Report updated May 5, 2026
Skype for Business
For enterprise employees and corporate users who require secure, integrated communication tools within a Microsoft-managed environment.
Skype for Business is an established business app that is free with in-app purchases. With a 3.8/5 rating from 190.2K reviews, it shows polarized user reception. Users particularly appreciate legacy users appreciate the continued functionality of the application despite the official retirement of the service, though frequent authentication failures and sign-in errors prevent users from accessing their accounts and business meetings remains a common concern.
What is Skype for Business?
Skype for Business is an enterprise communication client for Android and iOS that provides voice, video, and messaging for Microsoft-licensed environments.
Users hire this app to maintain secure, authenticated access to corporate Lync or Skype for Business server meetings, serving as a mandatory gate for enterprise communication workflows.
Current Momentum
v6.34 · 5mo ago
Maintenance- Ships only bug fixes and improvements.
- No new features in recent releases.
Active Nemesis
Zoom Workplace
By Zoom Communications
Other Rivals
7-Day Rank Pulse 🇺🇸
BusinessNo ranking data
Rating Pulse 🇺🇸
Recent User Mood
What makes this app unique?
What Does It Look Like?
What Are The Key Features?
Integrates voice, video, and instant messaging into a single interface for enterprise users
Secures mobile access via Active Directory Authentication Library (ADAL) integration
How much does it cost?
- Free app download
- Requires validly licensed Microsoft Lync or Skype for Business Server or Office 365
The app functions as a free client for a mandatory paid enterprise server or cloud subscription, acting as a B2B distribution tool.
Who Built It?
Microsoft
Empowering professionals and students with a unified, AI-enhanced ecosystem for seamless productivity and collaboration across all devices.
Portfolio
13
Apps
What other apps does Microsoft make?
Microsoft SharePoint
Microsoft Defender: Security
Microsoft Bing Search
Microsoft Edge
Microsoft OneDrive
Xbox
Explore the full Microsoft report
Portfolio breakdown, audience, momentum, and every app published by Microsoft.
What do users think recently?
High confidence · Latest 100 of 112 total reviews analyzed · Based on 112 reviews. Signal may be noisy.
How did the latest release land?
What is the recent mood?
Recent user voice shows a mixed sentiment. Users appreciate legacy users appreciate the continued functionality of the application despite the official retirement of the service, but report frequent authentication failures and sign-in errors prevent users from accessing their accounts and business meetings.
What Users Love
What Frustrates Users
What Users Want
View the full user-sentiment analysis
Mood gauge, ratings & review-volume history, every praise / complaint / request, and sentiment over time.
What is the competitive landscape for Skype for Business?
How's The Business Market?
How does it evolve in the Business market?
The app maintains a 3.76 rating on Android with over 173,000 reviews, reflecting a large legacy install base that is currently stagnant. The lack of recent feature updates compared to competitors signals a transition into a maintenance-only lifecycle.
Rank progression
91 active rankings tracked — 30-day window
The rivals identified
Nemeses(1)
Zoom dominates the enterprise video conferencing space with a massive, active user base and a release cadence that dwarfs the target app.
Differentiators
- Offers a unified platform integrating phone, chat, and whiteboard into one seamless meeting experience
- Maintains a high-velocity release cycle with 10 updates in six months to ensure platform stability
- Provides deep ecosystem integrations with third-party productivity tools that the target app lacks
Head to head
The target app must prioritize modernizing its core video engine and simplifying guest access to prevent further user migration to Zoom's more agile platform.
Contenders(3)
Slack has redefined team communication by shifting the focus from scheduled meetings to persistent, channel-based collaboration.
Differentiators
- Channel-based messaging architecture reduces email clutter and provides a searchable history of team decisions
- Extensive app directory allows teams to build custom workflows directly into their communication hub
Google Meet leverages massive distribution and browser-based accessibility to capture the casual and SMB meeting market.
Differentiators
- Browser-first architecture eliminates the need for client-side software installation, drastically reducing friction for new meeting participants
- Deep integration with Google Workspace allows for one-click meeting scheduling directly from calendar and email interfaces
Webex provides a robust, enterprise-grade alternative with a strong focus on secure, large-scale virtual collaboration.
Differentiators
- Features advanced noise cancellation and real-time translation capabilities that enhance meeting accessibility for global teams
- Delivers a consistent, secure collaboration environment specifically designed for regulated industries and large-scale enterprise deployments
Same space(2)
Dialpad differentiates through AI-driven insights applied to voice and video communication workflows.
Differentiators
- Integrates real-time AI transcription and sentiment analysis to provide actionable insights during live business calls
- Prioritizes a mobile-first design that ensures high-quality voice connectivity even in low-bandwidth network environments
GoTo offers a comprehensive suite combining VoIP and video conferencing for small to mid-sized businesses.
Differentiators
- Bundles cloud-based phone systems with video conferencing to provide a single-vendor solution for SMB communication
- Focuses on simplified administrative controls that allow non-technical teams to manage their own communication infrastructure
New entrants(1)
An emerging challenger focusing on secure, private team communication with a high release frequency.
Differentiators
- Offers granular data control and self-hosting options for organizations with strict data sovereignty requirements
- Implements a 'burn-on-read' messaging feature that appeals to teams prioritizing high-security communication channels
Compare Skype for Business against every rival
All rivals in one side-by-side table — identity, store metrics, ratings & sentiment, and strategic intel — plus a head-to-head page for each.
The outtake for Skype for Business
Strengths to defend, gaps to attack
Core Strengths
- Active Directory Authentication ensures mandatory adoption within corporate IT security policies
- Unified communication interface provides a single-pane-of-glass for legacy enterprise workflows
Critical Frictions
- Frequent authentication failures block access for professional users
- Intrusive permission requests create friction during initial setup
- Broken push notifications cause missed messages and delayed communication
Growth Levers
- Persistent chat integration could improve continuity for mobile-first users
- Simplified guest-access workflows would reduce friction for external participants
Market Threats
- Zoom's 10-update release cadence erodes the target app's platform stability advantage
- Google Meet's browser-first architecture eliminates client-side installation friction
What are the next best moves?
Audit authentication flow because sign-in errors are the top complaint → reduce churn among professional users
Sentiment analysis identifies authentication failures as the primary barrier to accessing business meetings.
Trade-off: Pause the persistent chat development — authentication stability has a higher impact on daily active usage.
Rebuild notification service because background sync failures are a top complaint → improve communication reliability
Users report that notifications fail to arrive unless the device is unlocked, causing missed messages.
Trade-off: Deprioritize UI polish on the contact search screen — notification reliability is critical for business utility.
A counter-intuitive read
The app's primary value is not its communication features, but its role as a mandatory, authenticated gateway for enterprise IT deployments, which makes it harder to replace than its dated UI suggests.
Feature Gaps vs Competitors
- Real-time noise cancellation (available in Webex)
- Browser-first meeting access (available in Google Meet)
- Persistent chat history (available in Slack)
Key Takeaways
The app retains value through deep enterprise authentication, but the high frequency of sign-in errors and notification failures threatens its remaining professional user base, so the team must prioritize core connectivity stability over feature expansion to prevent further migration to Zoom.
Where Is It Heading?
Declining
The enterprise communication market is consolidating around cloud-native platforms that prioritize browser-based access and high-velocity feature updates. Skype for Business remains exposed due to its legacy server dependency and maintenance-mode status, so the team must stabilize core authentication to prevent total churn to more agile competitors.
Frequent authentication failures and sync issues in the latest release erode the daily active habit, compounding the rating drag on Android.
The lack of feature updates compared to Zoom's high-velocity release cycle accelerates the migration of professional users to more agile platforms.