Microsoft has had quite a history in what concerns the integration of SMS messages with its Skype messaging service. First, there was Messaging Everywhere, which brought Skype messages into the regular Messaging app. That feature was eventually dropped in favor of SMS Relay, which was instead implemented in a new Skype UWP app. But that, too, was killed off, and last year, we got SMS Connect, which worked across platforms, instead of being limited to Windows devices.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, that feature is now going away too, according to a new message being shown inside the Skype app, first spotted by Twitter user Florian B. Microsoft is warning users that SMS Connect is going to be discontinued on August 30, and suggests that users get the Your Phone app to sync their SMS between their phone and PC. SMS syncing showed up in the Your Phone app not long after SMS Connect was made available to Skype users, which is why this isn't completely unexpected.
Of course, this change is quite problematic for some people. The Your Phone app is exclusively available on Windows 10, and the Your Phone Companion app is only available on Android. That means Apple users are essentially left in the cold unless Microsoft comes up with some way to keep the feature working for those users, and that should also apply to Linux users. We've reached out to Microsoft to know more about this and we'll update this post with any new information.
Do you currently use the Skype SMS Connect feature? How do you feel about this change? Let us know in the comments below!
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