Introducing the new version of Skype for Mac
We’ve just released a new version of Skype for Mac, removing the beta label and introducing group video calling as part of our Premium package, as well as a number of user interface and other improvements. Download it now, or read on to find out more.
First, I’d like to say thank you to all of you who sent us feedback on the beta, particularly the positive feedback on group video calling. It’s now available as part of our Premium package, that also includes live chat customer support. You can try it out for free for 7 days, and then purchase either a day pass starting at $4.99 (€3.49/£2.99)* or as a monthly subscription for $8.99 (€5.99/£4.99)* per month. New users receive a 7-day free trial.
As a result of that feedback, we’ve been able to make a number of improvements in the latest version. The video above has all the details. We’re also excited to announce a competition to recognise your own designs for chat styles – find out more and register your interest.
Something we heard loud and clear was that you felt that the app was too big – whether it was the window size, contact list, or the way instant messages were displayed. The good news is that we’ve slimmed things down a bit in the new version, trimming pixels and realigning things to make the app altogether more compact.
We’ve reduced the minimum window size, so that those of you who prefer to keep Skype to one side of your screen, for example, can do that more easily. We’ve also tightened up the contact list, so that you can see 30% more contacts at once. We’ve reduced the amount of whitespace in the sidebar too.
In addition, we’ve tweaked the way instant messages are displayed to reduce the amount of whitespace, allowing you to see more of your conversations without scrolling.
The contacts monitor is a great way to keep track of your closest friends, or your team at work, and in this version we’ve made it much easier to find – it’s in the Window menu.
You’ll be happy to know that we’ve brought back full screen mode in video calls. When you’re in a call, click the button to switch to full screen mode, and click it again to return the call to the Skype window.
It’s also easier to chat while you’re on a call – again, just click the button to reveal the chat panel, and click it again to hide.
Thank you again for all of your feedback. These improvements should help make the Skype experience on the Mac even better. Of course, we continue to welcome your feedback, and please leave a comment below, or use the Give Feedback option in the app and it’ll end up in our inboxes – there will be regular updates and we value your thoughts.
Comments on this post are now closed. If you have feedback on the new version of Skype for Mac, please read our update post.
* Pricing is VAT exclusive. Pricing inclusive of VAT for a day pass is $5.74 (€4.01/£3.44) and for a monthly subscription $10.34 (€6.89/£5.74). A fair usage policy applies.
Yep, new UI is awful. Back to 2.8 for me too.
I agree that the new interface isn’t good on any level. I don’t know how you would think it isn’t clunky and is user friendly. I want to revert to the last version!!! I sent an e-mail to your support team asking how I can reinstall the previous version of Skype because I really really really really really really really really really don’t like this new version. Nothing about it is compact! It is like a big monster trying to eat up the space on my screen. I don’t really care about the history of who I spoke to, called or was online yesterday to be constantly displayed! I don’t like that I can’t make the skype window compact anymore. Your new version of what “compact” means befuddles me. I think we don’t use the same dictionary! Also, why oh why must it give away seamless and simplicity for undesirable stylistic features? Skype doesn’t have to be like iTunes – which is what it feels like with the various viewing options now in place. I liked that it was a no nonsense way to communicate via chat or video. Now, it feels like the unwanted apparatus that doesn’t know how to make itself invisible. I don’t know what it looks like on a PC but on a MAC it is the “Death Star of Skype” come to life. LOL.
It’s hard to find the proper words of excoriation for the truly awful user experience embodied in Skype 5.0. When I opted for the “upgrade”, I had little idea what I was in for. After about two weeks of really trying to use the 5.0 product I finally gave up and “upgraded” to the intuitive, compact, and useful 2.8 version. I frequently install Skype on older folk’s computers so they can enjoy the benefits of modern global communication, but now I’ll have to carry the 2.8 version around on a memory stick so they won’t have an unpleasant and frustrating experience as I have had. I’ll also make the 2.8 “update” a topic of conversation at our local Mac User’s Group meeting, as I’m sure there are others that will share my sense of disappointment and distaste for the 5.0 revision. Thanks!
I am sure it has lots improvements and all especially the group video capability, however, I am going to join everybody else by saying that the main app window is FAR TOO BIG. Why did you remove the gradual scaling of the window? It is an easy feature to implement and I am sure you wouldn’t hear so many complaints about the size. Please release an update addressing this issue.
Till then i am downgrading to 2.8!!!!
The new version is so bad that I can only believe that it is a joke. Just restored to 2.8 from time machine. WTF!! Seriously bad.
It is amazing that the problems were mentioned here since two months and until last week you still distributed the new version. I downgraded to 2.8.
Like so many others, I’m giving up on 5.0 and going back to 2.8.
1) Home/End/PageUp and PageDown scroll the history instead of the window where you edit you IM.
2) All conversations are in 1 window so you can’t watch more than one at once.
Horrible update in my opinion – The UI is terrible. I will switch back to the older version
Any idea how to make the HUUUGE Skype window on Mac smaller?
Very bad new UI decision. Tooks way to much space even on a 30″ monitor
Some comments apart from “absolutely horrible”. Yes, I still use the 2.8. Please keep it compatible for as long as possible, or I’ll be taking my business elsewhere (many SIP-like providers offer cheaper rates).
- Hide offline contacts. I don’t care about offline contacts.
- No whitespace between lines. None whatsoever.
- This is not an application you want to take control of your entire desktop. I like to have a video call, with a chatbox arranged in whatever position I like. And to be able to browse or use another app. A telephone doesn’t force you to not do anything else at the same time, why should skype?
- The chatbox has to go somewhere else. And less whitespace. 5 visible lines of chat is simply not acceptable on a 15″ laptop. If don’t like the idea of different windows (which you really really should), at least give us a “widescreen” view option, like a mail client.
- What’s the issue with the buddy list? The older one was perfect. Online contacts first, offline next. Is the user video capable? Is he available? Small and compact.
- What’s the issue with the hovering windows. The most useful version of the address list must be hovering over anything? And the call controls? Give us the option to treat them as regular windows. You have no right to steal the desktop real estate.
I’ll stop here. But the complaints are far from over. If you decide to continue with this UI, PLEASE give us a “classic” view. This version seems like it was made just to promote the multiuser video. And since it is a rather expensive feature (6 Euros a month? 4-5 Euros for a day? This is a ripoff, for something that doesn’t really cost you anything), most users won’t benefit. It is a step backwards in every other aspect.
I agree with almost all this guy says: http://ignorethecode.net/blog/2011/03/30/skype_5/
Here’s some anecdotal feedback for you.
My mother is a daily user of Skype on the Mac, using voice and video to talk to her family and friends all over the world.
She got the ‘upgrade’ notice and set up the new Skype for Mac beta. I got a call a little while later, asking me how she could ‘go back to the Skype that worked.’ Fortunately I had the old version on my own machine and could send it to her and install it remotely.
Now she’s happy, but tells me she has learned to hit the ‘skip’ button every time she sees the ‘upgrade’ notice.
The new Skype 5 for Mac is absolutely horrible. What a shame.
Holy *$*# guys! This new version is so bad that I am at a loss for words. How could you believe that this new UI is an improvement over the last one? Do you even do user testing? The previous version was great and I am downgrading as we speak.
The new version of skype has a really poor interface. I tried really hard to like it, but i’m downgrading back to the old version.
The single window for all the chats is really annoying. The over large side bar and the confusing interface of this new design is very frustrating.
This is a clear sign of failed UX design, and hope this feedback is passed on to the design team. I’m starting to use Google voice chat more now. Sorry but you’ve lost a long time user and supporter.
Terrible terrible change. Please give me back the simple and usable Skype back! This new behemoth of a UI is just a pain in the ass to use.
After using skype 5 from beta for about 2 months, ive gone back to 2.8. the UI is just awful.
I hope you are reading all this feedback. I want to add mine.
Skype 5 for Mac is hideous. I have returned to 2.8 like most others. It’s a shame that the majority of normal users may not be able to find the resources to do so.
Please listen to your customers and sort this mess out
So, to “improve” Skype on the Mac you made it more like the Windows version? It’s hateful – the “everything in one window” design is confusing both to novices and power users and less flexible to boot. I can’t seem to open multiple chat windows, for example. And everything takes up more room on the screen. This article sums up very nicely why the new design is bad: http://ignorethecode.net/blog/2011/03/30/skype_5/
The beauty of 2.8 was the simplicity and small size. It’s now too big to view along side other apps. No one wants their chat app to take up 1/2 of the screen. I’ll be downgrading as well.
I’m a professional UI designer and it is my professional opinion that the new UI is a huge step backward. The reasons have been extensively laid by other users and also by Lukas Mathis here: http://ignco.de/340. I’m downgrading to 2.8.
I’m sticking to 2.8 as long as Skype allows me to.
Skype 5 is a joke.
I saw the “update available” box, clicked the link, saw an all-in-one window, didn’t update. Good to see that I am not alone in still using 2.8.
Oh man, a handful of tweaks could’ve made 2.8 such an awesome piece of software…
Yep, I’m going back too. I hadn’t realised that I could go back to 2.8, but this blog post helped me to see the light: http://ignorethecode.net/blog/2011/03/30/skype_5/
The new version is terrible! it so not user friendly! It feels as if I am working on a mac with a PC application!
We have been using Skype everyday with clients form the USA to Turkey and freelancers form all over UK and the one thing that we use most is the share screen…now you have made our business and life so much more difficult..the screen share only works after we have tried at least a couple of times, we have to keep resizing the Skype window and while presenting, we have to keep moving things around as the Skype window is massive even when is minimised!
I am changing the older version…so dissapointed!
Yes, Skype 5 for mac is truly the worst ‘upgrade’ I have ever seen. It has the worst UI of any chat program I have looked at recently. This includes open source projects which are not renowned for slick UI design. I can’t fathom how Skype v5′s UI made it even into beta testing let alone into production.
I have advised friends and family who use Skype on Apple computers to AVOID v5 like the plague. Unfortunately one elderly relative (in a country far away from us) accidently let Skype update itself. It cost me and my partner an hour of our time to talk our relative through removing v5 from her computer and re-installing v2.8.
v5 has clearly wasted my time, and from the Skype forums it looks like I am not the only one. It is the best advert for Gtalk I have ever seen.
this new version is horrible. i switched back to 2.8. you should really listen to your users not to your so called UX designers – apparently they have no fucking idea what they’re doing.
Yes, Skype 5 for mac is truly the worst ‘upgrade’ I have ever seen. It has the worst UI of any chat program I have looked at recently. This includes open source projects which are not renowned for slick UI design. I can’t fathom how Skype v5′s UI made it even into beta testing let alone into production.
I have advised friends and family who use Skype on Apple computers to AVOID v5 like the plague. Unfortunately one elderly relative (in a country far away from us) accidently let Skype update itself. It cost me and my partner an hour of our time to talk our relative through removing v5 from her computer and re-installing v2.8.
v5 has clearly wasted my time, and from the Skype forums it looks like I am not the only one. It is the best advert for Gtalk I have ever seen.
I have to concur with those expressing disgust with the Skype 5 UI. It’s really a huge step backward and I’m certain that Skype would have never released it had they actually listened to the active users. There’s just so many issues, I don’t know where to start… However, that the UI is “smaller” or “more compact” is a silly assertion — look how enormous the contacts list has become, measure the gaps between messages in the IM. If you split the window to have chat and video open (pretty common), it goes underneath — um, most people have landscape displays, so this crunches things vertically.
Anyway. Apparently the Skype 5 UI debacle is becoming something of a tech news phenomenon. There’s even a Skype 5 bad UI news aggregator now: http://ihateskype5.com/ . Take a look. It demonstrates just what a black-eye Skype 5 has become for Skype.
Let’s hope that the UI team gets cracking really fast and turns out a usable replacement with all this good (even if it’s often vitriolic) constructive criticism.
+1
Very much dislike new interface, have removed 5.x and gone back to 2.8.
Switched back to v2.8 when my wife tried to sign in with her account and found out she can’t do it anymore. This version is a huge step back, both in terms of usability and features. I have compiled a long list of things that in my oppinion need addressing, and the feedback form forced me to send it one phrase at a time because the input box has a very small character count limit. This just screams sloppy design, sloppy coding and not giving a damn about feedback and users. Disgraceful. Please make it better for the next version.
THE UI is AWFUL!!!!!!!!! way too bulky. (quite ironic how the video said they made the window size smaller…. its WAY BIGGER than 2.8)
i liked having an individual chat window to send to different people and the side.
I honestly wanted to go back to using AIM or iChat after I accidently updated to Skype 5.0+
i was using skype 2.8 version (perfect UI for me). please make the UI back to the way it was.
everyone hates the new skype… i figured…. I was like what the **** is this ****!!!??? when i downloaded it.
How can I return to the 2.8 version ? The 5.x with the new view is not really usable without the compact view !
Alas, I am sad to see with so much feedback and users returning to 2.8 you have not communicated an intent to address this poor UI change. I came here today hoping to see a bright blue box addressing your customers concerns. I too am going to go back to the classic. I have been willing to deal with technology issues and echoes because the tool proved valuable for my business. When a UI change like impacts my productivity as much as this has, I am increasingly called upon to vote with my subscription dollars and consider other tools.