Among the most useful features is Skype’s Instant Chat. It means you’ll no longer have to add a friend as a contact before you can message them. Instead, you can just find them and start chatting either one-on-one or as part of a group. However, perhaps more noticeable is the applications new notifications panel. As you would expect, all your messages, memos, and reactions appear here to make sure you don’t miss anything. On the topic of reactions, Microsoft has made it possible to use them, alongside emoticons, text, or photos, during a call. It’s not for everyone, but it should help to express yourself in more casual settings. Finally, Skype for Windows 10 is getting Mixed Reality support, but perhaps not in a way you’d expect. Users can share their virtual world with others during a Skype call, opening up plenty of new possibilities.

Fluent Design System and Skype

Though we’ve seen the Fluent Design System make its way to Skype on Insider builds, it’s not present in this build. It’s likely we won’t see those changes until the release of Redstone 4, which should come early next year. As a result, this update doesn’t bring many visual changes, but it does add some much-needed functionality. Feature-wise, the Windows 10 app is still behind the desktop one, so we’re happy to see Microsoft prioritizing that. As always, you can get the latest version of Skype for Windows 10 from the Microsoft Store.

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