Microsoft’s Skype messenger got a major update for iOS 8 today, which includes all-new interactive notifications that take advantage of what Apple has made possible with its latest OS update. The new notifications in Skype let you respond to various activity directly from notices as they appear, including text-based messages, voice and video calls. It makes Skype a much more full-featured voice and text replacement service, which is great if you’re using it more than your traditional cellular services.
The new notifications work for audio and video calls by letting you swipe left to answer or decline inbound voice, or swipe left to reveal a selector to either answer inbound video calls with video or with voice only when you’re at the lock screen. If you’re using your phone unlocked, you can also answer by pulling down on the banner notification at the top. Missed calls can also be responded to, either via a call back or a text reply, simply by swiping on the notification.
For messages, you can swipe left for new ones to reply on the lock screen, or pull down if it’s a banner notification. Unlike with Apple’s own Messages feature, this won’t open up a reply input box without unlocking your device – it’ll still require you to enter your PIN or use your Touch ID unlock, and then it’ll take you directly to the message where you can reply in-line.
Overall, it’s a nice update from Skype, and one of the few new big apps to take advantage of the interactive notification feature early on. I give Microsoft credit: They’ve been doing a lot more to keep on top of Skype updates for iOS, and the results have been good thus far.