Microsoft is Killing Facebook Login Support for Skype

Microsoft is making an interesting move today that will impact users who currently access Skype with their Facebook credentials. The company is ending support for this feature and starting in early January, you will no longer be able to login to the messaging platform using this authentication method.

The company says that they are ending support for the feature on January 10th to push users towards authenticating with a Microsoft account to create a single sign-on experience across all of the company’s services. At this time, the feature is not supported on Skype for Windows 10, the new Skype for Android and iPhone, and the new Skype for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

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What this means is that if you are using one of the newer versions of Skype, this change will not impact you but this announcement is a bit odd. Considering, from an outsider perspective, that Skype has very slow (if any at all) user growth, removing an option to streamline the onboarding process feels backwards.

Microsoft loves to proclaim that they have 300 million users of the platform, saying this as recently as of 2017 in interviews with various outlets, including myself, but that figure has been used as far back as 2013. By removing Facebook login support, surely that will not help grow the user base of the platform.

This is an interesting move and there may be more to the story than simply wanting to help promote the single sign-on scenario. For example, by using Facebook’s tools, that company knows exactly how many people are using Skype via it’s platform and not to mention that Facebook has its own competing messaging platform as well; this may be a story of competing interests.

For now, know that if you are using Facebook to login to Skype, you need to switch to a Microsoft account in the near future if you do not want to lose access to your account.

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Conversation 34 comments

  • Bats

    27 November, 2017 - 12:29 pm

    <p>Wow… You got it right. Microsoft is a company and not a firm.</p>

  • maethorechannen

    Premium Member
    27 November, 2017 - 12:40 pm

    <p>I wonder if the people who would have used a Facebook ID to login to Skype would just use Facebook Messenger instead these days.</p><p><br></p><p>I think if the telemetry was that a lot of people were still signing up using a Facebook account they'd have kept it going (if they could – one day FB could change their Ts&amp;Cs to stop their IDs working with competing services).</p>

  • Jason Honingford

    27 November, 2017 - 12:48 pm

    <p>Does anyone else have like 5 Microsoft accounts and can't figure out which one the Skype one is? lol!</p>

    • Rob_Wade

      27 November, 2017 - 7:30 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#221391"><em>In reply to ThatMouse:</em></a> Not me. I got rid of all other Microsoft-related accounts once they finally settled down to the Outlook one.</blockquote><p><br></p>

  • Brandon Mills

    27 November, 2017 - 1:14 pm

    <p>People went official with the latest Fall Creators Update, and not a peep from any third party apps for support. Especially Facebook, the one that would be the app you'd want support from. Because just like with Windows Phone, Facebook and Twitter are stonewalling this kind of thing, because they'd prefer you use their apps instead.</p>

    • Ukumio

      Premium Member
      27 November, 2017 - 1:28 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#221398"><em>In reply to BrandonMills:</em></a></blockquote><p>Your logic is flawed. The People App just pulls data from apps and services so if Twitter or Facebook were to implement People support it'd still use their respective service, it'd just be accessed via the People Bar, or if one were to use the People app, it'd just open the app much like how Skype implementation currently works.</p><p><br></p><p>The reason Facebook and Twitter don't use the People app is because no one uses it. Also I'd just like to point out people don't use it because there are currently no integrations outside email and Skype.</p>

      • Rob_Wade

        27 November, 2017 - 7:29 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#221408"><em>In reply to Ukumio:</em></a> No one except me, apparently. And I feel nothing but disgust for the people who run Microsoft, Facebook, Google and Twitter. If only I could get in their faces.</blockquote><p><br></p>

  • Chris Payne

    27 November, 2017 - 1:37 pm

    <p>You hit on a good point… all other messaging platforms are measured on and communicate about their user base growth. Skype does not… and if they've been stuck at the same number for 4-5 years while others have grown exponentially in that time…. I can't imagine how this is good for skype's future. Why isn't MS focused on Skype's growth like all the other messaging platforms? Very strange.</p>

  • matsan

    27 November, 2017 - 2:20 pm

    <p>Will they also kill the non-MS-account login on Jan 10?</p>

  • JudaZuk

    27 November, 2017 - 2:21 pm

    <p>I wonder how many people are actually using Facebook sign in for this .. i really don't think it is that many people anyway</p>

  • Roger Ramjet

    27 November, 2017 - 4:00 pm

    <p>I think they are just repositioning Skype generally(several other recent announcements). Yes, some missteps along the way, but there is no reason to think requiring Microsoft accounts will be one of those, especially if, they decided rapid growth is really on the cards anymore, and the question now is, where is my return on investment? (Skype isn't really suitable for many things that WhatsApp for example does very well, and besides, its too late, people are already on other services).</p><p>So, there are at least ~1 billion Microsoft IDs of one form or another. If they decided actually paying customers for what they would rather do with a Skype business (such as that new solo gig offering) will predominantly come from that pool (or people who look like that pool), then it doesn't matter if Facebook accounts don't work. You will use Skype because it meets your (productive) needs, and you likely already have some Microsoft account, e.g. LinkedIn, O365 etc, or you will get one, because the constellation of Microsoft offerings for your productivity needs can't be beat. </p>

  • chrisrut

    Premium Member
    27 November, 2017 - 4:38 pm

    <p>I can but wonder if this just be the tip of the iceberg; that there be some method in Microsoft's madness… Where's the grandstand play to justify the obvious problems this engenders?</p>

  • Rob_Wade

    27 November, 2017 - 7:25 pm

    <p>This one is easy. Microsoft has really figured out that the simplest way to create a single user signon is to KILL ALL THEIR SERVICES/SYSTEMS BUT ONE. You see, I loved Groove because I could use the same account to purchase music and have it automatically be part of my library. What did Microsoft do? Just like they're doing with everything else. Ruin it then kill it. Shoving me to Spotify–which I refuse to do–does NOT create a single user signon experience. It alienates me. Microsoft doesn't know what it's doing…or, rather, that fool Nadella doesn't.</p>

  • Jeffery Commaroto

    27 November, 2017 - 10:14 pm

    <p>Agree they probably have data about usage plus it seems like they are converging Skype with other Office Business tools like Teams where authenticating with Facebook instead of a Microsoft account wouldn’t make sense.</p>

  • A_lurker

    27 November, 2017 - 10:49 pm

    <p>At first glance this sounds stupid. But something about using Facebook (or Google) to long into a foreign site/service like Skype has always struck me as inherently risky. One is make their Facebook login their default login which is a bad security practice. So after some reflection this is a positive step as limits the damage someone can do with purloined Facebook credentials. </p>

  • roastedwookie

    28 November, 2017 - 2:37 am

    <p>Stopped using Skype years ago. I have better alternatives than this. Not interested in using crippled MS technology and services.</p>

    • Mestiphal

      28 November, 2017 - 8:57 am

      <blockquote><a href="#221802"><em>In reply to roastedwookie:</em></a></blockquote><p>At works, it just makes sense to use Skype for Business. given the good integration with Outlook, in the PC is fast and fluid… unless it crashes.</p><p><br></p><p>But on mobile, it's slow, buggy, feature-less and… slow. Most people don't even bother.. Facebook messenger isn't much better either, everybody I communicate with uses WhatsApp</p>

  • skane2600

    28 November, 2017 - 12:16 pm

    <p>I remember fondly the days when Skype was just a simple application for making phone calls for free or international calls at a discount – before the delusions of grandeur. Then again, all the communication platforms seem to have been subject to unjustified self-importance.</p>

  • ctjk1982

    28 January, 2018 - 11:43 pm

    <p>i hate this move because of this i have lost all of my contacts on Skype i know a lot of people are going to have a very hard time with this change for they are too going to end up losing all of their contacts some of the people i know had a hard time as it is finding the contacts to friends this is Microsoft again going two steps forwards and a million steps backward because of this bone headed change i am going to be using something else cause for me to find my contacts again is not worth the headache at this point with all the changes Microsoft is doing to programs they take over and changing it in a way that a lot of people don't want it is no wonder why people said years ago that Skype was going to be hard to use in the future and they were right nothing was wrong with how things were but Microsoft always tries to fix what is not broken</p>

  • sarahevans

    30 March, 2018 - 1:39 am

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  • sarahevans

    04 June, 2018 - 1:04 am

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  • amilaa255

    12 July, 2018 - 4:45 pm

    <p><span style="background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">MS is losing on Skype and the reason for it is Windows 10 platform which is not growing at all. Skype situation is a reflection of Microsoft Store and overall state of UWP. </span><a href="https://activedirectorytutorial.blog/components-of-active-directory-tools/&quot; target="_blank" style="background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">active directory tools</a><span style="background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> Also Skype itself is horrible and it is getting worse with each release.</span></p>

  • katelynfrank

    15 August, 2018 - 3:39 pm

    <p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">You got it right. Microsoft is a company and not a firm.</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">thanks </span><a href="http://www.horsyland.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-horse-breeds/&quot; target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">to this</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> though</span></p>

  • tararubena

    20 November, 2019 - 1:42 am

    <p>Pretty good post. I will come back and follow you </p><p><br></p>

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