Microsoft Teams video calling experience to Skype for desktop and iOS devices.
Microsoft has released version 8.62 of Skype, which brings features from Microsoft Teams to the video calls .
Skype for desktop now offers users a catalog of predefined images to choose from as their default background. This feature builds on the existing ability for users to upload their own background image.
Microsoft introduced custom background features to Teams in June and offered the background blur effect for a while. However, while this effect can hide a messy room, Microsoft says that background effects are not guaranteed to hide sensitive information from others in an online meeting.
As previously announced, Skype's grid view has been improved for mobile and desktop. On mobile, users can see up to nine other people at once, while on desktop the view has been expanded from nine users to twelve.
Additionally, Microsoft says it has improved message synchronization when some conversations aren't automatically updated.
Microsoft released a preview of consumer features for the iOS and Android versions of its Teams platform last month. However, the company has not confirmed whether it plans to replace Skype with Teams.
Microsoft has also brought the background blur feature to Skype on iOS, allowing users to hide their real background. The background blur effect is not available on the Android , and there is no word from Microsoft yet on if and when it will be available for Android users.
To enable background blur or custom background on iOS, users can tap the “more” menu and enable the “Blur my background” feature.
On desktop, you can choose different backgrounds during a call or choose a specific one for all Skype video calls.
Microsoft also last month unified the Skype app for Windows 10 with the Skype desktop app. The company built the new Windows 10 in Electron, which is based on the same version of Skype that is available on the app's official website .
