service for free. And YES PETER PARKES, people do know about your company’s methods for holding out products in order to gain more money, and it’s sick. Please release the update and stop screwing around before you completely tarnish your reputation!
Here’s my realistic take on what’s going to happen with the subject. This is just my speculation, based on the experience with Skype’s non-Windows client software over the years.
Skype WILL release the version with background VoIP support eventually – not earlier than September-October time frame. It will be buggy and barely usable – despite their talks that bug squishing is what they are doing right now.
This update WILL NOT have updated hi-res graphics for iPhone 4′s Retina display – that’s too much to ask for one update. This may come 6-8 months down the road after the initial iOS 4 -aware version.
This update WILL NOT have push notifications for text chats – this is something that Skype in not going to implement AT ALL. It seems curious to me that most of the commenters here just assume that push notifications for text chats will automatically come with the background VoIP. That is not the case at all – push notifications mechanism is entirely independent from background voice. Unlike background VoIP, which only requires adding some code to the iPhone app, push notifications require adding some infrastructure on Skype’s server side, and this is simply not going to happen. Skype is not going to make any changes on their servers just for one platform – especially the one they don’t really care much about.
Obviously, NO VIDEO CHAT is coming in the foreseeable future. They haven’t implemented video chat on any mobile platform yet, and this is not about to change. It will take them YEARS to even begin seriously considering it.
In about a year from now, just in time for second-gen, front-camera-touting iPad mass adoption, we may see a native iPad version of Skype. It will have background VoIP, but no video and no push notifications for text chats. It will not feature a sophisticated re-think of the interface layout like Things for iPad, and will not resemble their state-of-the-art Windows client (FYI, I’m a Mac user and have to struggle with the much neglected Mac client), but will be a simple iPhone app converted into two-pane view a.k.a. iPad mail.
This course of events is very likely to happen if Skype does not seriously re-think their approach to client software development. Some aspects may actually differ from my outline above, but I’m fairly certain in my main bullet points. And one thing I’m 100% sure about – Apple will never feature Skype in their product announcements again.
NIMBUZZ UPDATE: Nimbuzz removed the ridiculous 4 hour limit for push notifications for iPhone 4 & 3GS users! It’s now unlimited, and I can confirm that it works.
If you’re using one of those devices, I can now 100% recommend Nimbuzz!!!
Peter, how hard is to answer something else other than the comment on the sue agains the other company, if you are reading, please answer something about your new version.
Thanks
Skype, any date as to when u r going to release the multitasking compatible version ? Or is ur testers still playing around ? what a shame when all ur competitors are already in the market with multitasking, u ppl are still testing it..? will that be ever ready for iOS4..? multi tasking of course
@hypnosmd. Seriously! You have nothing better to do than complain? Get a life. You arrogantly profess that you’re entitled to make complaints as a paying customer yet the service you decided to pay for didn’t include the features you’re demanding. Those features don’t even fully exist yet even if a the WWDC demo showed one phone call.
I would like to see the new app as much as the next guy. I’m very excited to use it and I continue to hope that it will have full multitasking and FaceTime capabilities despite the assumptions of made by the public
One last thing, when a company tells you they made a demo, look at a model for “the software lifecycle” and see where ‘demo’ falls. You don’t want a demo running on your phone, and you can’t morph a demo into fully functional software without huge negative consequences to the overall product. Thats programming 101! Demo’s are notorious for being glichy and buggy and are only meant to show the end user what the final product could do and how it could look.
I just bought Skype credit for the two phones my wife and I are taking to Europe this week so we could call home via Skype. We just upgraded to OS 4 and now my Skype won’t work and I have put money into Skype credit. So I have money tied up in Skype credit that I cannot use! This is very frustrating!
WOW Lots of interesting reading material here …. wanna bet that when Skype does make available its long awaited Multitasking App … not one of the people who decided to badmouth Skype (and others here) will say … “Sorry Skype and others for the abusive comments I made and Thanks for the great app for Iphone” …. LOL may be interesting!
@anna_jsi. You have it upside down. Skype is arrogant dismissive company. Do you realize they do not have push notification over a year later, much less multitasking. People with skype numbers pay for a service and we have been strung along by a deceptive incompetent company.
I think the fact other companies like line 2 can have multitasking in a timely fashion shows what a respectable competitive company can accomplish. If you had read other comments by myself and others you would realize we are commenting on a troubling track record that has with respect to it’s iphone app.
By the way robert either everybody on this blog needs to get a life or we can express ourselves any way we chose.
What in God’s name does “soon” mean to you people at Skype? If you can’t keep up with a schedule and provide like you say you can, then don’t block guys like Fring who actually can do the sh** you can’t, dang. You can pack a billion and one things into a PC/Mac program that’s more like a portable telemarketing for PC rather than an IM service, but you can’t update your own damn software to, forget using the front camera on iPhone 4 to make video calls, but to even support MULTITASKING and iOS 4?! 90% of the people on this page, including me, who have nearly no technical experience could figure this out at the rate you bigshot developers are. Ridiculous.
@hector_alatorre no additional information to provide at the moment – stay tuned!
You have got to be kidding me…
I know what this is: Skype via 3G will not be free all of the time, I think they said “Until August” or something like that.
So they simply wait until then and then they release the freakin update.
This way they can make money and until then most of the people wont use Skype via 3G since it does not really make sense without multitasking.
Next time do NOT show off at a keynote and talk about features that you obviously are not capable of implementing FAST enough.
This really is just a laughing stock, nothing more…
@robertrventurini Paying customers have a right to complain and have their concerns addressed. That’s customer service 101.
Skype it’s perfect. But now I have an Android DROID (Milestone in Brazil) and there is no skype, even the android topics has a topic. How about us? When will I be able to use this amazing software in this amazing OS, here in Brazil?