Skype 8.1 Lands App Store: Redesigned iOS App Comes With New Features

Microsoft is rolling out a new version of its social networking app Skype to iOS users. The latest version, Skype 8.1, comes with a redesigned interface and a whole lot more of new stuff, such as the advanced features and many improvements that are guaranteed to enhance the overall feel and user experience of the app.

Design-wise, the old version of Skype looked very minimal and outdated. With the new update, the app appears more up-to-date and lively with the multiple colors that have been added into its UI and overall design language. The visuals of the app now look more modern without being over-the-top by adding unnecessary design elements. Instead what users get is the same straightforward UI, only that the presentation of content has become more youthful and more seamless.

The company has provided screenshots of the main facets of the Skype app. One noticeable change with the app is the addition of reactions, emoticons and GIFs to the chatting functionality of Skype. Another interesting addition that’s showcased in one screenshot is the new Highlights feature, which basically creates a timeline of what the user did throughout the day. This timeline is available for viewing to the user’s contacts.

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Listed in the release notes of Skype 8.1 are the different features that come with the update. The first new feature that every user should know is the In-Call Reactions. What this does is enable users to send live emotions, live text and even real-time pictures as part of their video and voice calls. If there’s In-Call Reactions, there is also Message Reactions, which pertains to the emoticons and GIFs one can add during chats.

Message Reactions may appear very familiar because it is the same as the feature Facebook recently introduced on all of its supported platforms. Just like how it is on Facebook’s Messenger, Message Reactions allow users to give quirky responses to individual messages. This feature will help users know how people react to the things they write on the app. By just tapping the emojis, they will right away be informed on how people view the posts they made, as per Phone Arena.

In addition, there’s a new feature that’s simply called Find. Per the release notes, this “easily find[s] news, sports results, restaurants, weather and content using Bing.” Also part of this feature is the ability to share search results with the user’s friends. There is also a new feature called Capture that enables users to share pictures and videos in a fast manner.

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The latest version of Skype for Apple products started rolling out on Monday. The update size is only 58.1 MB, and it has support for numerous iOS-running devices but requires iOS 9.0 and newer versions of the mobile operating system for iPhones and iPads. The release of Skype 8.1 on Apple’s App Store comes weeks after its Android counterpart was launched early this month.