Skype Version 8 Is Adding A Call Record Feature Starting This Month Among Others

Skype is going to start allowing users record video calls natively within apps (iOS and Android) in the new Skype version 8 which is set to replace the former Skype Classic or version 7. In a blog post, the Skype teams explains that, 

“Call recording is completely cloud-based, and as soon as you start recording, everyone in the call is notified that the call is being recorded…Call recordings combine everyone’s video as well as any screens shared during the call.”

The redesign will see Skype on desktop get a mobile-like design. This has been in the works for over a year now and it looks like Microsoft is going to force all Skype classic desktop users to upgrade to the latest version by the September the 1^st at the latest.

One of the new features to expect is the tweaked group chats which they say will make it easier to share screens during calls. The Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service doesn’t want to be left behind in the race to attract more young people and it is doing this by adding a new @ mentions that will allow you direct a message to a specific users within the group. It’s brining message reactions like what you see on Facebook among others like new notifications panel. We hear that read receipts will be part of the upgrade as well. All of these are designed to bring Skype up to speed with other competition platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram and Message which are all owned by Facebook.

Here’s more from Skype;

Here are some of the new features that come with Skype version 8.0—our most powerful, intuitive, and flexible version of Skype version yet:

• Free HD video and screensharing calls—Get together with 1 or 24 of your friends, families, or colleagues no matter what device they use Skype on. See everyone in high definition, view 1080px video, and share things together.
• More productive messaging—Express how you’re feeling by reacting to messages in conversations. Use @mentions to easily grab someone’s attention in a group chat. Simply type the @ symbol followed by their name to trigger a notification for them. You can easily find all your @mentions and get back to people in the notification center.
• Chat media gallery—Looking for the link or photo sent a few weeks ago? Chat media gallery makes it easy to find files, links, and photos that were shared in a conversation, whether it was yesterday or last month. No more scrolling through your chat history—just click Gallery under the chat name to see all the files, links, and photos in the conversation.
• Share photos, videos, and other files—Share up to 300 MB at a time over Skype just by dragging and dropping files into your conversation window.

To access the features, you would have to update the Skype app but if you have already set up your phone to automatically update, then you should see it once that is done.

Skype is free and you can download on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Android devices as well.