iPhone update: now supports multitasking, no additional charges for calling over 3G
We’ve updated our iPhone app – you can now make video calls.
In May, we upgraded our iPhone app to allow users to make calls over 3G data connections. Today, I’m pleased to introduce a brand new version of the app. It allows you to make calls with high quality sound, and supports multitasking. This means you can receive Skype calls while other apps are running, even when your iPhone is locked. And during a call, you can keep the conversation going while you switch to another task, such as checking a movie listing or reading an email. We’ve also updated the app’s graphics to support iPhone 4’s Retina Display.
Download it now for an even better Skype experience on your iPhone (opens in the App Store).
At Skype, we believe that better call quality and better availability (which is achieved with an app capable of multitasking and/or making calls over 3G) lead to increased call frequency and longer calls. We also believe that the mobile world is in a period of significant change, for example, with some operators starting to move to tiered pricing models.
In light of that, we no longer have plans to charge a supplement to make calls over 3G. We’re delighted to make it easier for you to talk for even longer and do even more together using Skype.
Multitasking requires iOS 4 and an iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, or a third-generation iPod touch (32GB and 64GB models from late 2009).
Thank for you the update, and thank you for the news that Skype over 3G will incur no charges. This is a the mobile Skype of which I have dreamed. Truly useful.
We all look forward to future updates, including the much coveted video calling.
This is nice for Apple owners, but I was doing multitasking and 3G with Skype on Windows Mobile THREE YEARS AGO. You know, before you withdrew the WM app from the market. How about bringing it back, this time with video?!?
Proxy support? This “update” seems to have disabled skype’s ability to use proxy configs of Wifi in (at least) iPod Touch. Now I can’t even sign in. Background calls, WTH? I can’t make or receive any call now!!! This wasn’t expected!!!
It’s about time. Thank you Skype! The wait was too long!
Cool. When will there be a dedicated iPad app though. With video perhaps. Despite the lack of a camera it would nontheless be cool to be able to recieve video.
Good news!
Although “The mobile world is in a period of significant change” is certainly a unique way of saying “our customers saw right through our greed in charging for something that costs us no more and is offered on many other handsets free of charge”
It doesn’t ring audibly, just a single vibrate. What is the point of a phone app that doesn’t make your phone ring when someone calls you?
How about the battery guys? In my iPhone 3GS the battery is killed in a few hours in standby mode….
oh, it’s excellent, i love it.
Thanks for upgrading ~~^^
Update: multitasking is now working on my iPod Touch–had to re-download the update and sync one more time with my iPod.
Yeah, this is just great. So where is the Android client?
It’s good that the brainwave of charging for calls over 3G (which don’t cost Skype 1 cent more to handle) has been killed off. Skype really needs to take a good hard look at it’s “banker” mentality that seems to run the company following the recent change of ownership. It’s all about the bottom line now, isn’t it. The Skype community is now a Revenue Source. Fring is a competitor – how dare it introduce video calling. Skype’s survey techniques also show the same thinking – last week Skype issued an extensive online questionnaire riddled with push-polling devices that asked in a wide range of ways how much I would pay for what is now free. The grand assumption behind many questions was that I would pay a considerable sum – $20, $50, perhaps $100 per month. Skype must be kidding itself. Skype, it’s good to see that your survey targets were not fooled – clearly, when given the option in that survey people unequivocally said Skype-Skype calls should remain free, no matter what method is used to transport the calls. It is good you listened, despite the massive bias attached to the line of questioning. Next step: Run a more neutral survey that truly tries to search out info about your users and does not treat them like potentially moronic cash cows. This is urgent – the seeds of doubt about future charging trickery have been sown, Skype’s reputation has been damaged and competitors are scrambling to fill the gap. Oh yes, and repair your relationship with Fring – we all hate bullies.
Glad to see the update.
Good news there will be no charge for 3G.
Works fine on my 3GS with iOS 4
This update is killing the battery, and there are plenty users complaining about the same thing in various blogs and on Twitter. It’s killing battery even when you are not actively using Skype at all. It’s not just slightly faster battery drain – I’d say 8-10 times (!) faster on my iPhone 4. That’s when you are NOT USING it – when you are, it just run down before your eyes. I personally experienced this on two brand new iPhone 4′s, which have an amazing battery life otherwise.
Skype: how fast are you going to fix this? It’s not like you didn’t take entire month to polish this release…
Thanks for listening….
Thanks for the great update.
And I really appreciate undoing the 3g tax plan.
Hello Jailbreaking folks out there from someone who used to test: This is for you guys with an iPhone 3GS running iOS4: If you remove *the current* MobileSubstrate (and all your toys) and then reboot… then backgrounding works FINE.
Despite the fact that Saurik says ‘no problems with current MS’ I still get borked profile text & no backgrounding. With ONLY MobileSubstrate installed.
So de-install it.
@yvesleon3105 :
>>But how does it affect the battery usage?
I think it is very close to the amount of battery it used leaving it running and locked. I perceive it used perhaps slightly more but I did get a lot of emails today so its hard to point the finger at skype in the background persay.
>>Can you also switch it off, and if so how?
As with any app on ios4 you can quit an app and or clear it from the list (for those apps that don’t multi task) by
1. double tap the home button to open the tray with all the apps running and or recently used.
2. tap and hold the running app in the tray until it jiggles (like deleting/moving apps normally)
3. click the red x that appear on the app to kill the app.
4. tap the home button to return to normal mode.
Currently they don’t have an option in the skype settings panel to disable background.
Can anyone explain to me why the bluetooth is not enabled?
Please implement bluetooth support!
thank you Skype team! charging a fee on top of a subscription was goign to be a bad bad mistake. we, also, deserve a medal for waiting this long for a multitasking version of Push Notification. Now! we need support for Bluetooth on the iPhone, I can’t stress enough how annoying it is not to be able to use my bluetooth headset while on a skype call. As for video calls over the iphone 4. i think it’s an Apple issue.
@leoofborg: just wondering, for me (3gs/ios/jb+ul) backgrounding doesn’t work either, though i don’t have any mobilesubstrate version installed at all. how did you get it to work exactely?
jailbroken people: I installed backgrounder and set skype to ‘run as in the forground’ it now seems to be behaving the way it should, the red bar appears when I remain in a call and close skype, and a push notification appears when i receive a call. I’m not too sure if its draining more battery life this way though.. any thoughts?
@smileygibboy: shouldn’t skype actualy ring, when in background and not only push?!
and anybody knows, how backgrounding of skype is affected by mobile substrate?
Android app ?
So I guess skype elected to get right in the middle of the jailbreak argument. WHY? The app does check if IOS4 is modified and it revert to older IOS support that does not include multitasking. I guess I made the right decision when I ported my phone to Toktumi last week. What a disappointment!!!!
smileygibboy commented Thursday, Jul 22
jailbroken people: I installed backgrounder and set skype to ‘run as in the forground’ it now seems to be behaving the way it should, the red bar appears when I remain in a call and close skype, and a push notification appears when i receive a call. I’m not too sure if its draining more battery life this way though.. any thoughts?
——————————-
Yes it does drain your battery faster this way. This is the way that it always worked in the past. The App thinks it is in the foreground. IOS4 Multitasking disables all App functionality and only allows a portion of the App – TCP Listener to be backgrounded which minimize the usage of the battery and memory. Unfortunately, Skype got itself in the middle of the Jailbreak argument. If it detect that your IOS 4 is modified then it revert back to no Backgrounding support. It really amazes me to see a company like Skype who once was on the side of the consumer for the freedom of choice to start playing this way. Very shameful unless it is really an honest mistake but I doubt it.
Is it somehow possible to have Skype on the iPhone not receive messages when another istance of Skype is running on a PC? I find it disturbing when I am chatting at the PC and the iPhone is constantly vibrating and increasing the unread count badge for Skype.
AIM has such an option where iPhone only displays messages if all other clients are off or the App is in the Foreground.
not working with mobilesubstrate for me ((
Great
and is Android next?
Awesome news! Tkx!
It great news!!! This is my favourite apps on my iPhone, can you also please extend 3g calls for another year please!!!:)))
@dennisderschow: Skype does actually ring when i use the settings i said before..
@rassassa: Its not acting like skype used to with typical backgrounding because the red bar appears just like u do when ur on a normal call and close the window. this never happened with the old skype which just worked in the background., so im not sure whats going on here! .. I hope someone comes up with a proper fix soon!
battery usage (test results):
- 3gs with new battery
- skype is the only 3rd party running in the background
- phone is locked
8 hours -> 30% discharge !
this is too much.
Also 3gs “survives” about 2 hours of skype talk time on wifi only.Bbattery gets hot (very hot) in about 5-7 minutes.
@smileygibboy: seems we have to wait for saurik to sort things out…
There is a too big difference of treatment between iphone and android. All studies show that android is used by younger people (than iphone) and they should benefit as well of cheaper communication. Mind you my monthly invoice for my skype is not that small but still cheaper than the normal line.
what a shame, great function if it didn’t chew through battery faster than any other process, it needs a switch to be able to allow backgrounding or not on a user selectable basis, far too heavy on battery to be practical unfortunately
I’d prefer to see a push version instead, would be much more battery friendly than this, going back to the previous version for now and hoping they can get it right sometime soon
Wow yes, battery has just dropped to 17% after just 3 hours mainly on standby. I normally get a full days use out of the phone. Definitely not a usable app right now with the battery drain. I also noticed the phone getting quite warm (not a great sign). Hopefully Skype will have an update to fix these issues soon. Unless I can get a full days use out of my iPhone with Skype running in the background then it seems a bit pointless to have multitasking.
Thanks for going back on the 3G charging.
Wow yes, battery has just dropped to 17% after just 3 hours mainly on standby. I normally get a full days use out of the phone. Definitely not a usable app right now with the battery drain. I also noticed the phone getting quite warm (not a great sign). Hopefully Skype will have an update to fix these issues soon. Unless I can get a full days use out of my iPhone with Skype running in the background then it seems a bit pointless to have multitasking.
Thanks for going back on the 3G charging.
OK, good, but when same for Android?
Running skype for the last 4 hours with all other apps closed. The battery dropped from 100% to 63%. The phone was in WiFi area during this time.
If other people are experiencing battery battery performance perhaps there is a bug in the new software that make it consume more in some cases. All I can say is that at this rate I have to charge the phone more than once a day which is not acceptable.
is there a way of me identifying a skypeln number from an ordinary landline number?
Battery performance is really terrible!! I had it running in the background for about 5 hours and it dropped from 100% to 35% – I didn’t even get a call or an IM in that time. Got to be something wrong with this guys – sorry.
The Skype app is great if you want to call a computer, but you can call ANY phone in the U.S. with Skype for only $2.99 a month, and you could even use an iPod Touch to do it (while on WiFi). However, the way to go is with Skype’s FREE Skype to Go number, a local number you call that taps you into Skype. Most ATT calling plans include the A-list. Put the Skype to Go number on your A-list, then you can make unlimited outgoing calls to ANY phone in the U.S. for only $2.99 a month! Or you can call internationally for cheap.
My wife is from Italy, and currently, for only $6.99 a month, you can make unlimited calls to almost any one country, while driving, without killing your battery life, using a calling plan and Skype to Go. My wife does over 800 minutes a month to Italy, and we pay under $7 a month, and can use call waiting, blue tooth, 3 way calling, etc.
Skype Rocks!!
And THANK YOU Skype!! My wife and I got married last August, and if it weren’t for the Skype App for iPhone, we wouldn’t have started talking so much, and we never would have met. The App came out about a week before we started talking on the phone. THANKS SKYPE!!
Very nice update, Skype. I am anxiously awaiting the update that will add video chat via the iPhone 4′s front-facing camera. I do have one suggestion, though… Could you please badge the Skype icon on the home screen as missed call or message notifications come in? Right now, if you hit close on a notification or don’t notice it, there’s no visual indication that you missed something. Then just clear the badge the next time the app is launched.
This is an awesome update….I know everyone is requesting video chat, I think that will come in time. The only 2 requests I have are to make the ring tone louder and please please put the paste option when dailing a number. I get so many non contact numbers call me and I have better wifi reception and cannot past the numbers in the dial pad.
I accept Skype’s cancellation of their plans for charging for 3G calling as a proper apology for their very long time to release this update. All is forgiven.
I accept Skype’s cancellation of their plans for charging for 3G calling as a proper apology for their very long time to release this update. All is forgiven.
jailbroken people: backgrounder drains the battery faster, that’s about it.
as for uninstalling mobilesubtrate… doesn’t it effectively break the unlock if your phone is unlocked?
Update is BAD. Why?
1. Battery life became extremely LOW.
2. Still no bluetooth support?