Microsoft promises improvements after backlash over Skype's Snapchat-esque redesign on Android and iOS, to restore native sharing and the status icon
Ever since Microsoft radically redesigned Skype to look more like Snapchat, the video chatting app's rating has plummeted to an average of just 1 star in some regions.
Context & Ripple Effects
In June, Microsoft rebuilt Skype around a Stories-like feature called Highlights plus bots and chat add-ins, rolling out on Android first and iOS a month later. The reception was brutal: the redesigned mobile apps sank to an average one-star rating in some regions as users lost familiar tools like native sharing and the status icon.
This article is Microsoft's first public concession to that backlash — a promise to restore the removed features rather than defend the redesign. It foreshadows the fuller retreat a year later, when Microsoft said it would kill Highlights entirely and restore simplicity, confirming the Snapchat-inspired direction had failed its own user base.
First-order effects
- Android and iOS users get native sharing and the status icon back, directly addressing the two most-cited losses from the redesign that dragged ratings to one star in some regions.
- Microsoft's mobile team shifts from pushing the new Highlights-centric interface to damage control, prioritizing retention over the engagement features launched in June.
Second-order effects
- The failed imitation hands Snapchat's format no second adopter among major incumbents for now, and validates keeping core communication utilities stable over chasing rival engagement mechanics.
- The desktop line diverges: version 8.0 ships HD video, screen-sharing, and call recording while mobile walks back its redesign, splitting Skype's roadmap between platforms.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, consumer apps learn that copying a competitor's signature feature without its context triggers measurable rating penalties fast enough to force rollbacks — making user-feedback loops a hard constraint on design strategy, as Microsoft's eventual full reversal on Highlights confirmed.
- Skype's repeated redesign cycles since the 2015 navigation overhaul point to an identity struggle: a legacy calling brand trying to become a social chat app, with each pivot eroding the trust that made it default software.
The trend: Consumer messaging apps that bolt on Snapchat-style Stories features are learning that incumbent users punish borrowed engagement mechanics, forcing vendors like Microsoft into staged rollbacks.